cover image The Old House at Railes

The Old House at Railes

Mary E. Pearce. St. Martin's Press, $23.95 (410pp) ISBN 978-0-312-10514-3

Set in the Cotswolds in the mid-19th century, Pearce's ( The Apple Tree Saga ; The Two Farms ) new historical romance proceeds largely according to genre convention. Martin Cox, a stonemason's son living in poverty, unexpectedly is offered an education by the well-to-do Tarrants at their manor, Newton Railes. The relationship between Cox and the Tarrants is eventually reversed, however, and they accept his financial help. Romantic tension between Cox and one of the Tarrants' daughters, Kate, who is married to a (temporarily) wealthy clothier, endures through the narrative, as does the problem of the ownership of the manor. Pearce favors highly descriptive prose about domestic settings and situations--such as in the many scenes centered around afternoon tea--and she often writes lively dialogue, particularly between male characters. What ultimately disrupts these thematic and stylistic continuities is a TV-like shifting point of view in the numerous fragments that make up chapters. The fact that practically none of Cox's internal thoughts are revealed keeps him psychologically remote from the reader, but the plot tugs on the heartstrings, and Pearce's fans will enjoy its ironies and its sentimental denouement. (Feb.)