The Folly

September 2, 1996
Following hard on the heels of The Deception (1996), the fourth installment of the Daughters of Mannerling series is yet another frothy good time. Lovely Rachel Beverley, 19, having narrowly avoided an entanglement with a cad more interested in her former family home, Mannerling, than in her lissome person, is surprisingly still in that house's spell. The new owner, widower Charles Blackwood, is thought at "nearly forty" to be too old for marriage prospects by the remaining Misses Beverley, including Rachel. But a chance meeting with him, during which Rachel castigates the man for his inattention to his two children, shows her what a handsome and impressive "old" man he is. Shades of the Von Trapps, with fewer kids and no singing nuns. Two potential rivals are introduced to quell this budding attraction, as are hauntings, intrigues and a near-murder. And then there is the Beverleys' scheming reputation: for although Mannerling seems to be loosening its hold on Rachel, does she really want the man or the manor? Chesney's sketchy plotting and facile resolution of the lovers' situation will not disturb her many fans.

September 1, 1996
Chesney's Daughters of Mannerling, her sixth Regency series, continues in a fourth volume that addresses the marital hopes of Rachel Beverley. Like her older sisters in "The Banishment", "The Intrigue", and "The Deception" (1996), Rachel is obsessed with Mannerling, the estate her family lost due to her late father's gambling debts. She hopes to impress widower Charles Blackwood, who has moved to Mannerling with his young children and his father, a retired general; however, at their first meeting, she rashly berates him for neglecting the children and consigning them to a spiteful governess. The Beverleys' enigmatic, seldom-paid governess, Miss Trumble, plays her usual "deus ex machina" role, bringing the Beverleys and the Blackwoods together despite gossip and other obstacles, and "The Folly," which refers to both the Beverleys' foolish edifice complex and the Grecian temple the Blackwoods have built to replace the structure destroyed in an earlier volume, closes with multiple marriage proposals. Formula fiction, but Chesney's formula produces lively characters and an entertaining story. ((Reviewed Sept. 1, 1996))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1996, American Library Association.)