A fairly light read, with little external drama, just a nice couple brought together by circumstances slowly falling in love, surrounded by a lovely extended family. Gentle and undemanding, although the ‘babe’ of the title is a real baby, who comes accompanied by some fairly detailed descriptions of pregnancy, childbirth and afterwards.
Here’s the premise: Laura Chamberlain’s feckless husband has left her a young widow, and pregnant. She looks forward to an impoverished future but unexpectedly a cousin of her late husband arrives to whisk her away to his estate in Shropshire. Being a dutiful head of the family, Lord Wyckham (Gareth) feels a responsibility for her, and she, bemused but willing to be looked after for a while, agrees to it.
At Llys Manor, she revels in the luxury she finds there, and also the aforementioned family — Gareth’s four younger brothers, his aunt, an eccentric uncle and another widow, the flighty Maria with three children. At first, it all seems a bit overwhelming, but she gradually begins to find her feet, helping the aunt run the household, and persuading Maria to permit her badly-behaved children a tutor and some ponies. And (since this is a romance) she soon comes to think of Gareth as more than an avuncular cousin.
There’s just one problem — Gareth turns out to be obsessively cautious with pregnant women, and Laura has to assert her independence quite strongly to prevent him wrapping her in cotton wool until her confinement. The reason for this is gradually revealed during the course of the book. The other interesting history is Laura’s herself, and this, too, is slowly brought to light, although the supposed scandal never seems to upset anyone.
In fact, this is one of the weaknesses of the book, that the Wyckham family, and especially Gareth himself, are just too good to be true. Apart from his over-protectiveness towards Laura, he is, frankly, the perfect brother, nephew and lord of the manor. And of course, like all perfect heroes, he makes a complete hash of the proposal. But then it makes him a good match for Laura, for she’s Miss Perfect herself.
This book dates from 1997, and there are a number of elements which wouldn’t find their way into a modern Regency. The Scottish doctor’s very strongly rendered brogue, and the Welsh servants way of talking are a bit much. Having mucked up his first proposal, Gareth corrects the situation by sweeping Laura into his manly arms for a passionate kiss, a process I strongly disapproved of. Humble proposal first, passionate kiss when she says yes. And finally, Gareth has some history with mistresses, which was absolutely the norm in the Georgette Heyer era, but not so much nowadays.
But these minor grumbles aside, I swept through the book in a matter of hours, and thoroughly enjoyed the authentic Regency feel, the (almost) perfect Regency-appropriate language and actions, and the gentle romance. It doesn’t quite reach the heights of five stars, but it’s a very good four stars.
Leave a Reply