The beautiful Lady Sheila Rosswood’s father had lost nearly all his money on ‘get rich quick’ schemes which did not materialise although they seemed so good at first. He tried and tried to become a millionaire, but he was never lucky as none of his investments were ever successful. When he died, Sheila found that she had no money, Rosswood Hall was in a state of disrepair and neglect and her father had sold everything that was saleable in the house including her mother’s most precious jewellery. She was the only child and so her father’s Earldom and Rosswood Hall passed to a cousin, whom she had never liked and her parents had consistently refused to invite him to the house or be pleasant to him. When he arrived to claim his inheritance, he new Earl not surprisingly made it very clear that he did not want her in the house and she was forced to pack up her belongings and leave her beloved home for ever. In a state of despair Sheila turned to the ever faithful old family butler, Wilkins, and his wife, who was the cook, to help her. He devised a plan to find her a job as a secretary, as she had so diligently and efficiently handled all her father’s affairs for several years. Wilkins takes her to an employment agency in London and she becomes the secretary to the eldest son of the Duke of Craigstone, Viscount Stone, who is tall, charming and good-looking. How Sheila helps the Viscount, when he appeals to her, to save his brother from Chinese kidnappers, who are intent of extorting a large sum of money for his release. And how together they expose the man who cheated her father out of much of his money and how they eventually find the love they are both seeking is all told in this romantic tale by BARBARA CARTLAND.
Barbara Cartland was the world’s most prolific novelist who wrote an amazing 723 books in her lifetime, of which no less than 644 were romantic novels with worldwide sales of over 1 billion copies and her books were translated into 36 different languages. As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, theatrical plays and books of advice on life, love, vitamins and cookery. She wrote her first book at the age of 21 and it was called Jigsaw. It became an immediate bestseller and sold 100,000 copies in hardback in England and all over Europe in translation. Between the ages of 77 and 97 she increased her output and wrote an incredible 400 romances as the demand for her romances was so strong all over the world. She wrote her last book at the age of 97 and it was entitled perhaps prophetically The Way to Heaven. Her books have always been immensely popular in the United States where in 1976 her current books were at numbers 1 & 2 in the B. Dalton bestsellers list, a feat never achieved before or since by any author. Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime and will be best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels so loved by her millions of readers throughout the world, who have always collected her books to read again and again, especially when they feel miserable or depressed. Her books will always be treasured for their moral message, her pure and innocent heroines, her handsome and dashing heroes, her blissful happy endings and above all for her belief that the power of love is more important than anything else in everyone’s life.
