Living with her stepfather in the south of France, penniless orphan Myrtile runs away when her stepfather tries to marry her off. While fleeing she encounters two English gentlemen; the handsome playboy Gerald Dombay, and young lawyer Christopher Dent. An inevitable love-triangle forms, but there is more the Myrtile than meets the eye. Packed full of mystery and romance, this is an entertaining tale from author E. Phillip Oppenheim.
E. Phillips Oppenheim (1866–1946) was a hugely prolific and highly popular British author of novels and short stories. Born in Tottenham, London, Oppenheim left school as a teenager and worked for his leather-merchant father for 20 years prior to launching his literary career. Oppenheim published five novels under the pseudonym ‘Anthony Partridge’ before establishing his reputation as a writer under his own name. An internationally successful author, Oppenheim’s stories revolved mainly around glamourous characters, luxurious settings, and themes of espionage, suspense, and crime. He is widely regarded as one of the earliest pioneers of the thriller and spy-fiction genre as it is recognised today. Oppenheim’s incredible literary success meant that his own life soon began to mirror that of his opulent characters. He held lavish, Gatsby-style parties at his French Villa and was rumoured to have had frequent love affairs aboard his luxury yacht. Oppenheim’s success earned him the cover of Time magazine in 1927. Some of his most well-known novels include ‘The Great Impersonation’, ‘The Long Arm of Mannister’ and ‘The Moving Finger’.