The Opal-Eyed Fan by Andre Norton

[gilda_elise]

Lost Lady Key, off the Florida coast, had a long history of violence. Not only the ghost of a Spanish lady victimized by pirates, but the much more ancient and terrifying customs of a vanished Indian race seemed to haunt the remote little island.

Was it a random storm or destiny's mischief that shipwrecked lovely Persis Rooke on Lost Lady Key? Persis couldn't be sure. Rescued by the handsome Captain Crewe Leverett and marooned on the darkly mysterious island with his strange sister and her beau, she was aware only of the oppressive superstitions of the natives who feared a strange curse--the curse of the opal-eyed fan.

Somehow she knew she had to learn the unspoken secret of the island and the truth about the fabulous Spanish lady who, years before, had left the infamous Satin-shirt Jack dead and then disappeared forever. But Persis was not aware of the evil that awaited her, nor of the romance that would endanger her until it was too late. . . .

Slow to start, I eventually was drawn into the mystery faced by Persia Rooke. As things begin to go wrong, she doesn’t know who to trust, or who to turn to. But when a new danger appears, Persis draws on strength she didn’t know she had in order to rescue her new ally.

Though I prefer Norton’s science fiction novels, she doesn’t disappoint with her historical stories, though this one has a bit of the supernatural thrown in. And while ostensibly a romance novel, the romance is barely touched on and left to the reader to decide where it will go. That’s classic Norton, as most of her novels don’t go there.

A lovely story well worth reading.






Mount TBR 2024 Book Links


Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

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27. The Lighthouse Keeper Kindle Edition by Alan K. Baker
28. I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away by Bill Bryson
29. The Road Not Travelled : Alternative Tales of the Wars of the Roses by Joanne R. Larner
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32. Taming the Street: The Old Guard, the New Deal, and FDR's Fight to Regulate American Capitalism by Diana B. Henriques
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40. The Opal-Eyed Fan by Andre Norton