Dream Lover

From the moment smoke-haired Emerald FitzGerald Montague first gazes into the pewter eyes of Sean FitzGerald O'Toole, she wants him. He is the dreamed-of dark prince who will spirit her away from the Wales of her venal father, William, to the Ireland of her beautiful, debased mother, Amber. Sean wants Emerald, too, but there's a wee problem: Amber is trysting with Sean's older brother, Joseph, and when William learns of the affair, it's the end of the precarious money-making alliance between the Montagues and the FitzGerald O'Toole clan. Issues of honor and vengeance, confounded by 18th-century Anglo-Irish politics, motivate the men's every action here. When Joseph dies at William's order, Sean's desire for vengeance consumes him. Like the Count of Monte Cristo, he steels himself in body and mind, believing he can do anything to destroy William, even use Emerald, whose love he has not forgotten-but in Henley's universe, love may conquer all. Making her hardcover debut, Henley (Enticed) excoriates the British and celebrates the Irish, especially in bed. The sadism of the former and the tender genius of the latter are drawn in loving detail, down to shrieking climaxes. Some characters are inconsistent, notably Emerald's brother, as suits the tale, and all the women are saintly bawds; but the pace is brisk and the passions are huge. Author tour. (Feb.)