The Two Dukes
Of Wyndham series are stories of two Gentlemen and stranger cousins whose fate
and love life about to change one night along with the fate of an Dukedom. Both
stories happen parallel at the same time. Both books best be read together back
to back in any order at the same time for better understanding of the whole
series, or also could be read as a stand-alone novel. Both books in the series
contains adult materials and not suitable for readers under 18 years old.
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Serial The Two Dukes Of Wyndham
berkisah seputar dua Gentlemen dan sepupu yang nasib dan kehidupan cintanya
menjadi jungkir balik berubah seiring dengan perubahan dari gelar Duke. Kedua
cerita terjadi parallel bersamaan. Dan kedua buku ini sebaiknya dibaca
bersamaan secara berturut-turut dalam urutan apapun, untuk lebih memahami
keseluruhan cerita di dalam serial ini, walaupun kedua buku ini dapat juga
dibaca sebagai buku yang berdiri sendiri. Kedua buku ini mengandung material
dewasa yang tidak cocok untuk para pembaca di bawah 18 tahun.
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1.
Book 1 : The Lost Duke Of Wyndham
Copyright © 2008 by Julie Cotler
Pottinger
First Published in Indonesia on 2009 by
PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama
Paperback Edition, 22 Chapters, 416
Pages (for Indonesian Edition)
Genre : Historical Romance, Adult
Novel
Other book in the series : Mr. Cavendish,
I Presume
Jack Audley has been a highwayman. A soldier.
And he has always been a rogue. What he is not, and never wanted to be, is a
peer of the realm, responsible for an ancient heritage and the livelihood of
hundreds. But when he is recognized as the long-lost son of the House of
Wyndham, his carefree life is over. And if his birth proves to be legitimate,
then he will find himself with the one title he never wanted: Duke of Wyndham.
Grace Eversleigh has spent the last five years
toiling as the companion to the dowager Duchess of Wyndham. It is a thankless
job, with very little break from the routine… until Jack Audley lands in her
life, all rakish smiles and debonair charm. He is not a man who takes no for an
answer, and when she is in his arms, she’s not a woman who wants to say no. But
if he is the true duke, then he is the one man she can never have…
2.
Book 2 : Mr. Cavendish, I Presume
Copyright © 2008 by Julie Cotler
Pottinger
First published in Indonesia on 2009 by PT
Gramedia Pustaka Utama
Paperback Edition, 22 Chapters, 392 Pages
(for Indonesian Edition)
Genre : Historical Romance, Adult Novel
Other
book in the series : The Lost Duke of Wyndham
There went the bride…
Amelia
Willoughby has been
engaged to the Duke of Wyndham for as long as she can remember. Literally. A
mere six months old when the contracts were signed, she has spent the rest of
her life waiting. And waiting. And waiting…for Thomas Cavendish, the oh-so-lofty duke,
to finally get around to marrying her. But as she watches him from afar, she
has a sneaking suspicion that he never thinks about her at all…
It’s true. He
doesn’t. Thomas rather likes having a fiancée — all the better to keep the
husband-hunters at bay—and he does intend to marry her…eventually. But just
when he begins to realize that his bride might be something more than
convenient, Thomas’s world is rocked by the arrival of his long-lost cousin,
who may or may not be the true Duke of Wyndham. And if Thomas is not the duke,
then he’s not engaged to Amelia. Which is the cruelest joke of all, because
this arrogant and illustrious duke has made the mistake of falling in love…with
his own fiancée!
Both
stories in The
Lost Duke Of Wyndham and Mr. Cavendish, I Presume happen at the same
time around 1819 in Lincolnshire, England. Both stories tell a tale about the
fates of two pairs of lovers that connected with the confusion for the title of
Duke of Wyndham. There are 4 main characters that become the center of focus in
this mess, which are Thomas Cavendish, Jack Audley, Amelia Willoughby, and
Grace Eversleigh.
Thomas
Cavendish is the 7th Duke of Wyndham after his father’s death
several years ago. Or so he thinks. He was raised since his childhood to become
the heir of an old Dukedom along with all the heavy responsibility that follows
to preserve and manage their massive estates and family fortunes. Thomas always
took his responsibility very seriously and he is doing a very great job at
expanding the family fortune for years.
Since he
was a child, his father arranged Thomas to be married to Amelia Willoughby, the
second daughter of Earl of Crowland, who also lived in the nearby village in
Lincolnshire. And after years and years pass by, the engagement between Thomas
and Amelia is hanging there without any indication from Thomas to ever set the
wedding date. He just treats Amelia politely with the lack of interest and only
consider her as another duty that he prefer to delay as long as he can, since
he feels that he’s not ready to marry yet.
But when
Amelia turn 21 years old and still there’s no sign from the Duke that he wants
to marry her in any time soon or at least make the effort to really get to know
her besides a few polite words about the weather and required two dance at
social events, Amelia decided that she finally had enough waiting for him and
grew impatient for her fiancée’s behavior. She began to stand up for herself,
and it turns out her action makes Thomas started to notice her, not as an
obligation like before, but finally as a person that he cared for. But too bad
not long after that everything begins to fall apart in their world, as a
stranger claimed as Thomas’ long lost cousin appear out of nowhere, which make
the matter of the Dukedom title is a bit of a mess.
Jack
Audley is an English veteran, raised by his aunt’s family in Ireland. After the
war, he decided to stay in England and surviving by robbing from the wealthy
(with mostly his robbery prizes goes to other war victims who are sick and
crippled all across England after the war). Until one fateful night when Jack
and his men stop the carriage of the Dowager Duchess of Wyndham (Thomas’
grandmother) and her companion, Grace Eversleigh. That night, the Dowager
Duchess recognize the similarity between Jack and her beloved second son, John
Cavendish, who died 29 years ago during his trip back home from Ireland. John’s
death really upset the Dowager Duchess, especially it happens a year before the
death both of her husband, the Duke of Wyndham the 5th and their
eldest son and heir, Charles. All that tragedy unexpectedly made Thomas’ father
(the youngest, and the least favorite son of the Dowager duchess) became the
next Duke of Wyndham the 6th.
And since
John Cavendish was Thomas’ father older brother, that makes Jack entitled to
become the next Duke of Wyndham, not Thomas. But that only happens if Jack can
prove that his parents’ marriage was legal in front of the law. Besides there’s
also other reasons that makes Jack reluctant to accept to become the next Duke
of Wyndham. And Amelia’s future also tangled in this mess, since her engagement
contract clearly mention that she was engage to Duke of Wyndham, not mention
Thomas specifically. Thomas also tortured since he’s falling for Amelia. Could
he just give up Amelia married to someone else? And Grace is also in the same
situation with Thomas, since she falls hard for Jack even there’s a big status
difference between both of them if Jack indeed proven to be the next Duke of
Wyndham. Therefore, all party
involves agreed to travel to Ireland to check the legality of the marriage
between Jack’s parents, and make sure that Jack is the true heir to the
Dukedom.
Julia
Quinn shows her magic again in both books in the series with her ability to
tells interesting stories from two different perspectives. Although the
storylines are a bit flat compare to JQ’s other works, but I cannot deny that
both books are quite interesting to read since we as readers can experience the
story from four different point of view (Jack, Thomas, Amelia, and Grace) and
their perspectives in dealing with the same problem. Both love stories quite
good and entertaining even they are so simple without any major surprises or
plot twist at all in the book. And as usual as her trademark, Julia Quinn write
about a medical condition in The Lost Duke of Wyndham, and there’s a brief
moment of Lady Whistledown’s Gossip Column appear at the ending of Mr. Cavendish,
I Presume.
Rating for
both The
Lost Duke of Wyndham and Mr. Cavendish, I Presume are 7.8/10.
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Kedua kisah di dalam novel The Lost Duke
of Wyndham dan Mr. Cavendish, I Presume ini berjalan parallel
secara bersamaan pada sekitar tahun 1819 di daerah Lincolnshire, Inggris
mengenai nasib dua pasang kekasih yang saling berkaitan satu sama lain dengan
gelar Duke of Wyndham. Ada 4 tokoh utama yang nasibnya menjadi pertaruhan dalam
kerancuan ini yaitu Thomas Cavendish, Jack Audley, Amelia Willoughby, dan Grace
Eversleigh.
Thomas
Cavendish adalah Duke of Wyndham ke-7. Atau ia sebelumnya beranggapan bahwa ia
adalah Duke of Wyndham ke-7 setelah kematian ayahnya. Ia dibesarkan dan dididik
dari sejak kecil untuk menjadi penerus gelar Duke yang turun temurun sudah
sangat tua beserta seluruh tanggung jawab berat untuk menjaga dan mengelola
Estate dan harta warisan milik keluarganya. Dan sudah bertahun-tahun Thomas
menjalankan kewajibannya tersebut dengan sangat serius, dan sangat baik pula.
Sejak kecil Thomas sudah ditunangkan dengan
Amelia Willoughby, anak perempuan kedua dari Earl of Crowland yang juga tinggal
di Lincolnshire. Dan selama bertahun-tahun pertunangan tersebut berjalan,
Thomas hanya memperlakukan Amelia dengan sikap acuh tak acuh dan menganggapnya
sebagai sebuah kewajiban yang terus berusaha tundanya karena Thomas memang
belum tertarik untuk memikirkan pernikahan. Tetapi pada saat Amelia sudah
berusia 21 tahun, dan dari Thomas belum juga terlihat tanda-tanda ingin segera
menikahinya ataupun setidaknya tanda-tanda dari Thomas untuk sedikitnya
berusaha mengenal diri Amelia selain beberapa patah kata sapaan dan basa-basi
sopan saat mereka bertemu di acara-acara social, kesabaran Amelia mulai habis. Ia
mulai menentang Thomas sehingga sang Duke tersebut mulai memperhatikannya bukan
sebagai kewajiban yang enggan dijalaninya, melainkan sebagai pribadi yang mulai
dikaguminya. Sayangnya pada saat itu pula muncul masalah mengenai siapa pewaris
gelar Duke of Wyndham yang sesungguhnya, karena ternyata sepupu Thomas, anak
dari kakak ayahnya, baru diketemukan keberadaannya.
Jack Audley merupakan veteran prajurit perang
Inggris yang dibesarkan oleh keluarga Bibinya di Irlandia. Setelah perang
selesai ia memutuskan untuk menetap sementara di Inggris dan bertahan hidup
dari hasil merampok kereta para bangsawan (sebagian besar hasil rampokannya
dibagikan juga kepada para veteran perang yang cacat yang saat itu bertebaran
di Inggris). Sampai pada suatu malam saat ia dan kawanan perampoknya mencegat sebuah
kereta yang ditumpangi oleh Dowager Duchess of Wyndham, nenek Thomas, dan
pendampingnya Grace Eversleigh. Sang Dowager Duchess mengenali kemiripan antara
wajah Jack dengan wajah anak kesayangannya, John Cavendish yang diberitakan
sudah meninggal 29 tahun yang lalu di laut dalam kecelakaan kapal saat
perjalanan kembali ke Inggris dari Irlandia, setahun sebelum kematian suaminya
Duke of Wyndham ke-5 dan putra sulungnya, Charles. Seluruh tragedy keluarga
itulah yang menjadikan ayah Thomas menjadi penerus Duke of Wyndham selanjutnya
(walaupun ia merupakan anak bungsu dan yang kurang disukai oleh ibunya).
Dan berhubung bahwa John Cavendish merupakan
kakak dari ayah Thomas, sehingga konsekuensinya Jack lah yang seharusnya berhak
menjadi pewaris gelar Duke of Wyndham, bukan Thomas. Tapi itu dengan catatan
bahwa Jack dapat membuktikan bahwa pernikahan kedua orang tuanya dilakukan
secara sah di mata hukum. Akhirnya semua pihak yang terlibat sepakat untuk
melakukan perjalanan ke Irlandia untuk melihat arsip pernikahan kedua orang tua
Jack yang dapat membuktikan bahwa Jack adalah benar-benar pewaris gelar Duke of
Wyndham yang sejati. Akan tetapi masih ada beberapa hal yang Jack sembunyikan
dari semua orang, yang membuatnya enggan untuk menerima gelar Duke tersebut.
Bagaimana nasib Amelia yang di dalam kontrak
pertunangannya jelas menyebutkan bahwa ia ditunangkan kepada Duke of Wyndham?
Bagaimana nasib Thomas yang mulai jatuh cinta setelah mengenal Amelia lebih
dekat? Apakah ia bisa merelakan Amelia menikah dengan orang lain? Dan bagaimana
nasib Grace yang jatuh cinta pada Jack walaupun perbedaan status antara
keduanya jika ternyata benar Jack merupakan Duke of Wyndham?
Di dalam kedua buku ini Julia Quinn kembali
menunjukkan kepiawaiannya dalam merajut cerita dengan cukup apik dari dua sudut
pandang empat tokoh utama yang berbeda antara dua orang sepupu Thomas dan Jack
serta Amelia dan Grace. Menurut aku untuk jalan ceritanya agak datar, tapi
kedua buku ini cukup menarik dan enak untuk dibaca karena berasal dari sudut
pandang 4 tokoh utama yang berbeda dalam menghadapi suatu masalah yang sama.
Untuk kedua kisah cintanya cukup menghibur dan bagus, walaupun alur ceritanya
sederhana dan mudah ditebak tanpa adanya unsur kejutan besar atau plot twist
cerita di dalamnya. Dan seperti biasanya Julia Quinn menyisipkan kondisi medis
di dalam The
Lost Duke of Wyndham. Dan juga munculnya kolom gossip Lady
Whistledown, walaupun secara sekilas di bagian akhir cerita dari Mr. Cavendish,
I Presume.
Rating untuk The Lost Duke of Wyndham dan
juga Mr.
Cavendish, I Presume masing-masing 7.8/10.
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