to be touched by him. She therefore decided to leave her home and run away to avoid having to marry a man she did not love and could never love. When she saw a large and impressive yacht at a nearby Port, she went aboard and hid as a stowaway. She hoped that the yacht was going to France where she had a friend from school who she could stay with. When the owner of the yacht, the Earl of Penwood, came aboard, he found her in his Master cabin, but instead of being angry and throwing her off at the next stop, he told her that he also was being forced to marry someone and perhaps they could both assist each other. Alvina helped the Earl in solving his problem by successfully pretending to be his wife and he was delighted. It was while they were anchored at the quay in the Port of Gibraltar that Alvina mysteriously disappeared. How she found herself in Morocco on the other side of the Mediterranean. How the Sultan was attracted by her fair hair and blue eyes and sent men to kidnap her and then she was in his Palace where he intended to marry her and join his many other wives. And how she was saved and found the love that she had been seeking is all told in this exciting and romantic novel by BARBARA CARTLAND.

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.