The Flame and the Flower

The Birmingham Family, Book 1

By: Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

Narrated by: Ashford McNab

New York Times best-selling author Kathleen E. Woodiwiss's debut romance....

The Flower

Doomed to a life of unending toil, Heather Simmons fears for her innocence—until a shocking, desperate act forces her to flee...and to seek refuge in the arms of a virile and dangerous stranger.

The Flame

A lusty adventurer married to the sea, Captain Brandon Birmingham courts scorn and peril when he abducts the beautiful fugitive from the tumultuous London dockside. But no power on Earth can compel him to relinquish his exquisite prize. For he is determined to make the sapphire-eyed lovely his woman...and to carry her off to far, uncharted realms of sensuous, passionate love.

©2009 Kathleen E. Woodiwiss (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Worth the wait

Such an amazing author. Better than I remembered. Can’t wait to listen to more of her books!

The forward is fantastic

Please ignore reviews complaining about the foreword, which is fascinating and respectful of both Woodiwiss and her readers. While it’s totally fair to not want to think that deeply about the books, there are plenty of people who will want to just that. Just skip the forward if you’re not interested.

Jayashree Kamblé situates the books in their 20th-century context, which is important for readers unfamiliar with Woodiwiss and the genre she helped define. Of course the gender politics are somewhat dated, but her point is that for their time these books were revolutionary in their depiction of women’s desire and agency. It’s very cool to know how much Woodiwiss was invested in portraying women as sexual agents rather than objects. Critique does not equal denigration. And the same goes for pointing out that Woodiwiss’ books set in the Americas have a weird way of depicting slavery that reflects our still-extant difficulties reckoning with our slave-holding past. She’s not taking Woodiwiss to task, she’s telling readers that yes, it is weird that all of Brandon Birmingham’s slaves are referred to as servants even though other people’s slaves are just called slaves. You’re not the only one who noticed and isn’t it interesting to think about what it means to have a romantic hero participate in a racist and inhumane system?

All that said, the book, despite its outdated depiction of gender and racial dynamics remains compelling. The characters are sharply drawn and the writing retains its energy. The narrator is great too (although I dislike her portrayal of Thomas Hint because he doesn’t sound threatening enough for me).

This is one of the first romance novels I ever read and one that my late mother and I loved together. We even at one point bought ourselves (fake) pearl necklaces with ruby pendants in honor of the connection we shared over this book. My mother even named me after the heroine in Ashes in the Wind. So, needless to say, I will always love this novel and all of Woodiwiss’ work. The added context just makes my enjoyment richer.

Good revisit

It was a good revisit of an old favorite. Just out of high school and roommate and I would trade Kathleen Wood I wise and Rosemary Rodgers books. I know in today's world these books are considered in bad form, but luckily we don't ban books that we don't agree with - yet.

I read this in 1972!!

So much fun to listen to one of favorite authors! Totally campy & at times silly, but I enjoyed the book very much!

I waited for this for months!

Let me say that I read this first in the 70's when I watched the older camp counselors all reading it at every meal at Summer Camp. How my Mother let me read it, I'm still not sure , but the romance bug hit me and never left! I loved this book & read her other books,but none was like "The Flame & the Flower". I loved the story , but performance so-so ( not sure about Heather and Hattie's accents) .I have to say that I listened in the car, on my kindle , at lunch at work, doing the house cleaning.... you name it I was listening! For those who say Brandon's behavior was suspect , I remind that this book was written at a very different time for male/female relationships and that those relationships were even more different in the 19th century; take the book for the enjoyable story it is and the precursor to all the romance books we love today and not look at it through 21st century eye. Enjoy! I'm now going on to my next Woodiwiss favorite " A Rose in Winter"

The revisit via audio!

Read this as a young bride in the 70’s and loved it! Listened to it now as a grandmother and loved it! It felt strange listening to Brandon’s southern drawl as I didn’t remember it being that way when I read it so many years ago. I always thought that Ms. Woodiwiss’ books would make great movies or series on TV.

Burning, Burning

The end will delight and amaze you. Had me sitting on the edge of my seat.

Still wonderful 40 years later....

Brandon and Heather's journey to true love is a twisted tale. I read this many years ago and was very excited to see audible bring this out. The narrator is only passible but you do get used to her.

Now on to the forward....

Skip the opening ramble from today's current policy makers, it verges on censorship. Women were considered chattel in the 1790's (some still are in 2023) and a great majority of men did basically whatever they wanted to them (and still do). Truth no matter how ugly is still the truth. Woodiwiss writes realistically to the realities of that time period.. We shouldn't like that it happened (still is) but we should always know our history and see it clearly, not with a sugarcoating on it in whatever current time we are living in. Slavery, murder and rape are still rampant worldwide..... and powerful men are still trying to control women through laws and intimidation. Truth

Recently read a book titled "The Abuductors" by Stuart Cloete a true look at how women and children were valued and used in 1885 Victorian England (and still are in places of the world). It's based on historical fact . William Stead plays a major role in the story. Age of consent was 10 up until 1861... horrifying.

I love this author….. page turner books

I love how she writes her books. I love all her books. All her books I have read I can’t put them down…. I keep reading to find out the next chapter

Flame and the Flower review

This was my very first romantic noval I read when I was 16, I have read this noval many times throughout the years and fall in love with the characters every time. I loved the character Brandon so much, I named my first born son after this character, we now joke about where and why I chose that name for him. I am now 57 years old, when I want to go back to my youthful memories and the feelings and thoughts I dreamed of, I curl up to this wonderful noval....many thanks to the author Kathleen Woodiwiss for this amazing noval and taking me to a very special place in time.