This is basically a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story (the subsequent books are in the same vein). He has retreated from society and retired to his estate and is served by Salamanders. He is a master of the element of Fire and a spell he should not have attempted (an Earth spell) has left him in the form of a man-wolf. Things are not what they seem - there are no children, rail baron Jason Cameron actually wants a research assistant into esoteric matters. After a multi-day rail journey across the Great Plains and the Rockies, Rose finally reaches her destination - a lonely estate outside San Francisco. Her doctoral supervisor persuades her to take a post in California with a rail baron who wants a modern tutor for his children, especially his daughter. Book 2 in the series didn't follow until 2001.įollowing the death of her professor father, scholar Rosalind ("Rose") Hawkins is left destitute in 1905 Chicago. When this was originally published 1995, it was a stand-alone. Overall, an entertaining and fun read, if not very deep or complex. We also get a glimpse of the seamier side of San Francisco life, following Paul on his depredations, and the terror of the earthquake itself.
She's likable and entertaining, though, and Jason himself has a few more layers of complexity. The villains, both Jason's secretary, Paul, and his principal rival and nemesis, Simon, are rather too one-dimensional and even cartoonish, while Rose is, perhaps, a little too perfect, with her mastery of so many languages, and how quickly she picks up one what's going on. This is an entertaining take on Beauty and the Beast, set in the months leading up to the great San Francisco earthquake. The servants in the household, except Cameron's somewhat obnoxious secretary, are amazingly invisible and silent she never sees them, but her bath is drawn, her meals arrive, always hot when she wants them, and her clothes are laid out for her. Her scholarly background is important because he wants her to read books in foreign and classical languages, and translate them for him. Cameron wants her to read to him through a speaking tube. Specifically, there are no children, and Mr.
Rose arrives to find that her employer, Jason Cameron, is extremely wealthy, as well as quite eccentric, and the position is rather different than she anticipated.
She's soon on the train from Chicago to San Francisco. When an offer arrives of a position as a governess for two bright children in San Francisco, it seems like a Godsend. It's 1905, and Rosalind Hawkins, her father recently dead after losing all their money in ill-advised investing, needs to give up her pursuit of a university degree and a scholarly career, and find paying work.
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