I found this book entertaining and amusing. Lord Sheringham (Sherry) is rejected by the Incomparable and outstandingly beautiful Miss Milborne and vows to marry the first woman he meets. Fortunately this happens to be Hero Wantage (Kitty), a young and naive girl who has loved him since childhood. Although he is not in the least in love with her they elope.

The story is quite predictable, but none the less enjoyable, as Kitty and Sherry embark on a series of mishaps, mayhem and scrapes. The trouble is that he doesn’t realise she loves him and carries on as though he were still single and she takes what he says as the gospel truth, resulting in chaos and disaster. Eventually she takes the drastic step of running away from him aided and abetted by his friends, George, Lord Wrotham, Mr Ringwood and the Hon. Ferdy Fakenham. The end result as Sherry desperately tries to find her is very much in the vein of a Whitehall farce, with disguises and mistaken identities.

Georgette Heyer’s portrayal of Regency England is superb in detail and atmosphere. The beauty and skill of this elegant, romantic novel is that it transported me back in time to Regency England, a time of dashing heros and enterprising heroines. ( )

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child born on the Sabbath Day,
Is fair and wise and good and gay. — Mother Goose

I did not remember this nursery rhyme when I started Georgette Heyer's Friday's Child, but I'm happy to rediscover it. According to Wikipedia, this novel is generally considered to be one of Heyer's best Regency romances, and was her personal favorite. It is only the second book by Heyer that I have read, but I can see how high it sets the bar! I listened to this story on audiobook (read by Eve Matheson) and enjoyed every minute of it. It could have been twice as long and I would not have complained. Who could, with such a clever storyline and memorable characters?

Antony Verelst, the Viscount Sheringham, cannot touch a penny of his fortune until he either gets married or turns 25. After being rejected by the lovely Isabella Milborne (known as "The Incomparable"), Sherry declares that he will marry the next woman he sees. And that woman happens to be young Hero Wantage, the orphaned and penniless playmate of his childhood. They head off to London, procure the requisite special license, and are married with all propriety the day after Sherry's rejection by Isabella. Though Hero is quietly devoted to Sherry and has been since childhood, they agree that their marriage of convenience will not interfere with each other's lives.

But it does interfere with their lives, as Sherry soon learns. Hero is not "up to snuff" on the social niceties of a lady of fashion, and Sherry is always getting her out of some scrape or another. Though she never means to cause trouble, her charming innocence often leads her to trust people she shouldn't. And Sherry's own harum-scarum habits as a young blood and would-be gamester do not set Hero a good example. Over the course of the story, Sherry's friends Gil, Ferdy, and George begin to see the marriage for what it is, and sympathize greatly with Hero's unrequited love. When events conspire to separate the Viscount and his wife, their friends engage in a well-meaning little plot to open the Viscount's eyes to what he has in Hero.

Hero seems a strange name for our leading lady, but Heyer writes a scene in which she explains that it comes from Shakespeare (Much Ado About Nothing). It's one of the funnier scenes of the story, with the characters hurriedly disclaiming all knowledge of Shakespeare for fear of being thought that horrid thing, "bookish." It reminded me a little of P. G. Wodehouse's characters and their hilariously vague or derogatory allusions to great literature.

The characters are really wonderful and their interactions with each other are funny but not farcical. George Wrotham is one of my favorites, a dashing and romantic young lord who always has his hair artistically rumpled with one piece hanging over his perfect forehead. He is forever trying to call people out to fight duels, but he's so good with a pistol that no one will go out with him. He is a devoted admirer of The Incomparable, but his mortgaged estates do not recommend his suit. This allows for much angst as he dramatically claims at least three times in the story that he wants to blow his brains out over Isabella's coolness.

I also loved Gil Ringwood, Sherry's intelligent friend, and his cousin Ferdy Fakenham (who is not very intelligent but who certainly dresses in the height of fashion!). And of course Sherry himself is so much fun to watch, moving from a thoughtless, selfish immaturity to a more responsible mindset. Isabella Milborne is also quite well-written; I enjoyed all the rationale behind the coy actions of an incomparable beauty. Lady Saltash is another wonderful lady, and I loved her worldly-wise little comments on the developing story. I instantly pictured her as Barbara Leigh-Hunt, the actress who plays Lady Catherine de Bourgh in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice and Lady Cumnor in the 1999 Wives and Daughters.

And who can forget Jason, Sherry's pickpocket of a tiger! I'm not perfectly sure of the definition, but I believe a "tiger" is a nobleman's assistant coachman or some such thing. Sherry met Jason when the latter tried to pick his pockets, and was impressed with the boy's gift with horses. Jason adores his master with an almost religious devotion. The only problem is that Jason can't quite curb his old habits of thievery. But Sherry's friends know that all they have to do is apply to Sherry to make Jason cough up all the stolen property. Too funny!

Heyer's delightful use of the slang of the times has me wanting to incorporate those words into my own vocabulary. It gives the characters such an authentic feel, to have them constantly saying that they shall "deal extremely" (get along well) and that this situation is "beyond anything" (quite shocking) and that so-and-so is "disguised" (drunk). I also love Heyer's attention to the details of what they are wearing. It's quite fascinating and her descriptions conjure up fantastic images of high fashion and breathtaking artistry. I'm not a costumer myself, but the costumers I know would love these descriptions!

So far my experiences with Heyer's books have both been audiobooks (the other I have heard is Cotillion, read by Phyllida Nash). I loved Eve Matheson's reading of this story. She does the various voices extremely well, and her accents are wonderful (Jason's slangy Cockney especially comes to mind). It constantly amazed me how Matheson is able to switch from Hero's soft, sweet voice to Sherry's louder, rougher tones, but she accomplishes this feat admirably in all the dialogue. You can tell that Matheson is fully alive to the wonderful sarcasm of certain narrative descriptions — but it's not all just a laugh. The more serious moments are sensitively handled, and I couldn't believe how much I cared for the characters by the time the story was over.

The only caution I would give to younger readers is that the book does contain a fair amount of mild swearing (all those young bloods don't say "darn," you know!) and there are a few instances in which mistresses, seduction, and "bits of muslin" are discussed.

I can't recommend this story enough, and I'm very thankful to my fellow LibraryThinger ChocolateMuse for suggesting this as my second Heyer book. I'm also very much indebted to my library for coming through with a long-shot interlibrary loan. This title certainly delivered! Now, if only someone would adapt this as a mini-series... ( )

One of Heyer's best books. A touching and at the same time funny story about a swift marriage and its tangles.

I absolutely love this book. The dialogue is so wonderful, setting each character clearly, and the characters are so well drawn and act completely naturally, and without being interchangeable. Interestingly, none of the main characters is particularly bright or responsible, which would ordinarily turn me against them, but they are all good hearted and well-intentioned, and as they get in deeper and deeper over their heads, they get to be more and more fun. Hero, in particular, qualifies as too stupid to live, but somehow manages not to be totally annoying. I suspect that I would slap her repeatedly if I did know her, but she does seem to get at least a bit of a clue towards the end, and that helps. In the meantime, she is part of a wonderful set of people who play off each other beautifully, and hilariously, in this really very funny and sweet book. ( )

[Friday's Child] is the story of a young couple, Lord Sherry and Hero, who marry for convenience sake. Sherry will not be given access to his fortune until he is 25, or married, whichever comes first. He proposes to Isabella Milborne, the most beautiful woman he knows, and is turned down. Horrified, Sherry vows to marry the first woman he sees. Hero, who is not yet 17, has known and loved Sherry for many years - a fact of which he is oblivious. When Sherry encounters Hero after his ill-fated proposal, they run away to London, and are married. They vow to lead separate lives, and leave each other to their own devices; however, Hero's inexperience in society causes her to get into any number of scrapes. What follows is a comedic series of misunderstandings that will have you laughing out loud!

Heyer's characters are wonderful; Sherry's friends - Gil, Ferdy, and George - are fantastically drawn and the life of the novel. The best scenes in the book are the ones that display the dynamic between these four men. Though they initially seem like an identical group of rakes, they are actually very different in personality, and their antics are hilarious. Though [Friday's Child] is set in the time of Jane Austen, and deals with the same type of "comedy of manners," the real difference comes in Heyer's ability to write about this masculine world. Austen is very female-focused, and while she wrote extensively about the private lives of women, her reader is not privy to the home lives of her male characters - we do not see Darcy and Bingely drinking port and discussing Elizabeth and Jane. Heyer's readers are, however, able to see and hear exactly what her male characters are thinking. We enter their breakfast rooms and gaming halls just as often as we enter Hero's and Isabella's drawing-rooms. I enjoyed seeing the other side of this society, and look forward to reading more of Heyer's works. ( )