My Daddy the Duke

Judy Christenberry

Here is a typically wishful- thinking story which is so full of cliches it rattles.According to such stories English Dukes who marry aristocrats of their own class are miserable until they find a waitress or a school marm in America. Here the lady drives a rig.She has been brought up well and knows how to behave in High society calling Duchesses my lady instead of Your Grace.. The Duchess is also American and shows her truly noble Yankee blue blood by being snobbish,obnoxious,rude and telling her prospective daughter in law that she is not fit to marry into royalty. She herself ,a rancher's daughter,could marry a Duke but another Yankee wasn't good enough for her son the Duke. Hoo Boy!Why am I still reading this guff?Actually I am an insomniac and I thought that this cliche ridden book would be a good soporific sedative. Then comes a six year old moppet with the vocabulary of a 30 year old. "Daddy,have you convinced her yet?I will never forgive you if you haven't done that.I think she is a perfect mama for me." God save us from precocious pouters but at least she isn't like Emma Goldrick's illiterate teenagers shrieking at the always 5 feet 2 44 inch bust heroine "I ain't saying nothing to ya, but didja give my dad a job .We need the money."That's a 14 year old. Dads here are always lawyers but willing to take up gardening jobs to pay alimony. Hoo boy. Same publishers I believe.