The Passion and the Flower

Strikingly handsome the Russian Prince Ivan Volkonski leaves a trail of broken hearts behind him wherever he goes.
But, when his best friend, Lord Marston, takes him one evening to the famous Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, he witnesses a spellbinding dance performance of grace and spirituality that is to change his life forever.
The dancer, a beautiful young woman known only as Lokita, mesmerises and enthrals him with her dancing and brings back emotional memories of his family that he had almost forgotten.
And he is determined to see her again and make her his own. Frustrated to find that she will see no admirers in her dressing room at the theatre after her dancing, the Prince stages a 'kidnapping' to force her to meet him.
Instantly Lokita and the Prince are in love and there is an electric magic between them and the Prince believes that Fate has brought them together and that they have loved each other in many previous lives so strong are their feelings for each other.
But surely a commoner, no matter how beautiful and talented, cannot marry a Russian Prince?
The Czar of Russia, an absolute dictator, would never allow it and anyway Lokita's over-protective duenna and Guardian, the redoubtable Miss Anderson, is determined to keep Lokita as far away from the Prince and his advances as she possibly can.

Barbara Cartland was the world's most prolific novelist who wrote an amazing 723 books in her lifetime, of which no less than 644 were romantic novels with worldwide sales of over 1 billion copies and her books were translated into 36 different languages.
As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, theatrical plays and books of advice on life, love, vitamins and cookery.
She wrote her first book at the age of 21 and it was called Jigsaw. It became an immediate bestseller and sold 100,000 copies in hardback in England and all over Europe in translation.
Between the ages of 77 and 97 she increased her output and wrote an incredible 400 romances as the demand for her romances was so strong all over the world.
She wrote her last book at the age of 97 and it was entitled perhaps prophetically The Way to Heaven.
Her books have always been immensely popular in the United States where in 1976 her current books were at numbers 1 & 2 in the B. Dalton bestsellers list, a feat never achieved before or since by any author.
Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime and will be best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels so loved by her millions of readers throughout the world, who have always collected her books to read again and again, especially when they feel miserable or depressed.
Her books will always be treasured for their moral message, her pure and innocent heroines, her handsome and dashing heroes, her blissful happy endings and above all for her belief that the power of love is more important than anything else in everyone's life.