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Emmanuelle de Maupassant
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Highland Pursuits (Bright Young Things) Paperback – January 27, 2017

3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 1,078 ratings
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Prepare for romance, mischief and hilarity in this 1920s comedy of manners, set against the majestic backdrop of the Scottish Highlands.

It's 1928 and Bright Young Things are taking London by storm, but debutante Ophelia's life is all mapped out: marriage to a cod-faced aristocrat and a life of dull respectability.

Refusing to play along, Ophelia is banished to her ancestral home in the Highlands of Scotland.
There, she'll be so bored, she'll come to her senses, won't she?

Meeting her eccentric relatives, Ophelia isn't so sure.
And she can't deny her attraction to ruggedly handsome estate manager Hamish...


... don't miss the other two volumes in this enchanting trilogy:
'Highland Christmas' and 'Highland Wedding'


Heat level : saucy

For fans of Downton Abbey, Nancy Mitford and Rhys Bowen.
Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 3
    Bright Young Things
  2. Print length
    188 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    January 27, 2017
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.43 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1520474385
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1520474380
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Emmanuelle lives with her husband (maker of tea and fruit cake) and her little haggis pudding terrier (connoisseur of bacon treats and squeaky toys). 

She writes historical tales filled with steam, suspense, and elements of romance. 

Visit her website - emmanuelledemaupassant.com - to find exclusive FREE stories to download, and to sign up for her newsletter (monthly gossip, giveaways and goodies).

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (January 27, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 188 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1520474385
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1520474380
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.43 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 1,078 ratings

About the author

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Emmanuelle de Maupassant

Emmanuelle de Maupassant

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Passionate historical romance.

Emmanuelle lives in a medieval tower house in the Highlands with her husband and her haggis pudding monster Archie (connoisseur of bacon treats and squeaky toys).

To hear when Em has a new release... just hit "FOLLOW", above.

Customer reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars
3.6 out of 5
1,078 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Samantha MacLeod
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2017
Verified Purchase
I didn’t expect to fall in love with this book.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I loved Cautionary Tales, de Maupassant’s collection of dark, erotic short stories. But I’ve never been crazy about the Roaring 20s – The Great Gatsby notwithstanding – and stories about the idly rich tend to make me roll my eyes.

So it was only my love of de Maupassant’s other works that led me to open Highland Pursuits, a romantic story about a London debutante set in the 1920s.

And it was awesome!

As usual, de Maupassant has such a gift for creating a setting; the Highland Castle Kintochlochie becomes another character in its own right, and a very romantic one at that. Not to mention Hamish, the ruggedly handsome Scotsmen (really, is there any other type of Scotsman?) who manages the Castle estate.

This novel contains de Maupassant’s usual knack for humor, which is sometimes dark and always entertaining, and her characters run the full gamut from sympathetic to downright dreamy to outright scoundrels. I especially enjoyed the braggart Americans and the crotchety old grandfather, who reminded me just a tad of Father Jack…

And it wasn’t just the romance that drew me in. Lady Ophelia herself, the afore-mentioned London debutante, undergoes a rich and satisfying transformation. Her romantic, sensual adventures are part of that journey, but not all. Sure, she wants romance and sex, but she’d also like to do something with her life (much to the shock of her upper-crust mother), and it’s quite refreshing to read a romance novel with such a fully developed female protagonist.

Also, as an avid fly fisherman myself, I have to say: If you lose a sexy man’s fly rod, and in response he shrugs and tells you it’s not a big deal, you MARRY THAT MAN!

Highly recommended, even if you’re not into the 1920s. ;)
11 people found this helpful
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GrizzlyWife
3.0 out of 5 stars Good Heroine, Too Bad the "Hero" was a Dud
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2022
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A historical romance has to come to life when the author and the reader were not part of that era. The heroine was very understandable and sympathetic. It's a good reminder that some women live in countries where they don't have to put up with nonsense our great-grandmother had to.

The "hero" was a bastard. He used her only to tell her that he needs to try once again to reunite with the very woman who rejected him. She understands, right? No.

Personally, she should have given him the bums rush when he returned and moved on with her life. Virgin or not.
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Lyn
4.0 out of 5 stars Book 1 of the trilogy - Independent young woman
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2023
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In 1928 London, refusing a marriage proposal and banished for embarrassing her mother, Ophelia has been sent to her grandmother’s Highland Castle in Scotland as punishment.
Wanting to experience life and her sexuality this story shows the saucy behaviour of the rich group of people that she finds herself amongst.
This part of the trilogy introduces us to all of her grandmothers eccentric friends.
Humorous at times book 1 follows Ophelia’s growing feelings for a man in Scotland.
Will she find the love that she craves with the person she is falling for or is he too blind and unable to reciprocate her feelings?
I really enjoyed getting to know the characters in this story which then lead you into more happening in book 2 and 3.
I feel that you need to read book 2 straight away after this story as this book mainly paves the way for you getting to know the characters in the future books.
As always I enjoyed the narration too.
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Lady8ug9
2.0 out of 5 stars Cliffhanger…
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2023
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I didn’t see that coming. But the story started off slow and stayed that way through most of the book. Banish and Ofelia were good together I thought and I thought they might mean more to each other. However, Ofelia was seriously attracted to him almost at the beginning. The story just didn’t move like I would have like it too.
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Barbara Harrison
5.0 out of 5 stars The State of His Hinges
Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2023
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Allow a LONG afternoon for this delightfully steamy coming-of-age set in 1928 when debutante Lady Ophelia Finchingfield is relegated to the care of her grandmother Lady Morag MacKintoch at Castle Kintochlochie for the sin of refusing to marry Percival Huntley-Withington Earl of Woldershire.
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Elaine Sorensen
3.0 out of 5 stars Frivolous
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2023
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It was just ok,a bit silly. I guess I was looking for a more mature story. She's only eighteen but I had hoped for something more.
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Terrance Aldon Shaw
4.0 out of 5 stars Lighthearted romance with a Scottish lilt
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2017
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Set in the Britain of 1928, 'Highland Pursuits' begins as a feather-light Wodehouse-ian romp liberally crossed with elements of 'Downton Abbey' and 'Upstairs, Downstairs'. Lovely, young, and reluctantly eligible Ophelia rejects her upper-class twit of a suitor in London and is summarily packed off to the Scottish highlands to “come to her senses” spending the summer on her grandmother’s manor estate. Ophelia hardly fits the mold of a typical Wodehouse leading lady; she is neither an insufferable battle-axe nor a doe-eyed ditz, though she encounters her share of the like in her travels, along with effusively pretentious artists, foreign scoundrels, loudmouthed Americans, dirty old men, titled eccentrics, and divers members of the aristocratic huntin’-shootin’ set.

But it’s the handsome estate manager Hamish who catches Ophelia’s eye. Hamish, of course, possesses all the characteristics of the perfect romance hero; impossibly good-looking (especially in a kilt), macho, sometimes gallant, but also brooding and darkly aloof as he nurses a broken heart from his past. You KNOW how this is going to turn out, right? Yet, it’s in the “getting there” that this superbly crafted story shines.

If I have any complaints about 'Highland Pursuits', it is that the tone becomes decidedly less lighthearted towards the middle, whence, consequently, the pacing seems to flag. Where do all the wonderful jokes go—even the delightful antics of Ophelia’s cairn terrier Pudding? It’s all-too serious of a sudden, perhaps because, knowing how stories like this are supposed to end, it’s necessary to spin out the dramatic irony for a spell. This inconsistency in tone is ameliorated to some degree by the quality of the writing, and, perhaps, most people, who read considerably faster than I, won’t even notice. Still, 'tis ne’ bu’ a wee quibble considering the excellence of the whole.

Highly recommended!
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Top reviews from other countries

Mrs Marilyn Parry
5.0 out of 5 stars highland pursuits
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 28, 2023
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I enjoyed this book immensely. The story of Ophelia wanting to become a grown up was entertaining. Her Mother had sent her to Scotland to live with her grandmother. She tried all ways to attract a man, any man. Find a man who wanted her.
She fell for Hamish who worked for her Grandmother, but he was involved with Felicite and thought he might marry her, but
She being a very flighty woman who slept where it suited her, but She decided she would go off acting for someone, so Hamish came back to Scotland, and met Ophelia again. So we have to wait for the next book to see what happens next.
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matilde martínez-zurita
1.0 out of 5 stars Mal documentado
Reviewed in Spain on April 1, 2023
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I just begin the book when I find an anacronismo, Musée d'Orsay was founded in 1986, before then it was la gare d'Orsay. I won't continue reading this book.
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Dennis Cardiff
5.0 out of 5 stars I wasn't disappointed; this is a rollicking tale of the 1920's
Reviewed in Canada on March 15, 2017
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After having read The Gentlemen's Club, Cautionary Tales and Scarlet by Emmanuelle de Maupassant I eagerly anticipated her latest book, Highland Pursuits. I wasn't disappointed; this is a rollicking tale of the 1920's, somewhat in the manner of the popular television program, Upstairs, Downstairs. We read about the daily adventures of the hired help and the landed gentry who inhabit a Scottish castle. Under the hand of this talented and skillful author descriptions of nature, dialogues and actions of the various characters come to life as we learn their innermost secrets, desires and disappointments.

This read is fast paced and highly enjoyable. The author is a consummate story teller who seamlessly leads the reader through the heroine's various adventures in coming of age. We are introduced to the Lady Ophelia, a 1920's debutante, who is exiled to Scotland to live with her grandmother, Morag. With her she takes what she considers to be life's necessities: a variety of ball gowns, her lap dog, a Cairn terrier named Pudding, a Cadbury's Milk Tray and a well leafed copy of Lady Chatterly's Lover. We experience with her the fancy dress balls, an embarrassing fall in the lake and a disastrous grouse hunt. We learn her attitudes, uncertainties and disappointments as she matures under the guidance of her grandmother, Morag, who eventually bequeaths to her Kintochlochie Castle. This may sound simple, but life's lessons are not so easily learned. A young woman's heart is easily turned by love, romance and a kilted Scot named Hamish.

I highly recommend reading this fascinating book.
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Rosemary Hughes
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting story, but leaves a shadow of doubt in the en, for me.
Reviewed in Australia on January 16, 2018
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This may not meet some reader's idea of Regency romance, having been set in the 1920's, and with a decidedly more risqué tone than most Regency Novels. However, it was a delightful story, one that was heartfelt and humorous, with the touch of whimsy that just makes a really good story, better.
Yes, I loved both Ophelia and Hamish, although I wonder if the return in the end would not leave doubt in a person's mind as to where the other's heart actually lay.
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Ginka
4.0 out of 5 stars Steamy
Reviewed in Canada on August 9, 2017
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I read an arc for an honest review. Perfect blend of characters, sex, and plot. Extremely good read!
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