Pomp and Circumstance Author:Fred Mustard Stewart In the Victorian countryside, irresistible Lizzie, daughter of a sin-obsessed vicar, and Adam, the poor but nobly connected local "hunk," consummate their love. Despite Lizzie's pregnancy and a favorable upturn in Adam's fortunes, circumstances drive the two apart into liaisons with others and heroic adventures on several continents -- adventure... more »s which underscore the great events and issues of the 1850s and 1860s. Backdrops include British stately homes, Napoleon III's Paris, antebellum Virginia, Civil War battlefields, and New York's worlds of theater and high finance. Stewart's characters, of every national and racial origin, are unconvincing as human beings and unsympathetic. His women are sex objects and/or ninnies, angling for monied protectors. Yet plot elements such as family secrets, adultery, blackmail, murder, politics, religious fanaticism, and nonstop lust are adeptly orchestrated by this best-selling author. This is a colorful package that will find many takers. -- Library Journal« less