My Friend Prospero is a rather fluffy romance with aspirations towards operetta-level drama. John heir to the Barony of Blanchemain boards with a local vicar and his young niece (who calls him Prospero, because she can) so that he can visit the manor with it remarkable collection of art. The fact that it only costs him 6 francs 50 a week helps, since his uncle has never thought to give him an allowance. The book opens with him meeting the widow of his cousin, who had held the title before his uncle, and reconciling with her (suffice to say the cousin's great-grandfather stole the title from his brother). Having an interest in the fate of the title, she naturally wants to see him wed, but he hasn't met a girl worth marrying -- until that very moment, when he spies an extremely beautiful girl. She's the sister of the manor's owner, the Prince of Zelt-Neuminster, but naturally he spends most of the book thinking that she's the daughter of a miller and she believing he comes from a family of farmers. Naturally, everyone lives happily every after . . . in a novel like this, what else could they do?

Harland wrote three extremely fluffy Catholic romances at the end of his career: The Cardinal's Snuff Box, The Lady Paramount, and My Friend Prospero. This one is in my opinion the best of the lot. If you like turn of the century-style light fiction, you'll probably enjoy bits of all of them, but they have a decidedly period air to them that many modern readers may find a tad ridiculous. Still, for fans of the genre, My Friend Prospero is definitely worth reading. ( )