To think that no sane person would actually fall for Rupert Campbell -Black?

[Bigearringsbigsmile]

Have just finished reading Riders for the nth time and I've got to say.. he really is repulsive.
He beats his horses.
He beats his wife.
He colludes in the rape of his wife.
He's foul to his son.
He ' s sexual incontinent and gives his wife gonorrhoea.
He thinks it's ok to have sex with 14 year olds.
His only humour is to make puns.
He bullies people all the time.
He's a tory.

Being rich and good looking surely doesn't over ride all that?

Sticky means in the books. All the " good" characters feel utmost sympathy. The only people who point out the whole "he was pissed, hadn't strapped in the child, was speeding etc" are people like enid coley who are beneath contempt. ..obviously.

Depressingly, Riders was published in 1985. And if you think of the way many women seem to worship Whatshisname in Twilight and Christian in 50 Shades things don’t seem to have changed much.....

Exactly.

And Ive actually read worse.

Michael Praed was Jake
Marcus Gilbert was Rupert

RCB is a reformed rake - I read MWMHJ as a teen and was aghast at Guy’s gaslighting of Georgie. As a 17 year old I swore never to take that sort of crap from a cheating man. Until the Internet I don’t know how people knew about this sort of behaviour. No one is particularly marvellous as people in JC’s books but people are very imperfect. It doesn’t make them unlovable. It’s a lot of characters, none of whom are saintly, eventually, one hopes, finding happiness and redemption. They are romantic books with very funny observances. If you want to be outraged and po faced at the writing, don’t read them. They’re not your bag! That’s fine! People shouldn’t take bonkbusters as a handbook for life! No one whines this way about the Greek Myths.

Jilly wrote the Guy/Georgie storyline in response to her husband's affair which was gleefully reported in all the tabloids. She always wrote about her happy marriage and had written a book about it called "how to stay married." Taking the piss about this, given Leo's infidelity, was a gift to the press and must have been extremely painful for her.

So in TMWMHJ she has Georgie, who has just had the smash hit of the decade about her fantastic husband, suddenly finding out he is having an affair and not only having to cope with the infidelity but having to cope with the utter humiliation because she has just made a big thing to the whole world about what a marvellous husband he is and how much she loves him . . .

Yes, I knew all that - and that she had an affair too and that Leo’s bit on the side wrote a very unpleasant article.

I just think that her books are about imperfect people falling in love or being vile or being amusing - in beautiful surroundings and an absence of worry about big overdrafts! She writes the discovery of infidelity extraordinarily well but my point is that she makes clear in HER books that people’s imperfections don’t make them less lovable in her fictional and fabulous books - and as a podgy acne ridden teenager I had glorious escapism coupled with “well I won’t fall for THAT!” (I literally would never have come across even the concept of gaslighting til I was 30) and I’m not less of a feminist for enjoying her books even though I would DEFINITELY fancy RCB. My husband is so not RCB! I can at least appreciate the attraction. As some other reviewer said it’s pretty relaxing that no bad day can’t be improved by washing your hair and cracking open a bottle of champagne.

JC knew of her husband's long term mistress, one for town, one for country, don't you know? What upset her for was that it became public knowledge. How very Royal Family.

I don't think she did know. I read an interview where she was saying that she became like a detective....checking credit card receipts etc.
And it was very sad, she said they had never had a proper conversation. ..that everything got swept under the carpet.

No one whines this way about the Greek Myths.

Bastard rape-y swans.

an absence of worry about big overdrafts!

Well....
Sometimes they sell off some jewellery or a painting (the sad little squares of unfaded wallpaper where once they hung...😥) or the family silver to pay off debts.
Even Taggie sells off jewellery to help her feckless (such a JC word) family.

at bastArd rapey swans!!!

Yes ....the complaining about poverty while living in a huge house and owning a load of horses and sending your kids to boarding school..

the complaining about poverty while living in a huge house and owning a load of horses and sending your kids to boarding school

God, yes!

And blowing a month's wages on a dress when you don't know where you're next bottle of vodka's coming from.

"your" not "you're".
Godssake

Well you can save on electric for the washing up machine by eating your kedgeree with a spoon straight from the pan.

How many fictional heartthrobs are anything other than unmitigated bastards? My early crushes included Max de a Winter, Patrick Pennington and Mr Rochester. None of them exactly provide a healthy template for relationships.

Don’t know where the extra a comes from in Max de Winter.

The way RCB treats his horses should really put all of the fictional characters off him, logically. They are mad for animals. As am I. he was dead to me after that.

@Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies

How many fictional heartthrobs are anything other than unmitigated bastards?

That is a very good point.

I'm thinking (you can tell because my mouth's hanging open and my eyes are crossed)...

Don't know if I've mentioned her here, but some of Eva Ibbotson's heroes might cut the mustard...

Maybe Rupert (ooh! Spooky doctrine of signatures) Frayne in "A Countess Below Stairs". Or "The Secret Princess" if you buy a new version.

The titles sound ghastly.

Seriously, though. Eva Ibbotson: give her a try. Even more my comfort read than JC.

Jill's best hero.is Nico Calvert in Hester and Co.

Becles

Jill's best hero.is Nico Calvert in Hester and Co.

Nico in "A Pressing Engagement" in "Lisa & Co"? You're right; he was a sweetie.

Seriously, I've said on MN that I'm over invested. Mastermind would be a walkover.

Until they got on to general knowledge.

Giving Eva Ibbotson a try with the secret countess. Lazy bank holiday afternoon, thanks for the recommendation.

And she writes all her vicars as beneath contempt, wimps etc, which makes me so cross.

And cat people are generally written as inferior to dog people which as a servant ton6 cats I take issue with

I’ve also just ordered the secret countess! And a Barbara Pym book.

And I don’t mind admitting I have navy blue towels because of Daisy MacLeod and I will be making shepherds pie later and demanding my husband guzzle whisky with it. I can’t get him into longboots for love nor money (he says this simply won’t work in Walthamstow) but I do what I can.

My favourite JC hero is Ace Mulholland from Prudence. He's lovely

I really hope you both like the Eva Ibbotson book. I read her when I want to smile, if I need comforting...

Sounds gross I know. Tab would fling her glass of vodka in my face, burst into tears and charge upstairs, hotly pursued by Wolfie, Tristan, Isa et al

So hope you like the book. I bought it after reading a review that said something along the lines of Sydney Smith said that Heaven was 'eating fois gras to the sound of trumpets' and A Countess Below Stairs was like eating syllabub in the same circs.

Nonono. I'm not saying foie gras is a Good Thing. Just quoting a review.

Another one giving Eva Ibbotson a try. I need a bit of fluffy escapism right now. When life is this hectic, you simply cannot read a Booker nominee!