The best opening line for any book ever is in THE
WINDFLOWER: 'Merry Patricia Wilder was sitting on a
cobblestone wall, sketching three rutabagas and daydreaming
about the unicorn.' The Windflower is a pièce de
résistance of sweeping 80's romance, an epic tale of an
ingénue coming into her own as a woman. It is set against
the backdrop of the war of 1812, with British and American
spies, pirates (privateers really), and British
aristocracy. The prose is flowery, almost florid, but is
saved from being overbearing by its gracious and often
lyrical descriptions. 'Before Merry in Apollonian
splendor stood a man who was capable of vivisecting her
soul, with creativity, and putting it on to fry like a
Punjabi locust.' It is long, weighing in at 522 pages,
consistent with its 1984 original release date (remember
those epic sagas of the 80's?), but every page is worth it.
Merry grows up isolated and shy with her Royalist maiden
aunt in Virginia. Her brother Carl, whom she rarely sees,
sneaks her out occasionally to use her prodigious sketching
skills to capture likenesses of British spies to circulate
to the Revolutionaries. Merry first sees Devon, Crandall
in a tavern with his fellow pirates while she is spying for
her sketches. Later that year, Merry and her aunt are
traveling to London in the company of Sir Michael Granville
when Merry is kidnapped by Devon's pirates in a case of
mistaken identity. Devon holds Merry captive, as he
remembers Merry form their prior tavern encounter and
believes she is working with or sleeping with his sworn
enemy Granville. Merry cannot tell Devon the truth without
endangering her precious brother.
Devon is an English duke who is working as a British spy,
traveling with his privateer half brother Rand Morgan.
Devon menaces Merry, threatening her with rape and whipping
in an attempt to terrify her into telling the truth about
her presumed involvement with Granville. Merry escapes the
pirate ship several times with all sorts of over-the-top
things happening to her. She nearly drowns, is marooned on
an island with a pirate who is eaten by a crocodile, and
almost dies from malaria. The pirates on her ship quickly
fall in love with her as she is so darling and become
willing to do anything for her, which reminds me somewhat
of Snow White, and the secondary characters on the pirate
ship contribute greatly to the rollicking joy of this book.
While I rolled my eyes a lot as I read this because parts
were so campy (which was half the fun), I thoroughly
enjoyed this lush journey through the yesteryear of
romance. I will add my name to the vast list of people who
think THE WINDFLOWER is one of the finest pieces of its
time. I
strongly urge you to pick up a copy for yourself- you'll
find yourself enthusiastically recommending THE WINDFLOWER
to all your
friends as I am!
Merry Wilding is a lady of breeding, of innocence, and of
breathtaking beauty. With high hopes for a holiday in
England, she sets sail from New York-but the tide of her
life is destined to turn. Mistakenly swept aboard an
infamous pirate ship, Merry finds herself at the mercy of a
wicked crew . . . and one sinfully handsome pirate. Soon
she's spending her days yearning for escape, and her nights
learning the pleasures of captivity.
Devon Crandall believes Merry is in league with his greatest
enemy. He's determined to slowly urge her secrets from her.
But along the way, he discovers her beautifully unbreakable
spirit . . . and a desire unlike any he's ever known. She is
hiding something from him, and yet, each day that passes
brings her deeper into his heart. When fierce arguments give
way to fiercer passion, can a pirate learn to love a woman?
Or will true love be lost at sea?
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