Black Sheep (original 1966; edition 2004)

Another fun novel from Heyer! I found this novel a little simpler in terms of plot compared to her other novels, but it was still enjoyable with some fine issues raised about family and growing up. You could read my full review of the novel over at my blog (contains some spoilers!): http://www.rulethewaves.net/blog/?p=3681 ( )

This was my first Georgette Heyer novel, and it definitely won't be my last! The characters are memorable: Abby, the younger of two "old maid" aunts (the other is the rather dottery and slightly hypochrondriac Selina) who are raising Fanny, an irrepressible seventeen-year-old in love for the first time with a possible fortune hunter, and Miles, the "black sheep" uncle of the fortune hunter who cares nothing for the rules and dictates of society but an awful lot for Abby...their dialogue had me laughing, and I've already re-read my favorite parts more than once. A delightful read and escape into an Austenesque world!
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One of Heyer's good romances, with an interesting hero who really had ruined himself in "good society" earlier. ( )

Prim Abigail Wendover meets, dislikes and then falls for Miles Calverleigh, packed off to India in his youth and now returning as a Nabob to save the family estate. ( )

“Whenever I’ve read about it, in some trashy romance, I mean.”

From the blurb:

Charming and wise in the ways of the world, Bath society-belle Miss Abigail Wendover has tried hard to detach her spirited niece Fanny from a plausible fortune-hunter. Her valiant efforts on behalf of her relative become vastly more complicated with the arrival of Miles Calverleigh. The black sheep of his family, a cynical, outrageous devil-may-care with a scandalous past – that would be a connection more shocking even than Fanny’s unwise liaison with his nephew! But Abby, adept at managing her sweet, silly sister Selina, her lively niece and the host of her admirers among Bath’s circumscribed society, has less success in controlling her own unruly heart.

Abby herself is quite an interesting character: she has a certain independence of mind that is refreshing in this sort of romance, although the fact that she finds Miles vexatiously handsome is frustrating because we all know exactly what is going to happen.

All the characters fall into such predictable types – Selina the silly sister, Fanny the niece with promise and independence who is bringing trouble to the family with her heart, boorish brothers and brothers-in-law, a pleasant set of brother-in-law and sister… is anyone else seeing the cast list of Pride & Prejudice here with different names?

And I got 72 pages in (out of 252, so I adhered to my 25% rule!) and NOTHING has happened. The scene has been set, and now there are some people in it, wandering about.

No thank you. ( )