Far from Home

It's a familiar story. In the mid 1800s, a poor, beautiful Irish Catholic girl, Brid Flynn, falls in love with handsome Harry Leighton, the English Protestant son of a local landowner, despite the fact that a steadfast local lad is seeking her hand. After several secret assignations, declarations of undying devotion and one romantic lovemaking session in a hut in the rain, Harry is off to London and Brid is in hot pursuit. Because Harry takes her around London and they are seen together in public, Brid clings to the belief that she will marry him eventually. But when Harry becomes heir to the family title after his brother's death, Brid learns that he has been secretly engaged to an heiress. Pregnant and bereft of family and friends, spunky Brid retreats to a convent. Soon, however, she embarks upon a career as a barmaid and music-hall entertainer, eventually making a trip to America. This debut romance contains nearly every stereotype of the genre, exacerbated by the fact that Brid's unquenchable yearning for Harry seems more pathological than passionate. Moreover, Hardy never invests Brid with the strength and presence that might convince readers that she will eventually walk with kings and Vanderbilts without losing the common touch. (Jan.)