Lyn at I Prefer Reading has also read 'The Quiet Gentleman', and provided an excellent synopsis, so I'll keep mine brief. Although it's theoretically a regency romance, 'The Quiet Gentlemen' is really more of a thriller, albeit one in fancy dress and wedding bells all round at the end. The new Earl of St Erth has returned to the family seat (Stanyon) a year after his fathers death to find less than a warm welcome. The product of that fathers first, brief, and unhappy marriage the two had never enjoyed much of a relationship, to the point that the Earl had treated his younger son, Martin, from his second marriage very much as his heir. Gervase, meanwhile, had been off serving in the peninsula wars, leaving his family with some hopes that he might have died out there.
The rest of the family party comprises of the dowager countess (very much in the Lady Catherine mould), cousin Theo who acts as land agent, and Miss Morville who is staying with the countess whilst her parents are on holiday. It soon becomes clear that someone really does want the Earl out of the way as he's plagued by a series of near fatal accidents.
Every time I read this book I like it more - I still vividly remember being fooled by the romantic red herring the first time I read it some 30 years ago, and wondering what was going on when the promisingly lovely heiress went off with someone other than the hero. I'm not sure if the other red herring was such a surprise but it's an enjoyable enough mystery, and even though this is the umpteenth time I've read the book I was still desperate to race through it to see what happened next.
Why do I continue to like it so much? The obvious reasons are that there's something distinctly comforting about a romance, that this one showcases Heyer's humour at its best (it makes me laugh anyway) helps, and the mystery element is fun*. I like the way Miss Morville emerges as the heroine, attractive principally for her sound common sense, practicality, and intelligence - a successful relationship does after all need to be based on more than physical attraction.
More than anything though I'm interested in the way that Heyer examines family relationships and attachment to place. That the older son from the failed marriage is pushed out of the second family is understandable, as is the younger brothers resentment when the virtually unknown older brother moves back into his house. What do you do when your home, the home you live in, becomes somebody else's property? Equally what do you do when your property is filled with people who are far more at home in it than you are? How does it feel as the son of a younger brother to love the place that was your fathers home, but where you are essentially an employee? And after spending all your married life running a place, how do you cope with no longer being in charge?
The book has its flaws, but Heyer continues to delight me - her particular brand of humour, intelligence, and common sense has certainly proved the basis of a lasting relationship between us.
* The cover of my copy is particularly foul (I consider the cover from the first edition to be the best of the lot) and not for the first time I'm wondering what Heyer's books would look like if they weren't marketed specifically at women and as romantic fiction. In this one, and it isn't unique amongst her work in this respect, the romance element is the least of it. To sell it as such is underselling it.
I remember being disappointed with some of Heyer's books as teenager, as they were more thriller than romance, but I should perhaps revisit them. I do agree that the covers are misleading.
ReplyDeleteYes, this one certainly wasn't the romance I expected when I first read it, but these are the ones I particularly enjoy now. I think of them as being romances in the same way I might describe Robert Louis Stevenson as a writer of romances, or Dornford Yates. Something like The Toll Gate, or The Unknown Ajax, by G Heyer, and with a different kind of cover would be interesting to see.
ReplyDeleteFor me she's always worth revisiting, and I find her endlessly interesting, so I'd definitely say pick one up and see how you find it - but I'm biased. Please tell me if you ever do, and what you think of her now (I don't expect everyone to share my enthusiasm) because that toonis something I find endlessly interesting.
Heyer has been one of my discoveries as an adult, mostly thanks to the doves group. I didn't read her as a teenager, I dismissed her as Austen-lite, I was such a snob! Maybe the covers in the 70s were too romancey? I do love her novels with older heroines & the slow romance in TQG was perfect. I was also surprised by the thriller element & completely misled as well. Lovely to think I have many more to read.
ReplyDeleteI came at her from the other side, where her research lead me off into all sorts of interesting bits of 18th and 19th century history, art, and literature. She's no Jane Austen, but I find her an endlessly interesting writer (if Heyer and Austen do have common ground I'd say it was with humour more than anything else). I think the packaging she gets does her a disservice, her books are more than fluffy romance, quite a lot of them are adventure stories, and she pushes the boundaries of the mills and boon type of romance in interesting ways. Nor that I'm knocking romance, I just don't think one genre can satisfactorily contain her.
DeleteIf she was sold to you as an Austen substitute I don't think you were being a snob to turn your nose up at the suggestion, I can't currently think of anyone I'd compare her to - and probably shouldn't try. having read most of her books many times all I can say is that they never disappoint me.
I love those covers though; we had that edition in my local library when I was a teenager devouring her books as fast as I could get my hands on them. I have all her novels and read them quite often, but I get a particular nostalgic pang whenever I see one of those covers ....
ReplyDeleteI finally got a decent picture of my horrible cover and have edited accordingly, the one at the bottom was from the first edition, and is I think, very handsome. I would be tempted to frame it if I found a copy. I also think it gives the best impression of the contents of any of the ones I looked at. Having read one I'm really having to resist reading a pile more Heyer's, just as I did as a teenager.
DeleteSo glad you could join in! I've not read any of Heyer's Regency books but this does sound fun!
ReplyDeletekaggsysbookishramblings
She is fun, definitely worth trying at least one of her books sometime!
DeleteI am currently sitting on my couch trying desperately to ignore the mounds of laundry we have brought home from vacation. I think a reread of The Quiet Gentleman might be just the way to go about that.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, Heyer is a constant delight.
She's certainly a constant delight to me. I'm sitting here with two books to finish, a pile of chores to do, and the prospect of work in the morning, and all I want to do is dig out The Devils Cub and get stuck in.
ReplyDeleteGlad we offered a chance to revisit this - and yet another reminder that ONE day I must read Heyer.
ReplyDeleteOne day you should. Maybe when you're feeling a bit under the weather and want something undemanding. I'd be really interested to see what you make of her.
DeleteI am a huge Heyer fan and appreciate this more and more as I mature. It was not nearly romantic enough for me as a teen but now I really like Gervase and the house party atmosphere of the book.
ReplyDeleteI'm the same, there are a few holes in the plot, but it's so much fun to read that I don't mind ignoring them, the big one would be if so many people suspect they know who's trying to bump the earl off, why does nobody mention it - but then considering who it is...
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