When Henrietta was left a house in a Dutch village, she decided to make her home there, and settled happily into her new abode. She thought she would like everything about Holland except Marnix van Hessel. As “lord of the manor,” he behaved as if it were still the Middle Ages! Why couldn’t he just marry his fiancée and leave Henrietta in peace?
Review
Recently I realized that I didn’t have this title. Then I had a run of bad books. Time for Betty to come to my rescue – again.
I should warn new readers to this title that their enjoyment of it will hinge on whether or not they can deal with two people almost willfully misunderstanding each other. There is also a degree of malicious compliance at times though I’m not sure Betty Neels knew of that term.
Our heroine, Henrietta, is a Ward Sister of Women’s Medical in a London hospital. She runs it with tight efficiency but over a discussion along with other nurses, as to what another engaged nurse should wear at her wedding – hat vs veil – Henrietta wonders if she shouldn’t have accepted the (second) proposal from the phlegmatic chief pharmacist. However, unbeknownst to Henrietta, a student nurse knows that “She was too dishy to be wasted on anyone so ordinary; she ought to marry someone dramatic—tall and dark and a little wicked…” Ah, in other words a Rude Dutch Doctor. Well isn’t it nice that Henrietta’s almost totally unknown elderly aunt has left her niece a small cottage in the Dutch countryside.
Marnix van Hessel appears when Henrietta arrives at her new abode (he may seem ill-tempered but he is handy at lighting a stove) and naturally the two get off on the wrong foot. Henrietta is a slightly atypical Neels heroine in that she is lovely, tall, and not afraid or unwilling to speak her mind. Sparks spark almost instantly between these two but it will take a while to get them to admit this to each other. I can only think that Neels was having so much fun writing them at cross purposes that she made almost every scene between them into a contest of wills. But those who have read Neels will immediately understand the playbook. Since the RDD takes delight in clashing with his heroine, he must have been smitten from the start.
He was a most extraordinary man, she thought crossly, being rude to her with every other breath and then being helpful—
Marnix – who doesn’t mince words – informs Henrietta that he, in fact, owns her cottage (Auntie Henrietta just willed her niece the leasehold not a freehold) and pretty much the entire small village and lives in the – honest to God – castle that’s close enough for Henrietta to see it. He’s also a surgeon – abdominal mainly – but he can do a bit of horse vet work when the need arises. The requisite disaster involves a plane crash which turns the van Hessel castle into a trauma triage with Henrietta – who used to neatly manage God (the senior consultant [US =attending MD] back in London) – rising brilliantly to the occasion as she marshalls the troops.
And she wanted to stay; it was wonderful to have a little house and be independent. When the weather improved she would explore the country around the village, keeping Charlie for a weekly trip to Tilburg or Breda, and she would learn the language and take up piano playing once more; there were endless reasons why she should want to stay, but the main reason she didn’t admit to herself, although she was well aware of it lurking at the back of her mind; she wanted to get to know Mr van Hessel—not that she liked him, domineering and bad-tempered as he was, but he was interesting…
Of course there’s an evil other woman – or in this case a selfish, conceited nineteen year old who tosses a monkey wrench or two into the works but fear not, Jonkvrouwe van Hessel along with most of the village know what that little bit of trouble is up to.
Pets? Why yes there are several but the main star of the book is Henry, a young black kitten who gets to listen to Henrietta venting about the high and mighty Jonkheer van Hessel and how she’ll never talk to the man again unless it’s to allow him to apologize after which she’ll really never talk to him again. True love isn’t going to run smoothly here. Naturally Henrietta’s efforts to further the romance of Marnix’s agent (young and earnest and very proper and correct) with his true love will figure into this. Henrietta has yet to learn that the more she tries to cover up something in this small village, the faster word of it will spread.
He never seemed to say hullo or good morning; now he snapped: ‘Never open your door without asking who is outside. It should be kept shut…’
She started to close it. ‘Well, all right,’ she said sweetly, ‘if you want it that way.’
A large and beautifully polished shoe prevented her from moving it another inch. ‘Do not mock me, my good girl,’ he cautioned her, ‘I do not care for it.’
‘No, I daresay not,’ she agreed cheerfully, her pretty head half round the door. ‘I don’t suppose anyone in the village would dare, would they? Only not being one of them I don’t feel intimidated. And now will you come in, or are you going off in a huff?’
He threw back his head and let out a great roar of laughter. ‘I will come in, if I may, Miss Brodie.’
I love that Henrietta is valiantly attempting to learn Dutch, something which the Dutch appear to appreciate and smilingly encourage. Could this possibly be taken from Neels’ own history of moving to Holland with her Dutch husband after WWII? My understanding is that today most Dutch people speak at least four languages fluently and can easily pick up a fifth one over the weekend if needed. I also like that after the required emergency, Marnix and Henrietta take time to decompress from the stress of it, then later on they visit some of the patients at local hospitals. I’m sure that this was also something Nurse Neels knew was important for medical personnel mental health.
These two are clearly going to have a marriage of equals but with sparks as Marnix predicts that they’ll clash a lot over the years but he doesn’t want it any other way. Nope, for him it’s Henrietta or no one, as he tells her after climbing over the back wall to the cottage garden for Reasons. As Henrietta doesn’t mince words when she feels the need, I’m delighted with this one despite the misunderstandings along the way. A-
~Jayne
AmazonBNKoboBook DepositoryGoogle
Related
Jayne
Another long time reader who read romance novels in her teens, then took a long break before started back again about 25 years ago. She enjoys historical romance/fiction best, likes contemporaries, action- adventure and mysteries, will read suspense if there’s no TSTL characters and is currently reading more fantasy and SciFi.
