“Thought the world of you, did Kitten. Wouldn’t hear a word against you; wouldn’t even admit you can’t drive well enough for the F.H.C. That shows you! Always seemed to me she only thought of pleasing you. If she took a fancy to do something she shouldn’t, only had to tell her you wouldn’t like it, and she’d abandon it on the instant. Used to put me in mind of that rhyme, or whatever it was, I learned when I was a youngster. Something about loving and giving: that was Kitten!”
I have read this comic masterpiece many times and I have always enjoyed it. And I have listened to the almost 25-year-old reading by Eve Matheson. Again, very enjoyable. But this new version read by Owen Findley was just too too funny. His interpretations of all the characters were “bang up to the mark.” Hilarious, thoughtful, and touching. My only quibble was that he spoke too quickly but that was easily remedied by turning the speed down to 85%.
I always kind of wondered why Georgette considered this her best work as almost all of them are pretty brilliant, but after listening to this one again, I can’t argue. It’s famous for being her funniest book, but it had never struck me as particularly romantic. But at the end, when Sherry and Kitten are finally reunited….Well. It was as romantic and tender a scene as she ever wrote made even more so by Owen Findley’s subtle and sensitive reading.
Young Lord Sheringham, “Sherry”, has to get married right away because he’s overextended due to gambling debts and is properly “in the basket.” He is very wealthy but won’t come into his inheritance until he is 25 or married, whichever comes first. When his childhood friend, now a great beauty, refuses his offer he vows to marry the first girl he sees. That would be Hero Wantage whom he happens upon sitting on the side of the road. She is another childhood friend, but more of a tag-along or mascot being 5 or so years younger. An orphan, she has run away from the family who took her in. Their generosity has come to an end and they have given her an ultimatum of either becoming a governess or marrying the very dull and sober curate. Clearly in need of rescuing, she is the perfect candidate! It is a Win-Win! Sherry had always been carelessly fond of her and she has always worshiped the ground he walks on. He takes the sweet and naive girl to London and the fun begins. Sherry doesn’t see any reason why he should alter his bachelor lifestyle for a marriage of convenience. And Hero, whom he calls “Kitten” is the last person who would make demands or criticize him in any way. In her eyes, he can do no wrong, much to the bemusement of his loyal best friends simple-minded Ferdy Fakenham, the more knowing Gil Ringwood, and the Byronic George Wrotham, who have a more clear-eyed view of their friend Sherry.
As he is driven to distraction rescuing Kitten from one scrape after another, Sherry grows from a spoiled irresponsible young man about town to embrace his adulthood and responsibilities. He realizes that most of the trouble she gets into is because she is following his example! His crew of friends provide more than their fair share of the humor as they come to embrace Kitten as one of the gang and often take a dim view of Sherry’s affectionate but cavalier treatment of her. But when Kitten runs away (long story) Sherry realizes how much he loves and values her. It all culminates in a comic farce at a posting inn involving an elopement, an abduction, and a punch in the nose. It’s a perfect ending.
What a joy after recent reads to fall back on an old favorite that has one of the most lovable and admirable heroines in all of the great Georgette Heyer’s works. Not to mention one of my favorite heroes. I listened to this on Audible and the narration by Gemma Whelan was excellent. When I am asked what my favorite GH regency is, without thinking twice I usually point to this one. Sometimes another, but most likely this one. I believe it may be the first one I ever read back when I was probably 12 or 13. I am proud of my tween self, too used to the obvious romance and strict formula of contemporary and historical gothics, for pushing through the strange words and mannered sentence structure and so much else, to recognize the sheer brilliance and entertainment value of Georgette Heyer. I became a lifelong devotee and gobbled up the rest of her books like candy.
I won’t go into the plot too much because it’s really not all that important. Heyer’s genius is the world she builds, her wit, her comedy, and her characters. Particularly her secondary characters. The setting is my favorite of the several that Heyer usually employs It’s not a road trip, at an Inn, or at a country estate. It is set in the glittery world of London at the height of the season where the elite of society engage in all manner of entertainments and activities with an eye to marrying off their daughters to eligible bachelors who, in turn, need heirs to carry on their line.
Our heroine, Arabella, a country vicar’s daughter, is sent to London to be brought out by her society matron Godmother. On her way to the big city, she meets Robert Beaumaris when she is forced to ask for shelter at his hunting box due to a carriage breakdown. Mr. Beaumaris is the richest, most admired, and feted Corinthian in the land and is constantly being pursued by hopeful young females. He assumes that Arabella is one of their ilk and she overhears him explaining this to his guest Lord Fleetwood. Being a girl of spirit, she is mightily offended and is goaded to portray herself as a fabulously wealthy heiress to disabuse him of his false assumption and to teach him a lesson.
She contrived, without precisely making so vulgar a boast, to convey the impression that she was escaping from courtships so persistent as to amount to persecution; and Mr Beaumaris, listening with intense pleasure, said that London was the very place for anyone desirous of escaping attention.
Of course, he sees right through her and it amuses him to make her the belle of the season which he can do by merely not looking bored in her presence.
Because of Mr. Beaumaris’s flattering attentions, Arabella’s season fast becomes a success beyond her wildest dreams. When she and her Godmother become aware that the whole of London believes her to be fabulously wealthy, it certainly explains why gazetted fortune hunters are hanging around a poor vicar’s daughter. Arabella, whose conscience is finely honed thanks to her upbringing, feels terribly guilty and to make matters more awkward, she is falling for the sophisticated Mr. Beaumaris. She can’t bear to tell him what a lying silly fool she was. Not to mention his power, with a glance, to squash all of her popularity and her mother’s hopes of her attracting an eligible suitor. As for Mr. Beaumaris, much to his bemusement, he unexpectedly finds himself wound around her little finger. He has grown to realize that not only is Arabella beautiful and unspoiled, but she is a person of great moral and physical courage. In short, the girl he has been looking for all of his life. Not that he was looking for such a girl of course, but someone of substance who would not bore him. The scenes where Arabella, in his presence, rescues a chimney sweep from his cruel master and routs a gang of boys torturing a dirty mongrel, are two of the most entertaining and heartwarming scenes in all of Heyer. The scenes in which the cool and sophisticated Mr. Beaumaris agrees to provide each of these unattractive unfortunates with safe havens and their subsequent effect on his formerly peaceful household (and him) follow closely behind.
The delights of this book are many. Some of my favorites other than those mentioned above, are:
The scenes with Arabella’s large and loving family at the beginning and Mr. Beaumaris’ description of his visit to her family in the wilds of Yorkshire to ask permission for her hand at the end.
Arabella, her sister, and her mother’s preparations to ensure Arabella is not viewed as a country bumpkin when she is introduced to society. And Arabella’s astonishment and secret amusement at the irony when Mr. Beaumaris compliments her on setting an example of taste and modesty in her jewelry and attire that her fellow debutantes are trying to copy.
Mr. Beaumaris’s conversations with and asking for the advice of Ulysses, the rescued mutt that immediately becomes slavishly devoted to him. Heyer’s detailed descriptions of Ulysses’s behavior make him one of the most entertaining characters in the book. The author’s lifelong love and knowledge of dogs shines through.
Chase that cur out of here, Joe! …‘Do nothing of the sort, Joe!’ interrupted Mr Beaumaris. ‘Is he yours sir?’ gasped the landlord. ‘Certainly he is mine. A rare specimen: his family tree would surprise you!’
Mr. Beaumaris’ visit to his grandmother, one of the great dames of her time, to prepare her for his impending marriage, if Arabella will have him.
When the book takes a long side trip to deal with the cautionary tale of Arabella’s brother Bertram’s arrival in London, I resented, in the past, the time away from Arabella’s adventures and romance. But this time, thanks to the narration, many of the scenes of Bertram’s descent into danger and probable disgrace were highlights. His desperation in trying to gamble his way out of debt in an exclusive gaming house playing at a table banked by none other than “The Nonpareil” himself. And how Beaumaris navigates the dilemma of how to handle the situation. And Arabella braving the squalor and danger of the most poverty-stricken area of London to rescue him. Leaky Peg! Quattern Sue! (and her gin-drinking baby!)
In thinking about Arabella, I wonder whom of Georgette Heyer’s many wonderful heroines would take on the salvation of dirty climbing boys, abused horses, mangy curs, sick parlor maids, or slatternly prostitutes. That is, should they be so unhappy as to come across them, of course. At the end of the book, I took a minute to envision Arabella’s and Robert’s future life beyond the pages of the book. As well as a devoted society wife and mother, I am convinced she will become a famous philanthropist and a great lady who will tackle the many evils of the day. But in large ways as well as small. In this, she will be ably assisted by her husband who, though not getting his hands dirty, will unfailingly support and defend her against the disapproval of their peers with his great wealth and influence. Perhaps he will even run for office with Arabella’s persistent encouragement?
Jennifer Crusie is always a reliable purveyor of fun and funny contemporary romances. Her interesting and likable characters, effortless humor, and the ever popular “witty banter” cast most of her contemporaries and successors in the shade. Her heroines never get stuck in their own heads to avoid moving forward solely as an author’s device to create conflict. To my memory, I’ve never silently screamed in frustration at the stubborn stupidity of a Jennifer Crusie character. This book is an early one from 1994 and was originally published by Harlequin as one of their Temptation series of romances.
Tess is a liberal-minded do-gooder who was raised in a hippie commune. She doesn’t care about social status or money. She shops at thrift stores and is a teacher of needy children. When the book opens she has just broken up with Nick who is her opposite in every way. He is a conservative lawyer in an elite if stodgy “old money” firm whose #1 goal in life is to make partner. Tess has just lost her teaching job because the school just lost its funding. The key to Nick realizing his ambition is to land the account of a famous conservative author at an exclusive weekend house party. In order to project stability and the traditional values that are so prized by his firm, he invites Tess to pose as his fiance. Why the opinionated free spirit Tess of all people? Because she actually reads books and despite their differences he really loves her. She feels the same and conveniently is motivated to behave and keep her opinions to herself because a potential new employer will also be in attendance. She figures she can teach the rich kids for a much higher salary and better hours and then volunteer at the foundation which was forced to let her go. But can she restrain her propensity to speak her mind and be the demure, conventional, and proper fiance?
In the course of the book, both Tess and Nick learn to respect each other’s values with some bumps along the way. Their second chance romance is satisfying if predictable. A secondary romance between her best friend Gina, an Italian professional dancer and Nick’s best friend Park, the scion of the family firm that Nick works for provides most of the suspense and surprises. Park is somewhat of a dim-bulb and playboy who is firmly under the thumb of his snobby and judgemental parents. They definitely would not approve of high school dropout Gina, if Park had the guts to introduce her, that is. Into the mix there is a little mystery involving Tess’s upbringing in the commune, the far-right author, and how he got his filthy hands on a series of fairy tales that were written for Tess one summer by a wise visitor who became somewhat of a mentor and father-figure to the young girl. There was a plot twist I didn’t see coming and a very funny and climactic family dinner that ultimately leads to comeuppances, rewards, happy endings, and justice for all.
It’s a 3 1/2 star unpretentious frothy read. But I bumped it up to 4 stars for the sake of one character: Nick’s personal assistant, the cool, collected, and ultra-competent Christine. She is Nick’s secret weapon who knows all, sees all, and sometimes deigns to save the day.
As much as I enjoy D.E. Stevenson’s writings, settings, and stories, there is always a little fly in the ointment. For one, most of the time her endings are way too abrupt and often leave an unresolved problem and a lack of closure. I can live with that if it is the first of a trilogy or there is a sequel. She avoids drama like the plague. Exciting and longed-for confrontations and comeuppances often happen behind the scenes and the reader is told about what happened later. And sometimes her heroines do everything in their power to avoid happiness. They make decisions that sacrifice their happiness for the sake of others. Again, this would be OK if the greater good was served by the sacrifice, but often it is based on a lack of self-esteem. Sometimes they are wet noodles and won’t stand up for themselves often to the detriment of others as well as theirselves. This book features three of these plot elements. Thankfully, being a wet noodle is not Charlotte Fairlie’s problem.
We meet our heroine as the new headmistress of an elite girls’ school, St. Elizabeths. Although young for the job, being in her late twenties, she is an Oxford graduate and eminently qualified. She is a former student, who was boarded there when she was thrown out of her beloved father’s life by her new stepmother. Her sad past has only made her strong and empathetic. She proves to be very popular and respected by the staff and students but one long-tenured teacher, Miss Pinkerton, becomes her nemesis. The older woman is wracked with hatred and jealousy towards Charlotte. She feels sure that the longed-for post of headmistress would have been hers but for the young upstart. I loved the way Charlotte navigated all of Miss Pinkerton’s machinations with wisdom, tact, and sense. She won me over completely early in the book when faced with a malignant threat from Miss Pinkerton, she gets out in front of the problem with aplomb. Thus, what could have resulted in scandal and calamity for both her and a young student turned into a powerful friendship with the head of St. Elizabeth’s board of directors and a strong bond with the student.
That unusual young student, Tessa, is a charming and fearless young girl who obviously hero-worships and loves Charlotte. When she invites her headmistress to spend her vacation at Targ, her beloved island home in the highlands of Scotland, Charlotte decides to throw caution to the winds and accepts. She and Tessa’s divorced father, the laird, fall deeply in love with each other. He proposes marriage and here comes the fly in the ointment. She refuses him for a couple of cockamamie reasons when all of her objections could have been easily overcome by some honest communication. It flies in the face of what we have come to know about Charlotte and how she always handles her business. Of course, all ends happily with one of D.E. Stevenson’s trademark rushed endings, but I was still disappointed in Charlotte, whom I had come to trust and admire.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and esteemed Charlotte Fairlie up until the point when she did her darndest to break her own heart and the hearts of the two people who have come to mean the world to her. In addition to the love problems, there is a side story of Tessa’s best friend at school, Donny, and her two brothers. The three siblings are the victims of a toxic parent and their story almost ends in the worst tragedy imaginable. It was shocking.
The large and small joys, dramas, and adventures at the school and on Targ were as involving as I have come to expect from D.E. Stevenson. It is almost magical the way she makes outwardly ordinary characters and their journeys fascinating and gripping. She makes small things seem big. And when big things really do happen it’s jaw-dropping.
“Temporary Insanity had come a-knocking and I had shouted “Come on in the door is open.” Luckily, Reality had come unexpectedly and found Temporary Insanity roaming the corridors of my mind unchecked, going into rooms, opening cupboards, reading my letters, looking in my underwear drawer, that kind of thing. Reality had run and got Sanity. And after a tussle, they both had managed to throw out Temporary Insanity and slam the door in his face. Temporary Insanity now lay on the gravel in the driveway of my mind, panting and furious, shouting, “She invited me in, you know. She asked me in. She wanted me there.”
I’ve been re-reading Marian Keyes’s books on Audible for the last couple of years. They have been so rich and funny. I had only read Watermelon, Keyes’s introduction to the Walsh family, one time, and it was a long time ago. I remember not being too impressed with it. I re-read Rachel’s Holiday(again) in 2022 in preparation for its long-anticipated sequel, Again, Rachel. I had previously listened to Helen’s story, The Mystery of Mercy Close, in 2020, and somewhere in there Mammy Walsh’s A-Z of the Walsh Family, because I felt the need to re-acquaint myself with Helen and the rest of them. In those latter books, Claire is an interesting but not particularly nice woman. In fact, she is rather unlikable. Not so in this one. I was amazed by how different she is in this first book from how I remembered her. Perhaps because I listened to it on Audible rather than read it, I loved Watermelon this time. I thought it was hilarious and engaging throughout. Part of this may have been the narrator’s charming Irish accent and inflections which made Claire, who narrates her story in first person, even more sympathetic and charming than on paper. I was rooting for her all the way. Another reason I was so taken with her was that she addresses the reader directly in a metatextual way which made me feel a personal connection to her.
This is not a plot-driven book. The book begins with Claire, having just given birth, being told by her husband while she is still in the hospital, that he is leaving her for another woman.
Who’s in charge around here? I’d like to complain about my life. I distinctly ordered a happy life with a loving husband to go with my newborn baby and what was this shoddy travesty that I’d been served up instead?
From there, we go with her on her journey from grief and devastation, confusion, and anger to healing and a fresh start with a new and wonderful man. But first, she leaves London and goes home to Dublin to live with her parents and two of her sisters, Helen and Anna, who still live at home. The book mainly consists of Claire’s musings, observations, and memories. As she remembers it and tells it, her marriage with James was blissful, and James, as she remembers him to us, seems like a great guy and her perfect match. Until he finally shows up, that is. We see that he is actually a pompous sanctimonious pig. For me, this added an extra layer of interest because I started to wonder about Claire’s reliability as a narrator if not her sanity. Or does James have a point when he accuses her of being childish, selfish, and a total flake? Claire had expected regret and shame from James but instead, he actually blames her for his having the affair. At first, James has Claire completely gaslighted. She starts to believe him and he has her under his thumb with her apologizing to him and promising to change her ways to save their marriage. Luckily her delusion was very brief and she comes to her senses with a vengeance.
No more humiliation for me, thanks very much. No more swallowing my anger. Honestly, I couldn’t manage another mouthful.
In many of her later books, Marian’s heroines are victimized and bamboozled by bad men throughout the whole book. I was thrilled such was not the case with Claire. She pretty much sees him for what he is, but is very confused and she feels she has to try again for the sake of their baby.
I loved the character of Adam, Claire’s love interest. He is such a great guy that the fact that he loves and admires Claire serves to reassure us that however flawed and crazy she sometimes is, she is a lovable and good person. Their romance is sweet, as is her love for her baby Kate. And of course, the rest of the Walshes are a constant source of entertainment and amazement.
Next to read on my agenda is Angels, which features Margaret, the “good” sister, who was not in this one. After that, hippy-dippy druggie Anna’s story, which I remember as being heartrending, and then a re-read of scary and combative Helen’s story. It will be interesting to meet Claire again in those and see how (or if) she changes or if this book is just another side of her.
“Conned any other women out of their valuables lately ?” she says quietly, so quietly that only he will hear it. “Nope. I’ve been too busy stealing handbags and seducing the vulnerable.” Her head shoots up and his eyes lock on hers. He is, she sees with some shock, as furious as she is.”
**spoilers**
As well-written and compelling as some parts of this book were, it took me well over a month to get through it. I chose to do other things rather than return to it. I looked at a lot of movies and some TV series. Plus Christmas. But the main reason was that I was just so utterly disgusted by the behavior and choices of the present-day main character in the novel, Liv. And her travails take up most of the book. I just wanted to avoid her because she just made me mad. The story of the WWI character, Sophie, was very tense and involving throughout her story. But I felt like she was on a path that was as disastrous as it was inevitable. So I can’t say I enjoyed it, exactly. I cared about her greatly, and we leave her at a cliffhanger in her life to begin the modern-day half of the story. Not my favorite device. On the whole, I can recommend the book because although the last part of the book was dragged out, it ended well and with a surprising game-changing appearance at the end. The unsurprising long-suspected truth about the provenance of a painting that links the past with the present is dramatically and touchingly revealed.
In this dual timeframe plot, we begin in a small village in France during WWI. We follow Sophie LeFevre who, with her family, runs an inn that has been taken over by the German occupiers. Her beloved husband, a talented artist is a prisoner of war. The powerful Kommandant is a refined gentleman and art lover who covets Sophie’s husband’s painting of her that hangs in the Inn. And it becomes evident that he also covets Sophie.
Part two is set in 2006 London. The painting, The Girl You Left Behind, now hangs in a young widow’s house which was designed by her husband, a brilliant and famous young architect. Liv cherishes the beautiful painting for its own sake but also because her husband David gave it to her on their honeymoon. Reclusive Liv is still grieving David after 4 years and knows she must get on with her life, but seems incapable of doing so. We also are introduced to Paul, who is a lawyer specializing in returning stolen Nazi art to their rightful heirs. Liv meets Paul, also a single father, when he chivalrously rescues her from an embarrassing situation. They are attracted to each other and Liv is continually struck by what a kind and good man he is. Thanks to Paul, Liv starts to come out of her shell and live again. On Paul and Liv’s first night together he sees her painting hanging in her bedroom and is shocked to the core. It is the same painting he and his company have been trying to locate for their clients, the descendants of the artist, Sophie’s husband. What follows is a court case with Paul and the heirs on one side and Liv on the other. Her lawyers are non-entities who we don’t get to know. This was one reason that the courtroom drama which should have been compelling, wasn’t.
As I mentioned, Liv all but ruined the book for me. She is determined to keep the painting because it’s hers, god damn it. Her husband bought it in good faith and she loves it. She doesn’t care that all signs indicate that it had been stolen from the artist’s family during World War I and was probably also caught up in the Nazis’ evil web of stolen art during WWII. The family understandably wants the painting, now worth millions, back. Liv irrationally blames Paul treating him like a criminal who is trying to rob her of her painting instead of a good guy trying to do an honorable job. Her behavior to him was just shabby and made no sense. Until near the end of the book, that is, when she decides she needs a booty call. That over, she turns on him again. She will not see reason from anyone who has her best interests at heart and in fighting the family’s claim, loses her house, her friends, her reputation, and most sadly, her dead husband’s legacy and reputation. I kept hoping for growth, change, and wisdom to descend on her from the blue, but was continually disappointed.
When she finally has somewhat of an epiphany (pretty much out of nowhere), it is too little too late. When the true story of the painting comes out thanks only to noble Paul’s heroic efforts, it leads to the revelation that Liv has been in the right all along. Not in her actions and decisions, but only by happenstance and luck. In the end, she gets her totally undeserved happy ending.
What rescues the book plot-wise is that we finally learn what became of Sophie and her adored Edouard. But it’s kind of like a bone the reader is thrown. Even the most potentially fascinating detective work at the end is skipped over even while the mystery leading up to the climax is drawn out way too long. The positives were just not outweighed by the pain, injustice, and sadness in the story.
“She thought, in touching innocence, that in Miles Calverleigh she had found a friend, and a better one by far than any other, because his mind moved swiftly, because he could make her laugh even when she was out of charity with him, and because of a dozen other attributes which were quite frivolous – hardly attributes at all, in fact – but which added up to a charming total, outweighing the more important faults in his character.”
“I love you, you know,’ he said conversationally. ‘Will you marry me?’ The manner in which he made this abrupt proposal struck her as being so typical of him that a shaky laugh was dragged from her. ‘Of all the graceless ways of making me an offer – ! No, no, you are not serious! you cannot be!’ ‘Of course I’m serious! A pretty hobble I should be in if I weren’t, and you accepted my offer!
I can’t deny Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer 5-star status. It was formerly a 4-star and thus relegated to second-tier status (for a Heyer). This is not a book I re-read over and over like These Old Shades, Frederica,Cotillion, or Arabella to name a few. It was one of her later books (though the book right after Frederica, one of my favorites,) when her powers were not at their height. The one after this was the almost universally disparaged Cousin Kate, and the one after that was the boring and flat Charity Girl, and the one after that was Lady of Quality, which is really just a pale imitation of this one. And we will let the unfortunate My Lord John lay there undisturbed out of respect. But this one is a fan favorite and when it was on sale at Audible with a new reader, Natalie Simpson, I bought it and took the opportunity to reacquaint myself with it and discover what is behind its popularity. And I did.
The reader was “unexceptional” which in Heyer-speak means perfectly fine. I won’t go into the plot except that it revolves around our heroine coming to Bath to prevent a disastrous misalliance between her much loved 17-year-old niece and Stacy Caverleigh, a suave and charming cad and fortune hunter. She tries to enlist the help of his uncle, Miles Caverleigh, who has recently returned from 20 years of exile in India. Unfortunately for Abigail, if Miles had any religion, it would be against his to get involved.
He was not a rebel. Rebels fought against the trammels of convention, and burned to rectify what they saw to be evil in the shibboleths of an elder generation, but Miles Calverleigh was not of their number. No wish to reform the world inspired him, not the smallest desire to convert others to his own way of thinking. He accepted, out of a vast and perhaps idle tolerance, the rules laid down by a civilised society, and, when he transgressed these, accepted also, and with unshaken good-humour, society’s revenge on him. Neither the zeal of a reformer, nor the rancour of one bitterly punished for the sins of his youth, awoke a spark of resentment in his breast. He did not defy convention: when it did not interfere with whatever line of conduct he meant to pursue he conformed to it; and when it did he ignored it, affably conceding to his critics their right to censure him, if they felt so inclined, and caring neither for their praise nor their blame.
Abigail and Miles are perfect for each other from the very beginning. Their attraction to each other was palpable throughout. I particularly loved Miles. He kind of reminded me of Rhett Butler: Somewhat of a “loose screw”, but ultimately a good man who goes his own way and doesn’t care two hoots about the silly conventional rules of society.
But, we come to learn, he respects the feelings and values of people who really matter to him (when they aren’t being swayed by pesky outside influences, that is.) By people who matter, I mostly mean Abigail, of course. As beloved as she is to her older clingy sister Serena, and her young niece, Fanny, to the rest of her conventional conservative family, she is almost as much of a Black Sheep as Miles is to society at large. He turns out to be the missing piece she didn’t know she lacked to break her free from her constricted life and become truly free and happy. Which will only happen after the final delightful scene in the book.
As for Miles, it is through his machinations which we only suspect are going on behind the scenes, and then not until the book is in its final chapters, that things work out to the satisfaction of all of those we like, and the disgruntlement of those we don’t. Young Fanny is saved and is well on her way to a suitable love match with another, Stacy, the villain, is vanquished in 6 different ways to Sunday, society and conventional forces are flouted but will soon be brought to heel, and those that love and depend on Abigail a little too much are gently set aside. As for Abigail and Miles they will embark on a marriage and a life that we imagine will be filled with passion, adventure, and even peace when it suits them. And it is all pretty epic. Other than Venetia, I think it is one of the most romantic of Heyer’s Novels. Brava to the genius of Georgette Heyer.
I’d like to be a surgeon,’ said Jane shyly. ‘And why not? But I wonder what happens when you get married—I mean, could you go on being a surgeon and running a house and a husband and children too?’ Jane blushed. ‘Well, I don’t suppose so.’ She added ingenuously: ‘I suppose being a surgeon’s wife is the next best thing…’ ‘I daresay it is,’ agreed Polly kindly, ‘and being married to someone who’s interested in surgery would make it awfully nice for him to come home to.’
A sense of humor is essential if you are going to read a Betty Neels novel. I’ve read only one before that I know of and liked it pretty well. Like this one, it was an undemanding sweet, and simple placeholder while waiting for a book I really wanted to read to become available. I was spurred to try another one when I read a review on Goodreads, and I saw how many were available on Kindle from my local library. She is mostly known for being the queen of “nurse romances.” I started reading some more reviews to narrow the field down a bit. I was struck by the affection and dedication that many readers hold for this author. She is definitely one of the most beloved, if not the most beloved, of all of the old-timey Harlequin (Mills and Boon in the U.K.) authors. There are other authors that people love, but not with her output -134 separate novels. That’s a lot of books! And she only started writing when she was 60 years old! In the process, I kinda went down a Betty Neels rabbit hole and I ran across a delightful website dedicated to Betty, The Uncrushable Jersey Dress . Her fans have their own language. They refer to the RBD (Rich British Doctor), the RDD (Rich Danish Doctor), and have figured out the ratios of couplings by RBDs and RDDs with nurses or non-nurses. Or nurses and non-medical heroes (of which there are only 6.) They call the author “The Betty” or TGB (The Great Betty), or “The Divine BettyN”. They call fellow Betty fans Betty-real first name. Betty Keira, Betty Madeleine, Betty Debbie, etc. That just scratches the surface. There is even a spreadsheet for all 134 books, including such things as Hero’s car, Names of family retainers, pets, descriptions of the other women (brainy, wispy liar Marcia Jason (recovering from polio), for one, etc. The books are all rated. “Lashings of whipped cream” being a 10 out of 10 and the lowest being “tinned soup.” It is a whole world out there, possibly equaled only by Georgette Heyer devotees. This book, I rated 2 stars (beans on toast?). Betty is 3 stars, and her fans are 5 stars.
Anyway, for a variety of reasons, I chose Polly, written in 1984. One reason was that it didn’t appear to be a nurse romance. Plain, plump, but smart Polly is fluent in ancient Greek and Latin, though she has only attained her A levels in the field, and has not gone to University. She is hired to type out a book manuscript by icy, rude, but good-looking professor Sam Gervis upon the death of the author. He is engaged to an absolute witch but has a nice about-to-be-married sister whom Polly becomes friends with while she is doing her typing at his home, Elmley Castle. We spend a good deal of time with Polly’s nice supportive family, her “learned schoolmaster father” her nice stay-at-home mother, her two dumb but nice sisters, and a little brother.
Cora and Marian had no need of brains; they were so pretty that they would marry just as soon as they could decide which of their numerous boyfriends would make the best husband.
As she comes to the end of her work, she realizes that she needs to get another job.
She couldn’t teach, she would be hopeless in a shop and the idea of sitting at a desk typing all day quite sickened her, which left only one other thing she might be able to do. She could train as a nurse.
Nothing like a true calling. Going on to University and getting an advanced degree in the field she truly loves and is good at never crosses her mind. She goes to train for her newly chosen vocation in a hospital where she does candy striper-like duties and goes to class. She is glad to escape the company of the uncomfortable professor with whom she has fallen in love. Much to her shock, one day, she runs into the professor in the hospital! It turns out he is a professor alright-a professor of Pediatic Surgery! So I ended up with a doctor-nurse romance after all. Sigh. He takes to driving Polly home and back on weekends. One day he tells her she will “never be a nurse”. Of course, the reader knows this means that Dr. Gervis is going to marry her and she can’t be a wife and a nurse at the same time. But Polly’s confidence is undermined and after a rough day, she ends up going to the head nurse’s office to quit. He follows her home to confess his love and propose marriage but he is called away on an emergency. Meanwhile, his nasty fiance comes to her house to tell her they are getting married in two days and Sam is not coming back. Polly flees to her aunt in Scotland, and Sam follows her there and finally clears up all of the lies and misunderstandings.
He put an arm around her and held her close and kissed her thoroughly.
‘Sam,’ said Polly weakly, ‘we’re in the middle of Crewe Station.’ He looked around him. ‘So we are. I thought it was paradise. Such a satisfactory answer that she kissed him back.
The end.
I gave this book a low rating because of the many WTF moments. First off, He kisses Polly “soundly” once and lightly a second time, when he is definately still engaged to Deirdre. That is not acceptable behavior. And about that engagement. First, as far as we know he is engaged to be married to Deirdre who is making wedding plans, throughout the whole book while he is sniffing around Polly. Later he claims that they broke off their engagement before his sister Diana’s wedding, which occurs well over halfway through the book, but kept it a secret from everyone in order not to “spoil her day.” I call bullshit on that. Firstly Diana makes it perfectly clear she hates Deirdre, and having her beloved brother call off his engagement would have made her day, not spoiled it. After the wedding is over and done with, Deirdre crashes his fiesty grandmother’s little private tete-a-tete with Polly and Sam. Granny also loathes Deidre and tells her off, but…
Deirdre stalked to the door, then turned to put a hand on Sam’s arm. ‘Oh, Sam, I know I’ve been naughty, but you’ll forgive me, won’t you? After all, we’re to be married soon. You haven’t forgotten that?’ She spoke beguilingly and smiled up at him, no trace of bad temper allowed to show. He moved away so that her hand fell to her side. ‘I haven’t forgotten, Deirdre.’
What is he playing at? Whatever his game was, I didn’t like it one bit. And if their engagement had been broken for weeks, Why would Deirdre bother to go to Polly’s home to tell her a pack of lies about marrying Sam in two days? Apparently, She is not only a bitch, but a psycho bitch.
When Polly tries to quit nursing, the head nurse tells her to go home to talk with her family about it but be back the day after and if she hasn’t changed her mind, they can arrange matters then. But Polly totally blows off her promise to Nurse Brice and runs off to Aunt Maggie in Scotland. She just leaves her in the lurch and essentially is a “no call-no show”. Not in character for Polly and quite careless of the “The Betty.” Still another piece of careless writing is that Polly’s family calls Professor Gervis “Sam” right from the beginning because they all get along great from his first meeting with her family (on page 18). But much later in the book, after Diana’s wedding, he comes to pick Polly up to take her back to the hospital, it’s as if he is meeting her family for the first time. “…he instantly became one of the family…he was ‘Sam’ withing ten minutes…”
So I could overlook the patronizing, mocking behavior of Professor Sam towards Polly and the outdated attitudes towards women and careers. Betty was just stuck in the 1950s and that’s sort of why people love her. But I was disappointed that I had to overlook careless writing as well. I’m going to give her another chance though partly because I’m curious to see if this is part and parcel of a typical Betty Neels novel. I am determined to crack the mystery of her appeal, but time will tell if I can become a fan.
Original review: March, 2017. Right up to Sophie Kinsella’s best work. As usual, Kinsella is a master at showing the characters and personalities of her players, not just telling you. It was very refreshing that she didn’t follow the usual “country good, city bad” cliche. I liked the message and it’s a welcome reminder, when, with social media, one thinks one knows a person and their life. Maybe you really don’t. **4 stars**
**Additional thoughts upon re-reading on Audible. 10/03/2023** I am bumping this one up to 5 stars. First of all, the narration by Fiona Hardingham was funny and touching. I loved her Somerset accent and hearing it really highlighted the divide between country people and city people and the accompanying assumptions that are made. She made Katie so lovable, and her boss, Demeter, so layered. She was contemptible and admirable at the same time. What a character!
Katie is a farm girl raised by a single father who has made her way to London. To be a “Londoner” has been her dream. She works in an advertising agency, and though she is the low man on the totem pole, she is a tryer, and she has talent. To make a long story of her personal and professional struggles short, she gets laid off and is forced to return to the farm in disgrace. Not wanting to disappoint her loving Dad, she tells him and his second wife Biddy that she is on sabbatical. Her Dad and Biddy have decided to turn their farm into a “Glamping” site, and thanks solely to Katie’s guidance and marketing talent, it is a fabulous success.
Katie’s old London boss, Demeter, is a piece of work. Katie was a great admirer and thought that Demeter had the perfect life. Demeter is brilliant and creative (almost a legend in her field) but is totally disorganized, has no self-awareness, is a braggart, does not play well with others, and many other things. When she fires Katie in the most insensitive manner possible, Katie joins her former officemates in hating her guts. Then Demeter shows up at her family’s glamping site for a family vacation. And Katie starts to hilariously and cleverly wreak her revenge.
How she goes from being Demeter’s mortal enemy to her comrade in arms is as funny and entertaining as can be. Together, as an unlikely team, they turn each other’s trouble-filled and imperfect lives into darn near-perfect ones. I think Demeter is one of Sophie Kinsella’s most wonderful creations. And Katie’s journey is heartwarming and exhilarating. Of course, there is a romance for Katie, and, as usual, her love interest is appealing and a bit unusual with issues of his own. This book is romantic comedy at its best. And a witty satire to boot.
This is the story of a family who didn’t fit in. A little girl who was a bit geeky and liked maths more than makeup. And a boy who liked makeup and didn’t fit into any tribes.
“I worked it all out in the bath. I’ve been blathering to the kids all these years about how if you look out for people and do the right thing it will all be okay. Don’t steal. Don’t lie. Do the right thing. Somehow the universe will see you right. Well, it’s all bullshit, isn’t it? Nobody else thinks that way.”
Needless to say, this was well-written. The plot was engaging and kept me in a state of suspense and anticipation. Truthfully, even dread at a few points. But that was because I really cared about the characters and I knew that all would not go smoothly for them before what I expected to be a happy ending, with good rewarded and bad punished. At a certain point, I thought the worst had happened, and I relaxed and just enjoyed the wonderful characters, the humor, and how they dealt with their challenges. And even though bad things kept happening (contemptible Marty! The Fishers!), I was OK with it, because everything else was so good, and sometimes it’s worse waiting for the bad than actually being in the middle of it. The story is told from the perspectives of the 4 protagonists.
Jess is a bravely optimistic single mother with a strong moral compass and who is always determined to do the right thing.
She seemed to bounce through life like Tigger; the things that would have felled most people didn’t seem to touch her. Or if she did fall, she bounced right back. She fell again, plastered on a smile, dusted herself down and kept going
She has been abandoned by her useless husband Marty who is living with his mother and dealing with depression. She is fine with that and doesn’t bother him for money or the support she is owed because she knows about depression and that he is jobless anyway. She is caring for Nicky, his 17-year-old son with a drug addict mother, and her own child with him, 10-year-old Tanzie. Nicky is somewhat of a misfit of the goth variety and doesn’t fit in at school, or anywhere really except perhaps in his online gaming community. Tanzie is fine socially and at school. We suspect that Nicky is pretty smart, but we know Tanzie is. She has just been offered a scholarship to an elite school in which she will thrive by virtue of her genius for Math. The scholarship will cover 90% of her tuition, and they really want her. Unfortunately, Jess, who works two jobs just to not keep up with basic expenses can’t even afford to pay the 10% difference. The family is desperate for Tanzie to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity both because of what it will mean for her future, and out of fear of the neighborhood school she will have to go to if she can’t get in. Nicky is being cruelly victimized by some of the locals who go there and they already have their eye on Tanzie. There is a lot at stake, but there is hope. Jess learns of a Math Olympiad with a prize of 15,000 pounds for the winner. It will cover Tanzie’s tuition for a year and Jess knows that if she can just get Tanzie to Aberdeen Scotland to compete, victory and the prize money are in the bag.
Meanwhile, we meet Ed, whom Jess cleans house for. He is a tech wizard who has made a fortune with his company. He is socially awkward and somewhat of a geek, although pretty good-looking now that he can afford to be. I love an unconventional hero. He has his own problems having inadvertently got caught up in an insider trading scheme. He is possibly facing prison and the bad publicity when it all comes out threatens to tank his company. He needs to get out of the public eye and get out of town. Through a series of unlikely events, the four join forces to get Tanzie to Scotland to win the 15,000 pound prize.
Their adventures on the road are by turns comical, heart-tugging, suspenseful, and even shocking. I was all in and loved Jess and her little family. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about my feelings for Ed, with whom the kids bond with and with whom Jess falls in love. It was a shame really because in many ways, he was a sympathetic, even admirable, and lovable character at times who grows quite a bit in the course of the novel. But I could not forgive his behavior towards his dying father, his mother, and his sister (another great character). He refuses to visit them, fighting his sister all the way, for over half the book. His excuse is that he is trying to protect them from the impending scandal of his trial. But I didn’t buy this seemingly reasonable excuse. He was just cowardly and embarrassed. It was a relief when he finally saw the light and made things right in that regard.
Because in that one moment, Ed Nicholls saw that he had been more like Marty than he was like Jess. He had been that coward who spent his life running from things rather than facing up to them. And that had to change.
But his mother’s and father’s hearts had already been broken again and again and his sister enraged by his selfishness. All was forgiven, but for me, it was too little too late. Some things cannot be fixed by an apology. And no sooner than I get over that, he turns on Jess and the kids. Yes, Jess screws up and, for once, does something she knows is wrong. But in the same way that Jean Valjean was wrong to steal a loaf of bread to feed his starving nephew and sister. Despite the fact that it all came right at the end, I just felt so much hostility towards Ed for his attitude and behavior that it almost ruined the book for me. But you know, if Jess is happy, then I’m happy.
Come to think of it, the same thing happened with a main character in the other Jojo Moyes book I read. She made me hate a character only to have a character I loved just forgive them. Does she do that with every book? No matter. The book was saved by the wonderfulness of all of the rest of the characters, the bravest and bestest dog in the world, and “the kindness of strangers.”
Rebekah's Readings and Watchings 