Review: ‘A Civil Contract’ by Georgette Heyer [Trad]

Posted June 21, 2018 by Mary Kingswood in Review / 7 Comments

This is an amazing book. Not only does it have Heyer’s trademark range of eccentric characters and humour, but it has an emotional resonance unusual for this style of book. The root problem is one that’s bothered me, too, as I write my own Regency romances – what would a marriage of convenience really be like? Modern folk are so accustomed to the idea of romantic love matches that we can’t quite get to grips with the reality of a pragmatic, loveless marriage of near-strangers. It would have been easier for the wealthy, with their separate bedrooms and almost separate lives for men and women, and the formality of Regency manners would have helped, but even so, most modern Regencies gloss over the difficulties. The hero and heroine have a few dust-ups before deciding that, actually, they’re in love after all, so cue the violins. But I wonder just how likely that would be.

Here’s the premise: Adam Deveril is summoned home from his soldiering on the continent when his father dies. He discovers to his horror that the estate is virtually bankrupt. His mother’s portion is secure, but there’s no money for a season for his sister, or a dowry, and even the treasured family home will have to be sold. There’s just one way out – to marry a wealthy heiress, selling his viscountcy to the daughter of some upstart city merchant. And here Heyer adds the cruel twist that gives the book so much of its emotional depth – such a marriage, while it saves Adam and his estate, would destroy for ever his chance of marrying the love of his life, the beautiful, if highly-strung Julia Oversley.

Through Julia’s father, Adam is introduced to the plain and shy Jenny Chawleigh, and even her name is dowdy (her given name is the much prettier Jane, but everyone calls her Jenny). She’s been well educated, so her manners are good, but her style of dress is of the ‘more is more’ type, with lace and flounces and jewels dripping everywhere. And here is one of the most interesting elements of the book – the culture clash between Jenny’s wealthy but uncultured upbringing and Adam’s far more refined background in the upper echelons of society.

The epitome of this culture clash, of course, is the character who towers over the book, dominating every scene he is in – Jonathan Chawleigh, the extremely wealthy ‘cit’ (a banker, industrialist or merchant from the city of London), Jenny’s rough and ready father. Mr Chawleigh knows perfectly well that he won’t fit in with Adam’s upper class friends, and assures him he will keep out of the way. That doesn’t stop him from stepping in to splash his money about on his behalf. When Adam decides to sell the family’s town house, Chawleigh secretly buys it and has it refurbished to his own vulgar taste while the newly weds are on honeymoon. Such episodes are a sore trial of Adam’s good manners.

All of this is delicious, and very funny, but the real heart of the book is the slowly developing relationship between Adam and Jenny, and the parallel choices of his cast-off love, the melodramatic Julia. Many readers find Adam and Jenny’s story a sad one, the surrendering of intense romantic love for the quieter affection of shared interests and a comfortably placid life. I think it’s a beautiful realisation of the joy of a real marriage, one that’s fuelled by genuine affection rather than the fireworks of instant attraction. Love, rather than infatuation. A wonderful and thought-provoking read. Five stars.

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7 responses to “Review: ‘A Civil Contract’ by Georgette Heyer [Trad]

  1. Cd

    I’m so glad you loved this book like I did. Had I read this when I was young I would not have understood it. I would not have liked it at all.

    I read it after being married many years and think it’s her best work. I also think it crosses the line to literary fiction, maybe just over the line but you were right. This book is something a little bit more.

    • Mary Kingswood

      I agree. It’s a very mature work, and requires a certain mindset to appreciate it fully, I think. For anyone expecting or wanting the usual light-hearted romp, it’s a bit of a shock, but it’s definitely a cut above Heyer’s usual work.

  2. Diana

    Like Austen’s “Persuasion,” Heyer’s book is about living with—and accommodating oneself to—disappointed hopes. In the process of accommodation, character is formed, for good or ill. Jenny’s steadfastness and strength of character in the face of her husband’s love of another, his taking her for granted, is nothing less than heroic. In fact, her strength of character overshadows every other character in the book. What moves me about “A Civil Contract” is how deeply Heyer explores a kind of quiet bravery that is perhaps particular to women who are not beautiful and not impressive in any way the world admires. They are willing to love without being adored, to give without being sure of getting anything back, to overlook a loved one’s folly. This is not romantic, but it is more like real life. And it is worthy of admiration.

    • Mary Kingswood

      What a wonderful summary. Yes, you are absolutely right. Jenny is an amazing character.

  3. peter rietbergen

    There are few readers who – as I do – find this one of Heyer’s best books. Indeed, she herself seems to have indicated that writing it was hard work. But I do feel it has paid of, and makes it unique in her Regency-oeuvre: a novel that reaches far deeper than all the other ones, delightful though they are. For this is the only one that actually probes a relationship beyond the witty dialogue, funny episodes and final love match. To be sure, there’s enough of such dialogue, and there are funny episodes galore – many, as said above, centering around mr. Chawleigh. But the musings both of Adam and of Jenny – and, additionally, of a few of their friends and well-wishers – elevate the novel to, at least on the level of characterization and of adult emotions, to a work of literature.

    • Mary Kingswood

      I completely agree. Most of her Regencies are light-hearted froth, but this one looks uncompromisingly at what must have been one of the most challenging aspects of life for upper class families, the true marriage of convenience. We are so used to marriages being based on affection these days that it’s hard even to imagine how difficult it must be to share the intimacy of marriage with a virtual stranger. Cultures which still have arranged marriages say that it can work very well, but I imagine there must be times when it doesn’t (but that’s true of marriage generally, perhaps). I didn’t enjoy A Civil Contract as much as some other Heyers, not least because of a certain bittersweet element to it, but I think it may well be her finest work, and definitely qualifies as literature.

  4. Natalie Dandekar

    Thank you. I had begun to wonder whether anyone besides me felt that this book was a pragmatic arranged marriage with the prospect of genuine love blossoming at some future time. I was also genuinely interested in the sidebar of Adams attempt to study the newest techniques in land management