The Lady by Anne McCaffrey

Ten year intervals. Restoree was 1967, Ring of Fear was 1977, and this one is 1987. We have traveled from Romance/Suspense/SF to Romance/Suspense to Romance. We have also traveled to Ireland, where, as we all know, McCaffrey lived for many years. And, a real surprise, I don't think I had ever read this one although it was right there on the shelf in the hall. I did find it a little slow starting - and longer than her usual, but once it got going it rolled right along.

Like Ring of Fear, its setting is horsey. This time an Irish breeding/training farm as opposed to the show circuit and a Long Island estate. The characters are a bit extreme, almost stereotypical. The good daughter, Catriona, is really too good for a twelve/thirteen year old. The religious fanatic wife/mother, Isabel, is at the point of psychosis. The American cousin, Patricia, is almost a cartoon of the British/Irish opinion of Americans.

When I characterize this as a romance, that is not to say that there isn't some of the rest. For one thing the principal romance involves the husband/father, Michael, of the horse farm and Selina, the wife of a wealthy financier. The affair begins while both are married, but the proprieties are observed in the long run. The fanatic wife/mother fasts herself into a hysterical and physical breakdown and dies. The financier beats and rapes Selina then beats her again in front of more than three witnesses - which is necessary if a woman is to obtain a legal separation in Ireland.

Now, if all this sounds appallingly Victorian - the setting is 1970. One theme of the book is clearly the position of women under the law in Ireland, but that isn't introduced until at least the half-way point - except that I had to keep flipping back to chapter one to remind myself that it was set in the 1970s not the 1870s.

Reading these back to back, inevitably I am finding bits that are very reminiscent of other works. An early crisis in the book is the death of Catriona's pony, Blister. She is behaving herself properly in the field at the hunt and an ignorant, arrogant fool runs them down at a jump and very nearly kills Catriona as well as breaking her pony's legs. It reminded me very stongly of the scene early in Dragonflight where the watchwher falls to its death to obey Lessa's command.

There are minor things, too. I have found more than one character named Maired, and I think the general physical type of the romantic men is decidedly similar - down to the mustache.