Eagle’s, Morsi’s Books Stand Out From The Rest

Kathleen Eagle and Pamela Morsi write with two of the most distinctive voices in romance. Their current books, Eagle’s “The Night Remembers” and Morsi’s “No Ordinary Princess,” stand out from among the hundreds of romances published each month.

“The Night Remembers,” by Kathleen Eagle. (Avon Books, $16.)

Like Eagle’s previous books, “The Night Remembers” relies on American Indian characters and culture to create a special flavor. This time, she tells a tale of urban Indian life, inspired in part by an article she read about a man who lived underground in a Minneapolis park, and in part by her husband’s experiences as a teacher in a predominantly Indian inner-city school. “The Night Remembers” is a story about three deeply wounded people and their struggles to reclaim meaningful lives in the midst of poverty, violence and fear.

The most engaging character in the novel is not Angela, the frightened waitress hiding in a new city from a threatening past, or Jesse, the broken Lakota man who hides in a cave by the river, wracked with migraine headaches and a sense of crippling failure. It is Tommy T, a homeless 12-year-old boy of black and Lakota descent, a child who roams the streets in search of a superhero.

Tommy T is a budding cartoonist who filches scraps of drawing paper from Angela and notions of superpowers from Jesse to create Dark Dog, an Indian superhero who charms dogs and takes guns away from angry boys playing deadly games. Initially drawn together by their protective instincts for Tommy T, Angela and Jesse soon find themselves moving toward a more intimate relationship.

“The Night Remembers” is a compelling, fiercely realistic novel that won’t be easily forgotten. It is both sensitive and courageous, tackling a setting and subject matter that are rarely seen in romance.

As to the romance, the scenes between Angela and Jesse are at the same time tender and charged with passion. Once again, Eagle demonstrates that one of the surest paths to dealing effectively with all manner of social and personal obstacles lies through the mature and thoughtful practice of love.

“No Ordinary Princess,” by Pamela Morsi. (Avon Books, $5.99.)

Morsi writes romances that read like fables or parables. Her books capture a certain sweetness grounded in human fallibility that is utterly charming.

In “No Ordinary Princess,” the Princess is Princess Calhoun, the only child of King Calhoun, a rich, rough-around-the-edges Oklahoma Territory oil man. Princess has grown up with plenty of money and a doting papa, but she isn’t the prettiest thing in a skirt, and she is a bit overbearing.

At 23, she’s still single, and beneath her capable, confident exterior, she nurses a romantic heart.

When Tom Walker, a former Rough Rider and hero of the Spanish-American War, turns up at the birthday party Princess throws for her father, he immediately identifies her as a plum ripe for the picking. Tom grew up in an orphan home for Indians and has made his living by the labor of his own hands for most of his life.

He has learned what the good life of wealth and social consequence is like through the friendship of a fellow soldier. Having seen what a lot of money can buy, Tom wants a lot for himself. What better way to get it than to marry a rich woman, even if she is a little too managing?

Adopting the identity of his alter ego, Gerald Tarkington Crane of Bedlington, N.J., Tom pursues Princess, or Cessy, as he calls her, and discovers that beneath her strong-willed pragmatism lies a warm and generous spirit. In classic gold-digger fashion, Tom realizes he is caught in his own web of deceit only when coming clean will cost him everything he’s worked for.

As in Morsi’s other books, the most appealing aspects of “No Ordinary Princess” lie in the author’s ability to write about everyday people who may be silly, duplicitous, self-seeking, naive, bossy, less than beautiful, or possessed of less than rapier-sharp intellects and find what is right and good in those people and show them learning how love brings out grace and nobility in the most ordinary of souls.

Like Eagle’s, Morsi’s message is a hopeful one that stakes a firm claim on the transformative power of love in the lives of less-than-perfect people.

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