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jaceyGeorgette Heyer – The Reluctant Widow
I went off to Ireland on 15th July and got caught by the three-for-the-price-of-two offer at WH Smith in Manchester Airport, so I ended up with three historicals – because of course they didn’t have any decent SF/fantasy. This gave me another push to read more Heyer and also the pleasant surprise that there are lots of Elizabeth Chadwicks to read.
So – first to the Reluctant Widow, first published in 1946.
Rather improbably, Elinor Rochdale is on her way to a new position as a governess (her family having been ruined by her father’s gambling and subsequent suicide) when she steps into the wrong coach – assuming it to have been sent by her new employers. After some discussion at cross purposes she finds herself talked into marrying the reprehensible drunken nephew of Lord Ned Carlyon on his deathbed (from a brawl and a terminal knife wound). It’s all Ned’s idea. He doesn’t want the estate and all that it entails, but all the same he feels responsible for Elinor and her new position.
An even more improbable piece of plottery follows during which they discover that Elinor’s newly deceased husband was involved in a plot to steal Wellington’s war plans and deliver them to Bonaparte.
This is about as action packed as Heyer ever gets. An intruder in the house is treated civilly and later shots are fired and Ned’s little brother is injured, but no major action ensues and in the end the matter is settled quietly with most of the gory action (a murder) happening off the page. Right at the end – despite a high level of exasperation and no notion of warm feelings throughout the book – Ned proposes and Elinor accepts.
Not my favourite Heyer so far.
I went off to Ireland on 15th July and got caught by the three-for-the-price-of-two offer at WH Smith in Manchester Airport, so I ended up with three historicals – because of course they didn’t have any decent SF/fantasy. This gave me another push to read more Heyer and also the pleasant surprise that there are lots of Elizabeth Chadwicks to read.
So – first to the Reluctant Widow, first published in 1946.
Rather improbably, Elinor Rochdale is on her way to a new position as a governess (her family having been ruined by her father’s gambling and subsequent suicide) when she steps into the wrong coach – assuming it to have been sent by her new employers. After some discussion at cross purposes she finds herself talked into marrying the reprehensible drunken nephew of Lord Ned Carlyon on his deathbed (from a brawl and a terminal knife wound). It’s all Ned’s idea. He doesn’t want the estate and all that it entails, but all the same he feels responsible for Elinor and her new position.
An even more improbable piece of plottery follows during which they discover that Elinor’s newly deceased husband was involved in a plot to steal Wellington’s war plans and deliver them to Bonaparte.
This is about as action packed as Heyer ever gets. An intruder in the house is treated civilly and later shots are fired and Ned’s little brother is injured, but no major action ensues and in the end the matter is settled quietly with most of the gory action (a murder) happening off the page. Right at the end – despite a high level of exasperation and no notion of warm feelings throughout the book – Ned proposes and Elinor accepts.
Not my favourite Heyer so far.
