A few recent Heyers

[larryhammer]

My rereading of the past couple weeks, which provoked the Tough Guide post. In career order:

• ETA2: Devil's Cub (1932) - A rake, flying England after a duel, in his haste abducts the wrong sister; adventures ensue. Set c. 1770.
  
• ETA3: Regency Buck (1935) - An heiress and her brother are wards of a batchelor; tedious, lifeless fortune-hunting ensues, wrapped around an unconvincing murder plot. The best parts are Beau Brummel and, well, nothing else.
  
• The Talisman Ring (1936) - Possibly one of her silliest plots, which is saying something; one of Heyer's few books in which a murderer in the family is brought to justice, instead of the scandal being hushed up; set mid-1790s.
  
• Faro's Daughter (1941) - Nearly as silly, and rather less interesting; also set in the 1790s. Am selling this one off.
  
• The Reluctant Widow (1946) - One of Heyer's least interesting heroines--actually scatterbrained, for all that's she's one of Heyer's young, gently-born governesses.
  
• The Foundling (1948) - A nobleman attempting to come of age meets a stunningly beautiful idiot; hi-jinx ensue. Fun one, though there's practically no romance.
  
• Arabella (1949) - A vicar's daughter is taken for an heiress by the haut ton; hi-jinx ensue.
  
• The Grand Sophy (1950) - Another young woman used to having her way in a motherless household finds the strong man she needs; the climax is one of Heyer's best extended comic set-pieces. The gross antisemitism is gratuitous, and could have been removed with three word changes.
  
• The Quiet Gentleman (1951) - Attempted murder is hushed over to avoid scandal; worse, the pseudo-Byronic young puppy is tiresome here. Meh.
  
• The Toll Gate (1954) - Another scandal-worse-than-injustice book, made palatable by being quite fun, when we're above-ground.
  
• Sylvester: or, The Wicked Uncle (1957) - A terminally shy girl, after making a poor showing her first Season, writes a roman a clef; hi-jinx ensue. Fun and humanwise both.
  
• Venetia (1958) - Highspirited yet innocent virgin meets a rake. Rather sweet, actually, in a believable way.
  
• The Unknown Ajax (1959) - Marries Heyer's two country locations, Yorkshire and Sussex, in a single plot, using a hero with a deplorable sense of humor; the hushed-up scandal is, for once, not murder. Quite possibly my favorite.
  
• The Nonesuch (1962) - A young, gently-born governess is put in charge of a stunningly beautiful egotist; hi-jinx ensue. (description corrected)
  
• False Colours (1963) - When a young lord goes missing just before being introduced to his in-laws-to-be, his twin takes his place; hi-jinx ensue.
  
• Frederica (1965) - An older sister gets a distant relative to help find a brilliant match for her beautiful (if silly) younger sister; hi-jinx ensue, including an inadvertant hot-air baloon ride. (description corrected)
  
• Charity Girl (1970) - A scrapegrace nobleman runs into an orphan running away from her aunt's house; hi-jinx don't ensue, mostly because in this late novel Heyer no longer sparkles. The plot retreads much of The Foundling, with a romance that's even more perfunctory.

ETA: Books not noted are all Regency, usually set 1815-1818.

Of course, after so much light and bright and sparkling, this journal want some shade -- it wants a post of solemn specious nonsense about writing epic poetry.

---L.

Comments

Happy Year of the Rooster, Larry!

[mcdolemite.livejournal.com]

Kung hey fat choi.

Re: Happy Year of the Rooster, Larry!

[larryhammer]

And a joyous Happy New Year to you. Dancing the lion again this year?

I was realizing yesterday that this is the first CNY in a couple years without our Sometimes Roommate. She cooks up a mean New Years' feast, and I find myself missing that. But she, alas, is spending a couple months bumming around Cambodia and Thailand, having finished her contract in Darfur.

---L.