I know GH has a lot of grateful readers on Mumsnet!
This novel is officially approved by the Georgette Heyer Estate, the first such book that I know of. Call me cynical, but given that the terms of GH's will forbid dramatisation of her novels on film and TV, I can see this as a good ploy for getting a screenplay with Georgette Heyer in the credits.
Sophie Irwin has written several competent Heyer-style books and I enjoyed reading them . She knows her stuff academically so no awful clangers or improbable modern attitudes creep in. I think she was a good choice to write some 'new' GH novels and I will probably read them as they appear.
Has anyone read Henrietta yet? I would love to hear opinions. I enjoyed it, but it did fall slightly flat for me. The supporting characters were as nicely described as one would hope - plenty of daft young men. The heroine had some funny moments, although the object of her love was a bit generic.
What I really missed was any decent minor characters. There were servants galore, but they remained voiceless. In a Heyer novel even the voiceless ones were permitted to roll their eyes and chat to each other. Description of their appearance, even. I still recall that Tiffany Wield's maid was flat chested and anxious. Just one word scrawny, spare? ( not got book to hand) and some agitated comments, and you could picture her.
Those are my first impressions, anyone else?