Touching the Stars

Justina Mansell, the youngest daughter of Lord and Lady Mansell is told that her sister has been invited to visit India, but cannot accept. So Justina jumps at the chance to go in her place.
Her aunt arranges for her to be chaperoned on board ship by the stately Mrs. Arbuthnot, who is travelling with her two daughters and her little terrier, Muffin.
Justina is quickly attracted to the good-looking Sir Thomas Watson who is most attentive and much admires her beauty when he joins the Arbuthnot table for dinner.
When the Arbuthnot ladies succumb to seasickness Justina takes Muffin for walks along the deck. There she meets the solitary figure of Lord Castleton with his own dog. He knows her father and they strike up a friendship.
Justina finds herself compromised in her cabin by Sir Thomas even though she has given him no encouragement and is forced to agree to become engaged to him to prevent a scandal.
Lord Castleton is not at all pleased by this turn of events, especially as Justina seemed far from happy with her engagement.
How Justina is swept from despair to happiness and love after a number of surprises and unexpected twists is told in this unusual and intriguing romance 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.