Click here to read reviewer Helen Hancox's take on It Happened One Night.
It Happened One Night is an anthology of four stories set in the 19th century. These stories all happen in one day, while the characters are trapped at an inn due to nature's fury in the form of thunderstorms. The characters are no stranger to one another, which makes these short stories possible. They are childhood friends who have been separated for ten years and are now reunited again.
The first story, "The Fall of Rogue Gerrard," follows Robert Gerrard and Lydia Makepeace into a hedonistic lifestyle to retrieve a scandalous letter that would ruin her sister if it
fell into the wrong hands. The plot, unfortunately, is trivial. Did not like this one at all.
The second story, "Spellbound", finds Nora Ryder once again facing Robert Kemp, now Lord Bourne. Nora is stunned to discover that they are still married
- after ten years apart. This story is so sweet and heartrending and beautifully told, I did not want it to end.
"Only You" has Cassandra Heywood returning home after a loveless marriage. Her carriage is forestalled by the rainstorm at the very inn that Ethan Baxter now owns. Ethan Baxter stole her heart ten years ago; while the circumstances are better, can they still find the love they lost?
In "From This Moment On," Wilhelmina Grant cannot believe her eyes when she sets them on her first love, Samuel Pellow. Will he ever forgive her for becoming a well-known courtesan?
Will she ever forgive him for not coming back for her all those years ago?
Although I only liked two out of these four pieces, the anthology as a whole
is well-written for being short stories.