Devil's Cub: Georgette Heyer Book Club Part 3

[DilysPrice]

My calendar has reminded me that we are back from half term and it is Devil's Cub day.

Avon is still omnipotent and omniscient (and GH still totes has a crush on him even though he's 60-something). Leonie is still mad as a box of frogs. Rupert is still good value. And Juliana's unfortunate fiancé performs the Hugh Davenent role of sane observer making dry quips at the craziness around him (but doing it much better IMO because he has an actual plot function).

Which leaves us with the romantic leads. Mary is brilliant - one of my all time favourite GH heroines. Dominic has his moments but although GH thought his actions were forgivable, can we ever accept him as a "happy ending" from our 21st century perspective? GH is clearly aware (from the other characters' comments) that she's pushing the "girls love a bastard" angle as close as possible to its limit, and the fact that she never went that far again in her later books I think shows her awareness that she'd crossed the line.

But the plotting - oh how I love the plotting.

Thoughts? Can we accept Dominic as a romantic lead? Did you swoon over him as a teen?

Can't believe I missed this thread. DC is my absolute favourite GH book. Love love love Vidal (to the point of considering Dominic for DS2's name .

Mary and Vidal (by then Avon) are also truly groovy in Infamous Army although somewhat shoehorned in.

I, too, missed this thread (must have been dealing a bit with real life ).

This was the first GH book I ever read. It was lent to me by a schoolfriend. She even had to tell me how to pronouce Vidal. I loved it right from the beginning. Didn't think anything of the attempted rape then. I read it very differently now.

I think it's a very witty, lighthearted book (or do I mean it is written in a lighthearted style?). I can ead it again and again, more than some others of hers (Regency Buck, a Civil Contract), even though I'm not keen on some aspects of the behaviour.

I think I really loved the Vidal character when I first read the book (I was only 13-ish) and definitely still like that physical type of man.

Thank you, Dilys, for starting these threads. I'm really enjoying "having" to re-read all my GH.

Just as an aside, when I was in my 20s I tried to get my DM to read GH. She absolutely hated them.

Aw thanks. It wasn't my idea though - it was Lady Damerel's.
I'm just bossy and impatient, which is why I end up starting the threads.

Regency Buck thread is ongoing, An Infamous Army thread starts evening of Monday 9th July.

I adored Vidal as a 12 year old, and I did not at all notice the two attempted rapes, or his well known (to Sophie) history of domestic violence, or his attempting to strangle Mary (the most serious sign that a domestic abuser is likely to actually kill his partner is strangulation BTW). Reading it again at 45, after working as a psychiatric nurse, psychotherapist, and alcohol and drug counsellor (ie knowing a few things about domestic violence, and also having had a few fairly sh*tty relationships of my own) I was horrified to discover that Vidal is a monster, a classic domestic abuser of the sort that came to us alot when I worked in alcohol and drugs (sometimes referred by the court for drunk driving, sometimes referred by the court ordered anger management group he was sent to for beating his girl friend). She has done a remarkable job (considering her age) of creating a very recognizable and realistic portrait of a domestic abuser with a substance abuse problem, and even seeing that clearly, I still found him devastatingly appealing.

I love Georgette Heyer, and this is still one of my favorite novels, but I would never ever ever ever allow a young teenage girl to read this novel. I reckon it should come with an R18 warning on it, because Vidal is so appealing, and such a toxic romantic template for a young girl to be carrying around inside her (it certainly was for me).