Fauna is stolen away from her village in Africa and enslaved at twelve – but her mixed blood offers her a greater chance of a happy life in England, even though it comes with its own specific dangers too.
This is a bit of a hodgepodge review, because this is the omnibus edition of a trio of books following Fauna and her descendants. Originally published in the 1950s, the books have a for-their-time sympathetic treatment of the mixed-race Fauna and her descendants, even if that Black blood dogs their steps as a fatal flaw in a tragically old-fashioned way.
Set over about a century, we move over the course of the books from the late 1700s to the late 1800s and cover the remarkably dramatic and hard-earned happily-ever-afters of three generations. Taking the advice of other reviewers I took break between each volume, because Robins covers similar themes in each, and the stories would have blended together otherwise. The prose is moderately purple, the heroes are unconventional, and the world the characters inhabit well-sketched.
Gold for the Gay Masters – 4 stars
The story of Fauna, the eponymous young enslaved girl. This was my favorite volume of the three, more focused on how Fauna works to claw a place for herself in a white supremacist world and less on the romance. Her mentor the marquis is a fascinating character, and I found myself very amused by the inclusion of the amnesia trope.
Bride of Doom – 4 stars
This is the story of Fleur, Fauna’s daughter, and a victim of godawful luck. This volume has a strong gothic flavor, the sense that the characters cannot escape their fate no matter how hard I hoped otherwise, and the characters are really put through the wringer before they’re finally relieved. I enjoyed the romance, which has a much more understated, delicate quality to it to contrast the highly-colored tone of the rest of the story.
The Flame and the Frost – 3 stars
This was my least favorite of the volumes, because the characters frustrated me again and again. A single indiscretion on the part of Charlotte, the low-born ward of a countess, sentences her to a lifetime of misery with the countess’s son, an abusive one-note villain who is surely not right in the head. The conflict is sadly realistic, but the hero is distant and the resolution too transparently deus ex machina.