Regency Buck: Georgette Heyer Book Club Part 4

[DilysPrice]

In which Judith nearly becomes Queen of England, Bernard is putting something nasty in the snuff, and Peregrine has his cock squeezed.

There are some good bits in this one - I love the race to Brighton and Beau Brummell, and I enjoy the way she integrates the Royal Dukes as full-blown characters in a way she tends not to in later Regency novels. I had an enlightening time on this read going through Clarence's Wikipedia page and belatedly realising that the history of the UK might have been rather different if Judith had accepted him - no Queen Victoria for a start.

To my mind the big weakness it is that everything hinges on the big twist, so that it doesn't really stand up to re-reading - the devices that she uses to misdirect us are so laboured, and become more so on a re-read.

And Worth doesn't quite fly for me as a hero. I think I buy Judith falling in love with him - that's quite convincingly done, but I don't buy him falling for her.

What do you think of Worth? What does happen to Bernard in the end? Do you think this one is enhanced by such a full-on use of historical characters? Would Judith have been a good queen? And what do you reckon to the gender politics? Judith is the first Heyer heroine who is really kicking against the restraints of Regency womanhood in classic style (Leonie's defiance of convention doesn't count, because she's a child, and forrin) but can her marriage really be a partnership of equals?

Oh yes I do Leonie, if I pick one up I have real problems putting it back down . Almost as addictive as MN...

I've ordered it in from the Library too.

Apparently the battle descriptions are extremely accurate, although, I have to admit I find them a bit dry, as well.

This thread is very bad for my bank balance! I've just ordered the Beau Brummell book which can sit alongside the copy of the GH biography that I accidentally ordered last week .

Does anyone have a recommendations for general reading around the regency period? I've gone through everything Wiki has to offer but I'd like a proper book that I can dip in and out of.

Oh, I meant to add that I skip the battle scenes in Infamous Army too.

I'm hoping the IA discussion will focus on the human element rather than being an in-depth analysis of battle strategy.

I love the battle scenes, but then I was forcefed the 1970 film of Waterloo (starring Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, and the entire Red Army) from an early age.

I quite enjoyed "High Society in the Regency Period" by Venetia Murray, it's a very easy read, though I'm not sure I learnt much that isn't already in Heyer tbh.

I adore Heyer, and I LOVE Worth, although he is a difficult character I think. He's very much in the current fashion of controlling, abusive strong leading men. He is more distant in Infamous Army and Judith has grown a pair matured so it's a very interesting book for that reason.

Heyer's heroes so rarely give anything away. Compare Worth to Avon, or Beaumaris, for example. If they'd just occasionally tell us what they are thinking, the poor girls would be saved so much heartache.

I've got that one already, Leonie . I bought it early on in my GH addiction. It's pretty good although her links to GH novels tend to focus on the same handful rather than the whole range but there's some interesting stuff about Regency society, etc.

I'll go and have a look at Dilys' recommendation on Amazon now but I think I want a big coffee table tome with plenty of lavish illustrations and all the key events of the Regency.

Did anyone catch the series about it on BBC3 a few months ago? There were lots of events in it which are referenced fleetingly in GH but unless you know the event and when it happened it sort of passes you by, iykwim.

I read a lot of Cornwell (Sharpe) before coming to Heyer, and by comparison her battle descriptions are short, pithy and plot-driven.

A lot of the same characters come up, too. Worth cross-reading.

RuthlessBaggage, when we started the GH Bookclub we initially agreed to read in order of publication but Black Moth was so clearly the inspiration behind These Old Shades that we went straight on to that while the memories were fresh then it seemed to make sense to read Devil's Cub as it's the sequel. But then we decided we should read Regency Buck before An Infamous Army so we had met all the characters in in IA as their younger selves.

So there is method in our madness!

I think we're back to reading in order after IA, aren't we?

Highly logical! Save skipping about.

Fwiw I think GH does better when she isn't reusing characters. She has to change them (eg Tracy to Justin, but even Justin between books) to get the story right and it is awkward. Better simply to start again.

I knew a Venetia once. She was blonde and very beautiful and spirited and really could have doubled as Venetia Lanyon. I found that quite satisfying somehow.

DH would never have countenanced any GH name for our DD, save perhaps Abby (as in Wendover).

Our dog is Letty, as in Letty Lade and also one of the minor characters in April Lady but there's no way I'd have got away with it for a child .

How lovely that the RL Venetia lived up to her literary namesake, MG. I wonder if her mum was a GH fan.

Actually my dd does have a name from GH. Quite late in the pregnancy I was reading Sylvester and (without telling DH where I got the idea) suggested Phoebe to him. I'd almost forgotten that!

Lovely anti-heroine: not that pretty, shy, bookish, horsy and incredibly funny and clever.

To go back to Worth, the bit where he says to Peregrine that Judith naturally wanted the house she was told she couldn't have makes me feel he could be an awful lot worse.

Yes, that's very funny. He has the measure of her within minutes.

Friend of a friend called their daughter Charis, as in (and after) Frederica's beautiful but thick sister, which I think is a bit .

Snap DashingRedhead, dp doesn't know that's where my inspiration for dd1 came from. He turned down Venetia for dd2 though.

not saying the name as it could out me IRL, but DD3 shares a name with a minor GH character who is selfish and a bit stupid - it is a book I hadn't read till a few years ago, and was a bit when DDs name popped up . Thankfully DD3 isn't selfish or a bit stupid.

Was going to write a list of my guesses Midnight then saw you would rather have your privacy respected. It's rather disconcerting when a name you only know of as one thing/person comes up in a different context. My own very unusual surname showed up in a book once, a fantasy novel. She was a rather silly, highly promiscuous fairy!
I remember in one of her books she'd clearly been trawling an atlas for character surnames, and the page had obviously fallen open around here.

I just re-read RB for this thread. I've decided that I'm nowhere near so keen on a lot of the "heroes" now I'm more mature(!) as I was when I first read most of GH, starting with Devil's Cub when I was about 13.

I really didn't like the fact that Worth just came up and kissed Judith when she was on her way back from her walk while Perry had gone to the fight at the beginning of the book. I don't like the fact that in those days it was not permissible for "ladies" to do so many activities - walking on their own anywhere, going in the sea (Peregrine looking at the bathing machines through a telescope). I feel sorry for people like Mrs Scattergood who had to rely on the goodwill of people to be able to live. I also now wish that the characters in this book would just talk to each other. I can't understand why Worth had to entrap Bernard and didn't just "get rid" of him as he is of much higher social standing than Bernard.

Having said that, I still very much enjoy reading GH. It's pure escapism for me and probably takes me back to when I was a teenager with nowhere near as much responsibility.

Just as an aside, in a school I was teaching in a couple of years ago there was a Charis (sounded Kareess). When I first read Frederica I used to sound Charis as Chariss (with a Ch, not a K).