Then Bruce comes back to town and she meets with him.

She catches the eye of the king and sleeps with him a few times, arousing the jealousy of Captain Morgan. Scholar’s dad comes to lay down the law, but she’s just managed to steal a well-to-do soldier, Captain Morgan, from a rival actress and engage herself as his mistress.

The highwayman is caught and strung up Amber moves in with a dissolute scholar instead, who helps her get a place as an actress. She gives birth to Bruce’s son, and the baby is sent to a country wetnurse. Debts land her in Newgate prison, from which she is sprung by a highwayman, who takes her as a mistress. Once Amber is pregnant, Bruce is off to America and Amber is duped into marriage and out of the money he’s left her by a conman. Bruce is willing to sleep with her and bring her to London as his mistress, but not to marry her. Clare as a young country maiden who meets - and immediately gets the hots for - aristocrat Bruce Carlton, an earl returning from France with King Charles II as monarchy is restored to the country. Start scrolling if you don’t want spoilers! Fair warning, I’m giving all the spoilers. I’ve written previously about why I put Forever Amber on my reading list, and discussed similarities between Winsor’s book and earlier read Gone With the Wind, but let me give you the quick run down of this epic historical novel. Is it a must read romance novel? Readers who enjoy historical romance for the glimpses of historical eras they provide may still enjoy Amber’s story for the research Winsor put in.

The book breaks two rules of genre romance: it has no happy ending (some may say no ending at all) and both heroine and hero engage in rampant cheating. Also, Restoration London is a sybaritic period not often visited by genre romance. Reasons to read this title: Your teenage grandmother read it after hearing a sermon at church about how corrupt it was. She is… a 16 year old country maid determined to find a better life. He is… an earl and privateer, mid-thirties. Setting time & place: 1660s, Restoration England A country maid sleeps her way to duchess status, but never manages to attain a happy ever after with her favorite lover.

Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor