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Just North of Bliss
Alice Duncan Book Review

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Plot Summary of Just North of Bliss
"

Zebra, May 2002, 352 pp.
ISBN: 0821772775

In 1893 Georgia Peach Rowena Belle Monroe realizes how poor her upper crust family has become. Having no choice, Rowena Belle becomes the first Monroe to leave Georgia except for those who fought for the South a few decades ago in the Civil War. She accepts employment as a nanny in New York City. When her employer George Richmond takes his wife and two children, to the Chicago World's Fair, Rowena accompanies them as befitting her job to care for the kids.

At the Fair, photographer Win Asher notices the beautiful Belle and tries to convince her to pose for his photographs, but she refuses feeling this is indecent behavior. As Belle and Win see one another while attending the Fair, they fall in love, but she feels he is the “paragon” of everything she believes is wrong with Yankees.

Alice Duncan's second Chicago Fair tale is an exciting historical romance that readers will enjoy as fans obtain a taste of a bygone era. The period is so well described that the audience will be surprised by Belle's authentic “puritanical” attitude towards items that we take for granted as normal. The characters are warm and amusing, but as with the previous novel, COMING UP ROSES, the history is as important if not more so than the romance, not that the latter is shortchanged, but the former is so picturesque.

Harriet Klausner
"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Just North of Bliss
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of story - 19th century
Forbidden/mismatched love? Yes
How mismatched? - loving someone from historic enemy
Seduction/coercion/force Yes
How seduced/forced? - loving persuasion
Who seduces whom? - man seducing woman

Main Male Character
Profession/status: - entertainer
How sexual is this person? - very picky
How romantic is this person? - very romantic
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Female Character
Age/status: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - servant
How sexual is this person? - very picky
How romantic is this person? - somewhat romantic
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Midwest

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
What % of story is romance related? - 70%
Focus of story - equally on him and her
How much dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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