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Violet Winspear was born on 28 April 1928 in London, England. She worked in a factory since 1942, when in 1961 she sold her first romance novels to Mills & Boon. In 1963, she became a full-time writer. She wrote from her home in the south-east England, that she never left, but she meticulously researched her far-flung settings at the local library. She never married, and had no children, but she inspired her nephew Jonathan to write. Violet died at January 1989 after a long battle with cancer.
She said: "The real aim of romance is to provide escape and entertainment", but she created a maelstrom when in 1970 she commented: "I get my heroes so that they're lean and hard muscled and mocking and sardonic and tough and tigerish and single, of course. Oh and they've got to be rich and then I make it that they're only cynical and smooth on the surface. But underneath they're well, you know, sort of lost and lonely. In need of love but, when roused, capable of breathtaking passion and potency. Most of my heroes, well all of them really, are like that. They frighten but fascinate. They must be the sort of men who are capable of rape: men it's dangerous to be alone in the room with." The comment, that they were 'capable of rape' caused uproar and lead to her receiving hate mail. Interestingly, she railed against the work of authors such as Harold Robbins. Winspear's forte was creating and sustaining sexual tension between her characters while building fantastic worlds.
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Tina Manson married John Trecarrel in haste -- and had plenty of time to repent at leisure when she found that she not only had to compete with the memory of his beautiful first wife, but to accept that he was also attracted to Joanna's equally b...
After the tragic death of her fiancée David, all Lyn Gilmour wanted was to get as far away from her old life as possible and the offer of a temporary job as nanny to a seven-year-old girl in California seemed just what she was looking for. Monterey ...
What a fascinating man Erik Norlund was, Jill thought. She couldn't be sure which facet of him came uppermost -- the smooth tycoon, or the more rugged characteristics of his Viking forebears. She got her chance to find out when Erik offered ...
"I -- I sensed something RUTHLESS about him. He moulds people to his tastes, and he makes them submit whether they want to or not," Lauri described Maxim di Corte to her aunt Pat when, as an inexperienced girl, Lauri first joined Maxim'...
Don Rafael de Domerique had a typical Spanish attitude towards the amount of freedom he thought women should have, while Vanessa's outlook was thoroughly Anglo-Saxon. This was all right--until Vanessa fell in love with Rafael. Hero: Rafael de ...
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Temple Lane had gone out to the Java Seas to marry her fiance, but all her plans fell through when she found someone else had taken her place. In her desperate endeavours to get away from the situation, she met the Dutchman Ryk van Helden -and prompt...
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Had Ricki O'Neill been impulsive, allowing her wandering Irish spirit to take her to Spain alone? Why, too, should Don Arturo de Cazalet be looking for a physicotherapist at just that time? Don Arturo had engaged young Ricki to look after his cri...
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When the handsome Baron Breck von Linden offered Siran a job which involved staying at his fairy-tale home, the Castle of the Seven Lilacs, she knew that it was attraction between herself and the Baron that was taking her there. But Breck's y...
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Rosary was confident that she was going to make a good job of tutoring a young Portuguese girl, but Gisela's father, the imposing Dom Duarte de Montqueiro Ardo, thought otherwise. Rosary was to young and inexperienced, he decreed. And that wa...
It was through an unlucky accident that young Romy Ellyn had been caught in a compromising situation with Don Delgado de Avarado y Valcazar - who thereupon insisted that to save her reputation and his, she must agree to become his fiancee, and whiske...
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Margo Jones had loved Michel, although in the end he married someone else. When five years later he died she found herself going to the French chateau of Satancourt to look after his son. There, Margo met Paul Cassalis, Michel's inscrutable broth...
Domini had married Paul Stephanos to save her family from disgrace and exposure. Now she fought against the warm feelings she had for her husband because of the bitter knowledge that he had tricked and deceived her. When Barry Sothern, her old love, ...
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The Savidges of Dragon Bay were as wild and savage as their name, bitter and totally unable to love. But Kara Stephanos did not realize this until after she had married Lucan Savidge.... Pryde sat in a wheelchair, yet he made it look like a thron...
She didn't know the facts of her own life. But somehow Ynis Raiford realized that she didn't quite belong in Gard's world. Gard St. Clair, embittered by the accident that had ended his career, was as mysterious and wild as his house on th...
Lise supposed she should be grateful to the imperious Conde Leandro de Marco Reyes for helping her out of an awkward situation -- but not so grateful that she would pretend to be his fiancee. A domineering conquistador-type Spanish nobleman was not h...
Ravena Brenin dearly loved the kindly guardian who had brought her up -- and she loved his son Rhodri Brenin even more. But she was marrying a virtual stranger, the forbidding Sardinian Mark di Curzio, a man for whom she felt nothing but apprehens...
Yvain Pilgrim had been named after a character in a fairy-tale, a maiden who had been assisted by a lion in her fight against a dragon -- and in her present situation she could not help feeling that the fairy-tale had come true. Shipwrecked while ...
Marny Lester was sufficiently well off not to have to work if she didn't want to, but an aimless, leisurely life in the country was not really enough for her, and when a friend recommended her for the post of secretary to a celebrated osteopath i...
A woman's mind is a jungle Heron Brooks recalled Edwin Trequair's words and what he'd said afterward. "It's the one jungle in which a man should never get lost." Why, then, had he asked her to marry him? And why had she ...
When Della Neve went on a Mediterranean cruise she wanted a rest, not a holiday romance. Her future was already bound to Marsh Graham, the fiance to whom she owed everything -- who had brought her up, moulded her into a great star, and who loved her ...
Eden loved Lafe, but Gale wanted him The two sisters were aptly named. Gale was wild, turbulent and demanding; Eden was the quiet one, gentle and kind. Gale found the money, power and luxury she wanted when she met wealthy, handsome and magneti...
Considering that she was an orphan with no background and no special aptitude for any-thing, Janna Smith seemed to be doing very nicely for herself, here on the glamorous Cote d'Azur as secretary/companion to a well-known lady author. But for sec...
It annoyed Doctor Avery Chase to hear his cousin Robert denounce as a phoney the frightened young girl found late one night sitting on the doorstep of Chase, the family home on the edge of the Devon moors. But Robert was convinced that the girl wh...
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Was this she had longed for? Mrs. Amy du Mont was a rich, vulgar social climber. No wonder quiet, well-bred Altar Garret resented being trapped in her employ. It was through Mrs. du Mont's efforts that they met the imposing Spanish grandee,...
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On the face of it, Grace Wilde had every-thing -- youth, beauty, wealth, and a title. All that goes to make up the life of a society queen was hers; only one thing was lacking -- happiness. For the gay society life was none of her seeking; she had...
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When her flighty cousin Penela O'Dell jilted the Greek tycoon Heraklion Mavrakis at the last moment, Fenella took her place at the wedding and married Lion herself, under false pretenses. When he discovered her deception he was at first, naturall...
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Carol was stunned by his proposal. For five years she had stood alone and fought for Teri, but now-- now a man offered to share that burden. It was a terrible temptation just to give in and not fight any more. "How can I be sure you don't ...
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What, Merlin Lakeside wondered, could she do with the love building inside her? There seemed no way to release it except by just being here... hoping that Paul van Setan wouldn't realize she was the person he had cause to hate. What would she...
She wasn't the woman he thought her to be Moonside had become like a home now to Wilda. The thought of once again starting a new life elsewhere filled her with panic. For she knew that if Damien told her employer about her past she would be th...
Trapped in the middle of the African jungle while a war raged round her, Eve Tarrant knew that all that stood between her and a singularly unpleasant fate at the hands of African revolutionaries was the tough mercenary Major Wade O'Mara. Thrown t...
One night in Rome Donna Lovelace's life suddenly changed. That night she fell in love with a mysterious stranger. But Rick Lordetti was a hired bodyguard, and he already belonged to her new employer, Serafina Neri, the beautiful retired actres...
"When I have finished with you, sweet icy girl," Stefan said grimly, "Damoskinos will have the anguish of knowing that you have endured the ultimate at my hands!" Alice Sheldon was trapped on a lonely island in the Aegean, kidnapp...
"You will stay and marry my brother." Julio Valdez spoke contemptuously. "Because of you, my brother, Ramon, is now a paralyzed cripple, with very little to live for. But he wants you, so he shall have you." Julio's hard, unyie...
The memory of the night haunted her Julia Van Holden hated Rome Demario for what he had done to her, but she couldn't erase him from her thoughts. Because of one brief, passionate moment of revenge he had taken her innocence--and had given her...
Diane knew what Khasim had in mind And the prospect was terrifying. The fact that she'd brought it on herself by foolishly riding alone in the Sahara desert, didn't help. After Diane Ronay was thrown from her bolting horse, Sheik Khasim...
Love was forbidden in her chosen life Iris Ardath, abandoned in infancy, had spent all her life behind the convent walls of St. Clare's. She fully expected that she would take the veil and spend her years safe in the quiet cloisters. But M...
The woman was an undying legend When Jane agreed to the ruse, she had no idea what she would be up against. She agreed to pretend to be Baron Pagan Pentrevah's wife because he needed help. He was a man driven by the consuming memory of Roxa...
Would he misconstrue her love as pity? Angela Hart's love for Enrique de Zaldo was only intensified by the tragedy of his blindness. She had loved him all her life. Called by his Spanish father to their Mediterranean island, Angie hoped to...
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As far as Melly could see, she and the worldly Jourdan Lanier had nothing in common, except the rare blood that flowed in their veins. Yet Jourdan wanted Melly was his wife, and not because she'd just saved his life. Melly was exactly the wom...
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Had she no say in her destiny? Lorne couldn't quite believe that her grandfather had practically pawned her in order to hold on to his precious L'Oasis, the plantation that lay on Razul al Kebir's land. "You've no idea how r...