Lady of Quality and Black Sheep

There is something about Autumn that makes me turn to the comforting pages of my Georgette Heyer collection. Maybe it is the cosy evenings inside while outside the nights turn crisp and dark or maybe it is because my mood takes a bit of a downward turn and I feel like I really need cheering up.

Nothing really bad ever happens in Heyer World. There are wars, pregnancy, unhappy marriages, elopements, grim guardians, dissolute young men, illegitimate children, nasty illnesses and all manner of woe but nonetheless Heyer’s books always have a happy ending in which the good end well and the bad get their just deserts.

I have just picked up another one of my favourites, Black Sheep, intending to read it this week, followed by Lady of Quality. I always read the two books one after the other because they basically have exactly the same story which means that it feels like an extra long treat.

Black Sheep is set in Bath and stars the lovely Abigail, whose beautiful heiress niece and charge Fanny falls in love with the rakishly handsome Stacy Calverleigh. Abigail then begs help from his uncle Miles (who follows in the dissolute, bored older man model that Heyer utilises so well but has a bit more charm to him than her usual heroes) who decides to woo her for himself. What follows is the usual witty banter, misunderstandings and then finally wonderful realisation on the part of Abigail that actually she loves him too and the grumpy, outspoken Miles is her perfect match.

Lady of Quality on the other hand is also set in Bath and is about the equally lovely Annis, who encounters a runaway heiress, Lucilla and her cousin on the way home from her annoying brother’s house in the country. Instead of helping the girl go home she takes her to Bath and then becomes embroiled in her affairs. Lucilla’s uncle, the imperious and ragged tempered Oliver Carleton arrives in hot pursuit and he and Annis appear to take an instant dislike to each other which of course turns into true love.

Definitely well worth reading, especially one after the other! Heyer’s hilarious dialogue is really at its very best in these fantastic books.

I’m thinking about making a trip to nearby Bath maybe next month, armed with some rough addresses from Heyer books to take pictures of the sort of houses and buildings that her heroines probably frequented. That’s if anyone would be interested in seeing that sort of thing? Actually, sod it I would be interested!