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This is a short read from a new-to-me writer, one of those who\u2019s been publishing for some years and the earlier books are now available on Kindle. This one was first published in 1983, and like many books of that era, it\u2019s heavily redolent of Georgette Heyer. The language, the faithful Regency setting and even some plot elements recall the great lady, but that\u2019s not a bad thing at all.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the premise: Caroline Hetton has been effectively abandoned by her mother and her family since her father died, so she\u2019s making her way in the world as a governess, a pretty thankless task in those days. Out of the blue, she\u2019s offered a way out of this situation. A former neighbour has left a property to her heir, Vivyan Lagallan, with the stipulation that he won\u2019t get it until he\u2019s twenty-five, unless he marries sooner. And the will explicitly mentions Caroline as the bride, or another lady equally suitable. It\u2019s hard for a mere governess to turn down such a beneficial opportunity, so Caroline agrees to visit the heir to see if they would suit.<\/p>\n
All this is managed by the heir\u2019s older half-brother, Major Lagallan, a stolid, steady sort, very different from the free-spirited Vivyan, who\u2019s reminiscent of Heyer\u2019s character Richmond of Unknown Ajax<\/i>, or perhaps Ludovic of The Talisman Ring<\/i>. It\u2019s Vivyan, naturally, who leads everyone into trouble through his reckless ways, but he\u2019s so charming that it\u2019s impossible to dislike him. And while he\u2019s stirring up trouble, Caroline and the stolid major are both realising that perhaps she\u2019s marrying the wrong brother. How they resolve the tangle is the question, and I have to say it\u2019s managed very neatly, if a little implausibly, and with a completely heart-stopping moment along the way. Cleverly done!<\/p>\n
The romance is low-key, but that\u2019s in the best traditions of Heyer herself, so I won\u2019t grumble about it. Unlike some reviewers, to me it was always obvious how things were going and to my mind the slowly developing change of feelings is signalled quite clearly, if undramatically. An excellent read in the traditional style, with a great Regency feel. Five stars. You can find this book as part of a \u2018four seasons\u2019 boxed set, and if you like Melinda Hammond\u2019s style, she also writes as Sarah Mallory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is a short read from a new-to-me writer, one of those who\u2019s been publishing for some years and the earlier books are now available on Kindle. This one was first published in 1983, and like many books of that era, it\u2019s heavily redolent of Georgette Heyer. The language, the faithful Regency setting and even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[169],"class_list":["post-2713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-hammond"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2713"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3793,"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2713\/revisions\/3793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marykingswood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}