Wings of the Falcon by Barbara Michaels

Okay, I admit it, I'm a sucker for a gothic adventure/romance. When I was a teenager, my sister and I gobbled up Victoria Holts and Mary Stewarts (I still love Mary Stewart), with the occasional Barbara Cartland thrown in (not so gothic, but often hilariously melodramatic).

And I have long enjoyed Elizabeth Peters. She writes romantic adventures AND the Amelia Peabody series, all books that I have gobbled up and regularly re-read. I vaguely knew she wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Michaels but I don't remember if I've read any of those.... Well, what I didn't realize was that these ones are the gothic-type adventure/romances that I have loved since forever (many have supernatural elements as well)! And I think this one might be the first of hers that I've read. It won't be the last, of course.

One sentence summary: 17-year-old Englishwoman Francesca is left alone and unprotected after the death of her father and must travel to join the unknown (to her) and powerful Italian family of her late mother. Hold on, I can't do this in one sentence. In Italy, Francesca becomes sympathetic to the efforts of the heroic "falcon" and his followers to unite Italy and free the downtrodden from the absolute rule of the local despots. Sounds kind of "Zorro", doesn't it? It reads that way, too.

In any case, it's a historical lesson and an exciting story and we get caught up in Francesca's dangers and passions and adventures. I really enjoyed it and think that I must add all the Barbara Michaels books to my already groaning book shelves. Yay!