Sunday, June 21, 2009

The Wild Cry of Love


The Wild Cry of Love is #44 in the Bantam series and was published in August 1976. It is the story of Valda who leaves Paris to prove to her stepfather that she can do for herself and earn a living with a camera. While living with gypsies and taking pictures of the wild white horses in Camargue, France, she meet Roydon, an Englishman. Could this be the beginning of love?

Francis Marshall paints 2 similar pictures for these covers and for some reason, I always think that this book is set in Australia! Funny enough, I don't believe that Barbara Cartland ever set a romance there and I wonder why? Anyways, we see our heroine in gypsy costume being surprised by the hero in the Bantam cover. The Pan cover shows her holding the camera, which would have been unique in 1899 to own. I think the Pan cover is more attractive with the white horses in the background.

Photography was still a rare form of art but had come a long way during the 1800's. Film had just been introduced, paving the way for people to take and develop their own pictures. As the cost of film and cameras dropped, more people were able to take advantage of this medium.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for posting these two covers. I actually have the Bantam version of this book. I didn't know that there was another cover version or that Pan published the book too.

    Also thanks to your site I discovered who FM was. In all the years I've been reading Cartlands I never knew the artists full name. I always felt that the covers of the Barbara Cartland novels were unique because of Francis Marshall's work. They stood out among the other modern romance authors.

    Great site!!

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