Dathan Charles
Dione M. Coumbe
(Associate Reviewer - Donald D'Haene)
2002 Authors Online Ltd.
ISBN: 0755200667
The de Charles Saga. A tale teeming with intrigue, complex mystery of a deceptively brilliant woman's journey through Europe & America.
Associate Reviewer Donald D'Haene writes:
The story of Dathan Charles begins in Berlin in 1934, where an unorthodox heroine's veneer of sophistication attracts the unwanted attention of an S.S. Colonel. Later, her “mind for business and bod for sin” style captures the eye of a notorious gangster in New York. This time, the attraction is mutual.
Yes, love is in the air, but nothing will stop Ms. Charles from protecting her family, her business or her name.
Knowing that this novel purports romantic undertones, I was expecting Dathan Charles' relationships to lead to a Harlequin tempo in the prose, but I was mistaken. Author Dione M. Coumbe writes with relentless wit & feminist machisma! Yes, her heroine attracts all the usual suspects, but lions, tigers & bears? Oh my, & Dorothy thought she had a nightmare! Dathan Charles wouldn't need to click her heels to go home from Oz, she could've walked!
Consider this passage: “She looked at the rear view mirror and saw a black uniform on a motorcycle come into view...She grabbed the gun, shucked the safety, threw open the car door and rolled across the road as he started shooting. As she stopped moving she took aim. He walked towards her firing his weapon, she squeezed the trigger and saw his face explode.” Pg. 127
Okay, the Nazi would have killed Dathan, but how many heroines don't comb their hair or at least wince before picking up a gun?
Coumbe has drawn from her own experiences to create a vagabond adventure to end all adventures. A cross between Raiders of the Lost Ark & Gone With The Wind. Dathan Charles has Scarlet's beauty & willfulness combined with Indiana's resourcefulness & prowess. Together they pack quite a wallop.
Much like the title character Dathan Charles, the author's own life story is full of rich cultural backgrounds, music, art, entrepreneurship & shades of mystery, intrigue & controversy. Born in London, Coumbe came of age in post-World War II Europe. Circumstance & unbridled restlessness resulted in her expulsion from senior school & launched her on an odyssey, which ultimately took her from Fleet Street to Marseilles, Naples, Gibraltar, Cartagena, Casablanca, Tangier & many ports of call & destinations of opportunity in between.
Coumbe is an expert on the history of organized crime in the USA & has an excellent international reputation as a genealogist. It shows. Mixing fact & fiction, Coumbe intertwines historical events with romance, business & political intrigue.
I don't know if there's an odometer great enough to measure either the author or her lead character's adventures. & thank goodness for that! For what an intricate & tangled web they weave!
The title character is a trailblazer of gender equality. Scarlet O'Hara was a wannabe. Dathan Charles is the read deal.
Readers who crave more will be pleased to know Dathan Charles is the first installment of a trilogy. Visit www.dathancharles.com or www.coumbebooks.com for more information.
In 1999, Dione M. Coumbe was diagnosed with malignant breast cancer. Her response when told was typica: “I haven't time to die. I've still got too much to do.” As soon as she was on her feet, Dathan Charles was completed & published, then a month later she formed a new company, Book Publicity Limited, designed to offer “conception to completion” for other authors, wherever they may reside. Her cancer now in remission, Coumbe has nearly finished book 2 of the Dathan trilogy.
Dione M. Coumbe is also presently co-writing a book on trade between UK/USA in the 17th century & ghost-writing a biography involving key events & players in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Her other currently available publication is Crooks & Cronies, an exposé of business malpractice on Wall Street & the City of London, edited & co-authored with Peter Teale.
(07/13/03)
I have been freelance writing since 1988. My short stories can be found in The Good Life (2000) & Memories of Elgin and Middlesex(2000). I am also an actor with Armstrong Talent in Toronto, Canada.
I live in London, Ontario, with my partner, Maurice, my mother, & our three Siamese cats, Kyle, Bach-Pierre, Maxine & a cockatiel, Jay.
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