The Spanish Bride by Georgette Heyer ~ A Book Review
THE SPANISH BRIDE is not your typical regency romance. For one thing, the marriage that usually culminates a courtship comes near the beginning of the novel, so there is no arc of tension about this relationship. The other feature of this volume is that it deals with the gritty reality of warfare, at a time […]
FARO’S DAUGHTER by Georgette Heyer ~ A Book Review
Faro was a popular card-game in 18th-century England that originated in France in the 17th-century, while Faro’s Daughter refers to the spirited protagonist of this volume, one Miss Deborah Grantham. Miss Grantham is 25 years old and should already be married (this novel is set during the time of Jane Austen). Instead she leads a […]
The Talisman Ring is like a Comic Opera
Having read seven novels of Georgette Heyer, in my quest to gradually work through all of her novels, I already knew that her volumes sparkled with wit, not unlike Jane Austen’s. However, this novel is the funniest I’ve experienced. It reminds me of those eighteenth century comic operas like Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio, which […]
How Wellington described his troops on the eve of Waterloo
AN INFAMOUS ARMY is how Wellington described the motley troops he was in charge of on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, fought on 18 June 1815, and it is also the title of this novel (Book 4 in the Alastair-Audley series.) As many of you know, Waterloo was one of Britain’s greatest triumphs, […]
“Clorinda” battles (and enchants) her guardian
REGENCY BUCK by Georgette Heyer is one of her most famous historical novels, and pretty much invented the genre of Regency Romance. But what is so refreshing about Ms. Heyer’s heroines is how they break the mold of what a society miss is supposed to be. They are extremely intelligent. They are athletic. Sometimes they […]
His friends call him “Satanus” ~ THESE OLD SHADES by Georgette Heyer
The Duke of Avon has a Reputation, one that causes his friends (and others) to call him Satanus. Now 40 years old, he has never married and his family consists of a slightly younger sister (a lady in her thirties) and a much younger brother (Lord Rupert, who is around 20.) One day, His Grace […]
DEVIL’S CUB is about a crack shot and expert swordsman with a tendency to murder
Georgette Heyer’s DEVIL’S CUB is the second volume of the Alastair-Audley Book Series. (Volume One THESE OLD SHADES concerns the protagonist’s father and mother.) So who is this protagonist? His name is the Marquis de Vidal, he is 24 years old, he is a perfectly proportioned handsome young man. Needless to say, he is a […]
What would you do if a 17-year-old girl proposed marriage?
When I find an author I love, I make a practice of reading all of their novels, from first to last, to see how they develop as a writer. Growing up in Britain, I knew the name Georgette Heyer but I don’t believe I read any of her books. It is only recently, that I […]
