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Mary Jo Putney

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Silk and Shadows Paperback – September 1, 2000

by Mary Jo Putney (Author)

4.5 23 ratings

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Handsome, wealthy, and mysterious, Peregrine seduces Lady Sara St. James while she tries to unlock his secrets, in a romance set against the backdrop of Victorian London. Reissue.

Print length

431 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Signet
Publication date

September 1, 2000
Dimensions

4.5 x 1.25 x 7 inches
ISBN-10

0451202066
ISBN-13

978-0451202062
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Signet (September 1, 2000)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 431 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0451202066
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0451202062
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.5 x 1.25 x 7 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,515,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #124,035 in Historical Romances

Customer Reviews:
4.5 23 ratings

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Mary Jo Putney

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A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USAToday bestselling author, Mary Jo Putney was born in Upstate New York with a reading addiction, a condition for which there is no known cure. Her entire romance writing career is an accidental byproduct of buying a computer for other purposes.

Her novels are known for psychological depth and intensity and include historical and contemporary romance, fantasy, and young adult fantasy. Winner of numerous writing awards, including two RITAs and two Romantic Times Career Achievement awards, she has five times had books listed among the Library Journal's top five romances of the year, and three times had books among the top ten romances of Booklist, the magazine of the American Library Association.

Her favorite reading is great stories, but in a pinch she'll settle for the backs of cereal boxes. She's delighted that e-publishing can now make available books that have been out of print.

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Kristin Mcniff

I love everything I have ever read by Mary Jo Putney

Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2018

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I love everything I have ever read by Mary Jo Putney! Every one of her books are very complicated and intense full blown stories! The Characters are so compelling with great backstories, revealed slowly throughout the book! The main character hero rin this one, Peregrine is so mysterious right from page one! He arrives in London on a mission so intense to confront and take down the man who abused him as a child in Asia. He falls in love with a woman who is central to his mission! It is so exciting and complicated, you just have to read it! This book is the first of a trilogy, in that it introduces a character that you will just love in the next book "Silk and Secrets" that is followed by "Veils of Silk".

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Winsome Marian Buchanan

Silk and shadows

Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2012

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I love Mary Jo's books and this one is the beginning of the trilogy. All three are very different, but so very easy to follow and connect the characters.

Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2014

In good condition

Another great romance from Mary Jo Putney

Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2017

Verified Purchase

Another great romance from Mary Jo Putney

Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2017

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great adventure!

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J. Myrna RottenRomance

Homophobic? Racist? How insulting to imply that!

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2007

I wasn't going to write a review, because this book's rating is appropriate in my opinion (I would give it a 4 1/2, but a 5 is more appropriate than a 4). When I read the reviewer that accused this book of being homophobic and racist, however, I had to put in my two cents to clarify this for anyone who might decide not to purchase Silk and Shadows based on those statements. I'm going to address the racist part first.

This author has written several other books that I have read where there is "interracial" relationships: Thunder & Roses, Angel Rogue, The China Bride, and The Wild Child (secondary character). Yes, the "ethnic" characters were "mixed", but there was a very reasonable explanation for that -- Ms. Putney had to explain why they were in England! Why would Nicholas have been with an English Earl instead of the Rom if he were fully Rom? Why would Maxie have come to England rather than stay in America with her Mohawk tribe if she weren't half English? In this book it seemed obvious to me that the reason wasn't in regards to why Mikahl would come to England, but more as to why he was willing to stay. If he had been Kafi in truth, he would have felt torn (given his personality) in staying, despite Sara being English. In fact, he felt a pull to England because it had been his birthplace, where he'd spent his "formative years", and where he found solace in home and family. His origins were a relatively important literary device as to how he developed a connection to the villain as well. Had he not been English, there would have been no reason for Weldon's *initial* actions to make sense. (And please note I said initial. What happens later is obviously not related to his nationality.) Which also brings me to my final thought on this, which is that Sara married Mikahl believing he was Kafi. She was completely willing to accept him as foreign, and was surprised by his nationality (not race, by the way, but nationality). She even is accepting of his "rank" and his ancestry! To turn a reasonable literary device into an accusation of racism is confusing and unfair to a very eloquent author.

As to homophobia, this claim makes even less sense. The villain was not homosexual! He was a PEDOPHILE! To imply that his villainy lay in any form of homosexuality is vastly insulting, as it implies that homosexuals are somehow pedophiles! In fact, Weldon is an opportunistic pedophile who actually PREFERS girls (specifically very young virgins), but is willing to accept a boy instead. That would indicate that he likes gender neutral appearances (given that Jenny could be mistaken for an 11 year old, that should be obvious), and was originally attracted to a boy because he was "...a pretty lad, though [he] could certainly use a good scrubbing." On that note, there is also the statement that Mikahl somehow believes that abuse of a boy is somehow worse than the abuse of a girl. That statement strikes me as odd given that "He was struck by a sudden image of Jenny as she might have looked her first night in the brothel; her childlike face mirrored everything he himself had felt..." Where does that indicate that he believed that her suffering was not as severe as a boy's might have been? Then his following feelings were that "...finally he understood why Sara was so profoundly upset." Despite his belief that attempting to free as many of Weldon's victims as possible as opposed to focusing on vengeance would be an exercise in futility, he recognized the point that Sara was trying to make. That doesn't strike me as believing that one crime was somehow worse than the other.

One other point to address is the believability of the villain. While there is nothing wrong with bondage/domination or sado-masochism when practiced between consenting adults (as far as *I* am concerned), you have a man who derives sexual satisfaction from abusing children -- it would be reasonable (and common, unfortunately) for that person to enjoy pain infliction and domination of them as well. When a person is willing or amoral/immoral enough to do horrendous acts on one front, he (or she) may, and in fact is likely to, be willing to do horrendous acts on many fronts. I am pleased to see that so many people have never been exposed to people so vile that they are eerily reminiscent of this particular villain. I've seen those like Weldon first hand in my career, and I can attest to at least some of the accuracy of his vileness.

Ms. Putney, as always, does an excellent job of addressing a very dramatic and emotionally charged subject. She also manages to do so touchingly and (as mentioned before) eloquently. I leave with one of my favorite quotes:

"...most of all, I want to be the man that I am only when I am with you." What a guy!

While Mikahl's not my favorite of her heroes (that privilege goes to Robin from Petals in the Storm and Angel Rogue), he is more real than almost every other hero in every other romance novel I have read.

Edited to add: to all of those who believe that Weldon is too outrageous to be real, look up Joseph Edward Duncan, III. If this type of person can exist in real life, there's no reason to think that Weldon isn't believable.

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R. Lian

Silk and Shadows - Mary Jo Putney

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2009

Silk and Shadows is the first book in Mary Jo Putney's Silk trilogy. These books are set in London during the early Victorian era, a time that is not often used in a romance novel.

One reason I love Mary Jo Putney is that her heroes, Reggie in The Rake, Michael in Shattered Rainbows and Stephen in One Perfect Rose, have to struggle to overcome obstacles that test their character. War, alcoholism, illness, these are some of the problems that plague Mary Jo Putney's heroes. In the best of her books the redeeming power of love helps the hero to have the courage to face the future and sometimes to change. Silk and Shadows is such a book.

As Silk and Shadows begins, "Prince" Peregrine, a mysterious foreigner from Kafiristan, arrives on the London social scene. At first glance Peregrine seems the alpha hero to end all alpha heroes. He is handsome, wealthy and so seductive that his mere concentration on a woman will exude enough sexuality to melt her resistance. Thanks to his friendship with Lord Ross Carlisle, an old friend whose life he saved twice, Peregrine is soon received everywhere.

Peregrine is a man with a mission and that mission is to destroy Charles Weldon the fiancé of Carlisle's lame and unfashionable looking cousin Sara. The reasons for Peregrine's hatred of Weldon are kept secret for much of the book, but trust me, they are good ones. Weldon is evil. Early on it is revealed that Weldon owns a string of brothels - one of which sells "virgins." In this house the madam buys young girls to be raped.

Peregrine doesn't just want revenge, however. He wants to systematically destroy Weldon's life and eventually to kill him with his own hands. Peregrine begins by pretending to become friends with Weldon, who is unaware of Peregrine's identity. Weldon foolishly encourages Sara to be friendly toward Peregrine, as he is wealthy and a potential business investor. In no time Peregrine has seduced Sara and compromised her, thereby publicly humiliating Weldon and stealing the heiress who was to become his wife.

Peregrine's elaborate plans to exact vengeance necessitate concealing his actions from Sara but the plot does not fall into the Big Misunderstanding trap. For one thing, Sara realizes immediately that Peregrine planned to compromise her and she knows he hates Weldon. What she does not know is why Peregrine hates Weldon so, or the lengths that he will go to for revenge. After Sara and Peregrine marry and she discovers the extent of her husband's plans, and that innocents might be hurt in the course of his revenge, her sense of honor comes even more strongly to the fore. For Peregrine to win her back, he must decide once and for all whether revenge or love ultimately guides him.

Sara is one of my favorite Putney heroines along with Catherine in Shattered Rainbows. She is a truly good person who lives her faith without preaching. Sara is also an incredibly sensual woman which is why her defiance of Peregrine, first in resisting his advances and later in the course of their marriage, is so moving.

The love scenes in Silk and Shadows are masterpieces in the ways that they reveal the hero and heroine's characters. When Peregrine first attempts to seduce Sara, she is so carried away as to be helpless, and so, rather than giving in, she begs him to discontinue his advances. Toward the end of the book Sara, seeing the coming rift between them, makes love to her husband and weeps as she does so. It was an incredible scene, sensuous for all of the right reasons.

As always, Putney's research is precisely what is needed to satisfy the story. Silk and Shadows includes a horrifying and convincing portrait of prostitution in Victorian London - complete with descriptions of the various types of houses. In a society where young girls were told to loathe sex (and where childbirth could mean death), huge numbers of men used prostitutes regularly. Respectable work was hard to come by and turning to prostitution was sometimes a woman's only alternative to starvation. Regencies and regency historicals are filled with lighthearted portraits of this side of life. In Silk and Shadows Putney appropriately uses it as a setting for high drama and tragedy.

There is a brief secondary love story in Silk and Shadows involving Jenny, a young girl Peregrine rescues from the virgin brothel, and his lawyer, Benjamin Slade. The romance is not given a lot of time but one of the things I liked about it was the portrait of Jenny, a young girl who had been raped repeatedly and yet had a wonderful bravery and innocence about her. There is no implication in Silk and Shadows that Jenny is damaged goods. The sweetness of her love for the plain-looking lawyer is touching.

The conclusion of the external conflict between Peregrine and Weldon is suspenseful, dramatic and a fitting climax to the story. As for the love story, the recognition of the hero and heroine that each has grown personally, only adds to the reader's delight in their final reconciliation. When you put down Silk and Shadows you will feel that you have learned a lesson both about love and the power of sheer goodness in the world.

The Silk Trilogy (in order):

Silk and Shadows
Silk and Secrets
Veils of Silk

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Silk and Shadows Paperback – September 1, 2000

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