The Widow's Secret   by Laurie Alice Eakes, Awe-Struck E-Books, 1999. 

I have long wanted to do an addendum to my column in The Monthly Aspectarian focusing on other worthy titles I run across which don't fit the format of that magazine.   Here it is - called The Afficionado's BookShelf of Keepers -- and it will include everything that doesn't fit into my regular column, Recommended Books.   

In June of 1999, WorldCrafters Guild online school of professional writing began its first course, which I've been teaching with Jean Lorrah.  So some of the items here are recommended to writing students as sources of ideas for stories.  Others are examples of PERFECT novels or stories or TV scripts deserving of close study.

Still others will be items that anyone might enjoy for any number of reasons -- just plain fun being the most important.

Let's start July 1999 with an item from an e-publisher that I will be mentioning in the August or September column, where I hope to squeeze in a review of Ghostwriter by Terry Sheils and perhaps frequently thereafter.  Awe-Struck E-Books. 

The first novel I read from this publisher, The Widow's Secret,   was an example of a perfectly crafted Genre Romance, set in Hampshire, England and London England in 1762. 

Not only is this novel perfectly written, with not one spare word, not one unnecessary scene, not one detail out of place, not one description off-key, marvelously handled thematic consistency, and not one single writing craft "mistake" that I could find anywhere in it, Eakes demonstrates a rare and beautiful mastery of the "action scene" -- and of pacing as well as of the Romance genre and the Mystery genre.  Add Romantic Suspense and Woman In Jeopardy to that list -- all rolled into one succinct, tightly plotted novel with strong characters and rich atmosphere. 

It opens with a wonderful, perfect narrative hook, focusing right down on the essential conflict:

"The parlor door flew open.  A flame-haired fury in widow's black poised on the threshold, bosom heaving, face working with emotion.  She seemed not to notice Neil Drummond, Earl of Glengowan, and his friend, Sir Peter Marcham, where they stood watching her from beside the front door.  Flipping her train over one arm, she dashed toward the exit -- and collided with Neil."

It turns out that the entire plot and all its intricate, life-threatening convolutions, plus its resolution, turns on the plethora of reasons why she ran blindly into a large, formidable gentleman standing clearly delineated in front of her. 

Often beginning writers use accidents, particularly one character running into another in an embarrassing situation, because they don't have the skills to move the plot along in any other way -- and the result is "contrived."  In this case, Eakes has contributed an example of the PERFECT way to use this type of accident as an integral and necessary part of the plot by making it the thematic core of the novel.   There is not one single "contrived" scene in this novel, but there are a lot of accidents. 

At the opening scene, Neil Drummond is standing with his friend Peter in the entry of the manor house in Hampshire.  When he has set the hapless lady back on her feet and she has run on outside, Neil turns to Peter and asks, "Who the devil is she?"  Peter grins and answers, "That, my lad, is Lady Leah Brant, dowager Marchioness of Sherard and your future wife."

From that moment on, it is Lady Brant vs. Neil Drummond in a dance of truth, justice, and the English Way that is stunning, funny, heart-stopping, and touching. 

Drummond has fallen madly in love with this woman from the moment she ran into him, and hates himself for having to court her because he needs to marry a fortune, and she, at the age of barely 20, has inherited one from her late husband.  But he must keep his dishonorable fortune-hunting plans a secret from her. 

Leah Brant is breaking out of a physical and emotional prison crafted by her late husband, bravely deciding to go to London and enter Society as a rich widow.   Her ambition is to start a literary magazine for women and she succeeds.  But she has a deep, dark, dreadful secret -- a terrible social handicap in the circles she was raised in.  Her parents taught her to hide this problem -- so her late husband discovered it only on their wedding night.  He immediately imprisoned her in the remote country estate as an embarrassment, and hated her for tricking him into marriage.  

Scarred terribly by all this, Leah Brant is determined to make a good life for herself, and comes to realize how much of an impediment a fortune of such size can be in Society.  Someone is trying to kill her.  (not only is this a perfectly crafted Romance, it is a perfectly crafted Mystery, too)

At the halfway point in this novel, Drummond figures out Leah's secret.   And Leah has her suspicions about his secret.  So she doesn't believe Drummond's assertion that the accidents she's been having are the handiwork of someone trying to kill her -- and that Drummond has been rescuing her.  She believes he is manufacturing the accidents in order to rescue her and ingratiate himself to her. 

In the end, she discovers the person she trusts the most is architect of her misfortunes, and Neil, whom she distrusts,  is her protector and already knows her secret and loves her truly and steadfastly despite it. 

The Widow's Secret by Laurie Alice Eakes ends perfectly in a breathless action-thriller climax and the essential conflict between Leah and Neil is resolved by acts of emotional heroism and pure Honor on both their parts. 

Writing students should study this novel carefully.  Fans of this type of Romance should just read it for the sheer fun of it.  Everyone should remember the byline Laurie Alice Eakes. 

Send books for review in this column to: Jacqueline Lichtenberg,