TORN BETWEEN TWO BROTHERS Fay was one of those genteel beautiful Englishwomen who drew many man to her rosy flame. But that flame was cool, for she truly loved no man. Even so, when the Italian Duke of Colle Alto proposed, she accepted. But when, years later, she met a man again with whom she had flirted -- a man named Michael, young then, a diplomat now -- that flame burned suddenly bright. Fay was in love. Michael, however, despite the passion of their kisses, knew that their love could never be. Fay begged him to see her one more time for a secret assignation . . . but Michael refused to enter her house. And when the Duke died, Fay was still prisoner . . . a prisoner in love with Michael's brother, Wentworth.

Author Biography

Mary Cholmondeley (1859 - 1925) was an English novelist. She began writing with serious intent in her teens. She wrote in her journal in 1877, "What a pleasure and interest it would be to me in life to write books. I must strike out a line of some kind, and if I do not marry (for at best that is hardly likely, as I possess neither beauty nor charms) I should want some definite occupation, besides the home duties." She succeeded in publishing some stories in The Graphic and elsewhere. Her first novel was The Danvers Jewels (1887), a detective story that won her a small following. It appeared in the Temple Bar magazine published by Richard Bentley, after fellow novelist Rhoda Broughton had introduced her to George Bentley. It was followed by Sir Charles Danvers (1889), Diana Tempest (1893) and A Devotee (1897). The satirical Red Pottage (1899) was a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic and is reprinted occasionally. It satirizes religious hypocrisy and the narrowness of country life and was denounced from a London pulpit as immoral. It was equally sensational because it "explored the issues of female sexuality and vocation, recurring topics in late-Victorian debates about the New Women." Despite the book's great success, however, the author received little money for it because she had sold the copyright.