Stolen Promise

Wilkinson populates an unusual premise with stock characters and a meandering plot line. Just outside 1806 Windsor, England in the Lowara gypsy camp, Jade runs away from an unwanted betrothal and encounters Evan Dark, a visiting part-gypsy American. Despite Jade’s protests, Evan brings her back to her family, who then force the two to marry. Evan declares the Roma ceremony illegitimate and decides to return to his fiancée in America, bringing Jade and her sister along as indentured servants. When they arrive in his South Carolina plantation, it is clear to Evan’s fiancée Gloriana that Jade is much more than a lowly servant, and when Evan reveals that he meant to stay married to Jade all along, Gloriana schemes to pull them apart. Even die-hard gypsy fans will struggle to stay interested. (Mar.)