Bath Tangle

Lady Serena Carlow, only child of the late Earl of Spenborough, was shocked to learn that her father had named Ivo Barrasford, Marquis of Rotherham, as her guardian. A strong-willed man with a temper to match her own, Rotherham was also Lady Serena's erstwhile fiancé, and the two never met but that they quarreled. Outraged but resigned, Serena soon took up residence with her very young step-mother, until a chance encounter with a man from her past set in motion a seemingly hopeless tangle of romantic mis-matches...

I have heard it said that Bath Tangle is the perfect expression of Georgette Heyer's notions of class, with "like seeking like" in the form of the three couples. In this schema Lady Serena and Rotherham are of the nobility, show more Fanny and Major Kirkby of the landed gentry, and Emily and Mr. Goring of the merchant class, and the process whereby they all find the "right" romantic partner reinforces the author's evident preference for class endogamy.

I have nothing to say against such an interpretation, whatever I may think of the underlying social philosophy. My dislike of Bath Tangle arises, not from any distaste at the antiquated class structure - it is, after all, hardly the most extreme example of such ideas in Heyer's work - but rather from the wretchedly dishonorable conduct of the "hero." I don't despise Rotherham for wanting to marry Serena, but for manipulating and exploiting Emily, all while excusing his conduct by reference to the vulgarity and greed of others... Rotherham may be Serena's social equal, but in all other ways he is not, and I have trouble understanding why she would be attracted to him. show less

A love tangle that takes place in Bath, where Serena and her stepmother Fanny go to stay after the unexpected death of Serena’s father, the 5th Earl of Spenborough. It’s fairly obvious who will end up with whom when the music stops, but I found that an entertaining amount of predictability, because it isn’t obvious what will happen in the interim and I enjoyed spending time with these characters.

I particularly liked that Serena and Fanny cared a lot about each other, in spite of their different temperaments (and the potential awkwardness of Fanny being a few years younger than Serena). Serena is confident and fiery; her father brought her up to hunt, host political parties and involve herself in managing his estate, and because show more of his encouragement and position in society, Serena hasn’t worried about other people considering her choices unconventional. Fanny is quieter and more interested in domestic details; her main motivation for marrying a man over twice her age seems to be that it offered an escape from her family of origin, and she has more understanding than Serena does of the difficulties of having limited choices.

I also liked how the novel portrayed Serena’s grief -- she’s very defensive of anything that feels like criticism of her father.

The ending didn’t quite hit all the notes I thought it needed to, but on the whole, it was satisfying.

The old lady chuckled richly, all her chins quivering. “Ay, so I am, and I’ll be bound you know it because you asked someone who the deuce that old fright could be, dressed in a gown with panniers!”
“I did ask who you might be, but I did not so describe you!” instantly responded Serena.
“Lord, I wouldn’t blame you! I’d look a worse fright if I was to stuff myself into one of these newfangled gowns you all wear nowadays, with a waist under my armpits and skirt as straight as a candle! All very well for you, my lady, with the lovely slim figure you have, but I’ll tell you what I’d look like, and that’s a sack of meal, with a string tied around it! Ay, that makes you laugh [...]” show less

I kind of liked Serena, and parts of this were fun with some good dialogue, but my god did I ever want to punch Rotherham by the end of this book. It was a selfish, arrogant, dickish thing to do; using someone else for your own gain is absolutely reprehensible to me. If I were Serena (or Emily), I would have slapped him and walked far, far away. What a wonderful advertisement for why a woman of means in the Regency period was really better served by remaining single.

This is basically the romantic adventures of three women and the complications that occur. The Earl of Spenborough dies and leaves his young second wife, his daughter (older than his wife) and a complicated portion of his will which leaves his daughter's jilted ex in charge of her future. When the man who was her first love turns up she thinks that her future is sure but things get complicated.

Unlike a lot of modern romance novels this explores different kinds of love and how you might think you're in love but there has to be space in both lives for each person to become a whole person.

Loved this story, loved the characters and the fact that they're full people and are trying to find a good future for themselves.

Georgette Heyer's Bath Tangle is one of her more predictable Regency romances, but that doesn't preclude it from being enjoyable. Actually, most popular genres — mysteries, suspense, romance, etc. — are built from a predictable model. The fun is not so much in what happens as in how it happens. It isn't the end we want, but the experience of getting there. So this review contains spoilers, mostly because the plot is fairly transparent already.

Lady Serena Carlow is saddened by her father's death, but infuriated by the conditions of his will. Several years ago she shocked fashionable society by breaking off her engagement to Ivo Barrasford, Marquis of Rotherham... and now the Marquis is to control the bulk of her enormous fortune show more until she marries. And that's not the worst — Serena can't even have her fortune unless her marriage is approved by Rotherham!

Clearly old Lord Spenborough wanted Serena and Rotherham to awaken their former love, but Serena has other plans. When she meets another old lover, the dashing and manly Hector Kirkby, she falls head over heels for him again and soon they are engaged. Surprisingly, Marquis raises no objection to the match and even treats Hector with an offhand friendliness. It is apparent that their old flame is quite extinguished — and this is further confirmed when Rotherham becomes engaged to the lovely young Emily Laleham. It's too bad that his ward Gerard also entertains warm feelings toward Miss Laleham...

What I found slightly frustrating was how long the doomed relationship with Hector dragged out. No doubt Hector's and Serena's innate incompatibility is far more obvious to the reader than it would be to them and those around them, but it seemed so clear that he and she could never change enough to suit one another. This sense of the story's lagging unnecessarily was probably exacerbated by how my schedule made me break up my reading over the course of a week, which is not the book's fault, of course.

Mrs. Floore is a welcome addition to the story, and a rather unique personage to meet in the pages of a Regency story. I'm not sure that Serena's reception of her is entirely believable. She does come out with some great lines though, and reminds me of L. M. Montgomery's more garrulous females. In fact, now that I come to think of it, Mrs. Floore is very similar to Mrs. Matilda Pitman in Rilla of Ingleside. A character combining money, humble origins, and lack of pretension will always have the best speeches!

Heyer's leading characters, especially the men, sometimes have an edge to them that is decidedly Brontëan. Rotherham is one such hero, striking rather than handsome and unblushingly rude where he finds courtesy superfluous or hypocritical. He's also sexually menacing. While neither the Marquis nor Serena are particularly original characters, their settled types allow Heyer to spend her energies on the dialogue, which is bitingly fun. One of the more humorous elements of the story is how Serena and Rotherham can never meet without arguing. One of their arguments (on the flaws of Serena's favorite mare) is carried on throughout the story and is more amusing each time it surfaces. Another source of humor is the relationship between Serena and her stepmother Fanny (who is several years younger than Serena, but expected to act as Serena's duenna in London, poor girl). And of course there is always Heyer's straight-faced sarcasm in the narrative voice, as here:

A letter from Lady Theresa followed hard upon the announcement in The Gazette... Lady Theresa prophesied disaster for all concerned, and hoped that when Serena was dying an old maid she would remember these words, and be sorry. Meanwhile she remained her affectionate aunt.

Heehee.

Despite the predictability of the plot (yes, Serena and Rotherham get together again, and all romantic tangles are smoothed out!), I found the characters vivid and the dialogue crisp. I wouldn't recommend this as your first foray into Heyer's work, but it's a respectable little story in its own right, and fun besides. show less

Oh, this was deliciously scandalous! One of the more enjoyable Heyer books, by far. I absolutely loved it. One of my coworkers lent this to me after we both declared on Twitter how wonderful Georgette Heyer’s books were. Bath Tangle did not disappoint at all.

This book was written about two thirds into Heyer’s career, which is really evident when you are reading it. A lot of her earlier stuff is awkwardly written, and neither the characters nor plot are well developed. Bath Tangle is definitely superior in those respects.

The first half of the book was a little bit slow, while Heyer was setting the scene and introducing us to the characters and their situations, but when Serena and Fanny get to Bath things quickly pick up. Our show more characters, while still in mourning, are able to attend smaller gatherings, outings and make appearances at the Pump Room, which of course leads to the introduction of extremely interesting characters and many suitable (as well as some highly unsuitable) men attempting pay addresses to both women.

As far as the characters go, this definitely has some of the most interesting ones. It also has some of the most frustrating ones. I felt that Fanny was undeveloped, and when she did show some personality it was just to berate herself and proclaim to others about how stupid she was. Sigh. Grow some confidence, girl! I rather wanted to shake her and tell her to shut up at times.

Serena was lovely – eccentric, rather headstrong, but lovely. The relationship that she had with Rotherham was really the most wonderful part of the book, in my opinion. Rotherham was moody, and it was rare that he would appear without the two of them getting into a huge argument. It was obvious that not only did they perfectly suit each other, but that both were still in love with the other even though they broke off their engagement previously. It was also obvious that this love was what motivated both throughout the whole book.

Rotherham may actually be my favourite of Heyer’s males since Miles from Black Sheep. That’s pretty high praise.

The story itself was, as expected from a Heyer Regency romance, totally predictable. But it was also utterly delicious! The thing with these books, is that you always know who the main character(s) are going to hook up with as soon as they first show up in the book. It’s always just so exciting to see how they come to realize they are in love, and that moment when they both admit it to the other… ah! Beautiful and wonderful and butterfly-inducing!

The Bottom Line
Definitely thoroughly enjoyable! I’d highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good romp through Regency England! show less

I found Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer a slightly different book than her usual light romance. In this story the focus is originally on the social expectations of widows and daughters of upper class. The story opens with the funeral of the Earl of Spenborough. The Earl has left behind a young wife of 20, Fanny, and his daughter Serena, 26. As he had no sons, the title and estate now passes to a distant cousin. Fanny is a docile, shy person and is thankful to have been left a steady income and is more than willing to move to the Dower House. Serena plans to go with her but she has been raised in many ways more like a son and the quiet life does not always suit her. Well used to managing the huge household, hosting parties, accompanying show more her father on trips she feels trapped by the smallness of her life. Of course, being a unmarried woman, she doesn’t even have control of her money that duty has been turned over to the Marquis of Rotherham.

Eventually the ladies take a house in Bath for a few months, even though they must restrain themselves from society, they are able to have small dinners, go for walks and take the waters. One day Serena bumps into an old flame and before too long she and Hector have made plans to announce their engagement. At this point the story becomes more of the familiar, as various unsuitable couples get together too quickly and then realize their mistake. In those days one didn’t make and break engagements easily but in this case, there truly is a tangle that needs to be sorted.

There were things I really liked about this book, but there were also a few that I didn’t. Heyer’s heroes are often rather brusque and high-handed but Rotherham was the rudest one yet and his treatment of Emily, a young girl that he engaged himself to as a payback to Serena, was cruel. I wasn’t overly fond of Serena either, she tended to run rough-shod over other people, especially Fanny, and seemed to feel that her opinions were the only ones that counted. I much preferred the slower relationship that developed between Fanny and Hector.

Also Bath Tangle was a different perspective from Heyer’s usual, her conversational writing was as always, a delight to read and she added a few colourful side characters that definitely added to the books flavour. Emily’s grandmother, in particular was a stand-out. show less