Taboos & Sequels

I had an interesting email today from a reader in Brazil, asking for information on Charlotte Lamb's bestselling novel A VIOLATION, published by Fontana Paperbacks in 1983.

A VIOLATION is about Clare Forrester, a woman who is attacked and raped in her own home, and who is subsequently unable to feel comfortable being intimate with a man. When Larry is insistent in his pursuit of Clare, his proximity tests her ability to feel again and to let a man get close without flashing back to the rape.

Rape, of course, is a difficult subject for any writer to tackle, but for a romantic novelist to take on this controversial topic in the eighties and produce such a fascinating and successful book is an astonishing and laudable achievement.



The lady who emailed me wanted to know if there was a sequel to A VIOLATION and also complained about the general lack of helpful blurbs and other information on sites such as Amazon. There was no sequel to A VIOLATION; indeed, apart from specially commissioned sequences of books such as the Barbary Wharf novels, I can't think of any Charlotte Lamb romances that were sequels. Except once perhaps, when she wrote a novel called DARK DOMINION which featured a second male lead; later, she wrote another romance featuring the same character.


DARK DOMINION was one of her best romances, in my opinion, with sparky, realistic and memorable characters, and a strong vibrant plot that kept you guessing to the last few pages. It was first published by Mills & Boon in 1979, though it's been reprinted in various formats and by other publishers since, and involves Caroline Fox having to decide between James, the forbidding but darkly charismatic barrister she has married, and fun sexy Jake, a famous actor she's known since their days at drama school together, who comes back into her life at a time of crisis in her marriage - the crisis having been precipitated by a miscarriage.

The novel is written with humour and sensitivity, and a wry understanding of the temptations for married women when things start going wrong at home. Although written in a different idiom from A VIOLATION, this was quite a daring plot for its time, stepping away from the one-hero, one-heroine format more common in romances of the 70s and early 80s, and coming close to suggesting adultery. More taboos being explored and broken!

If you're interested in reading it, DARK DOMINION is available to buy at Abe Books.

I can't find the sequel among my collection of Charlotte Lambs, but I have a sneaking suspicion it was called SAVAGE SURRENDER. Unfortunately, I can't check that on the net, because although it's available in various places online, none of them describe the plot and I shall not be in a position to buy a copy until next month. So if anyone out there owns a copy of SAVAGE SURRENDER and can tell me whether or not the hero's name is Jake, that should clear it up!