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Frederica Georgette Heyer 9780099465645 Books

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Frederica Georgette Heyer 9780099465645 Books

If you have never read a Heyer Regency novel, you are in for a treat! Although I don't consider "Frederica" to be her very best novel - "The Grand Sophy" and "Venetia" share that #1 ranking for me - "Frederica" is a true delight. I still own my original copy -- and yes, I reread it quite often.

"Frederica"'s plot, of a young family wrapping itself around the steely heart of a bored wealthy aristocrat, is a familiar one now, but back in 1965 it wasn't so common in historical romance fiction. Heyer does a superb job on the characters, and this is worthy of note because of all Heyer's books, "Frederica" has the most number of characters, who interact with one another in many different scenes.

The personalities fairly leap off the page, and the family's tiffs with one another have an especially true tone. Idealized, yes; but also adding depth and realism until you feel as if you would recognize these people if you saw them walking down the street. The Merrivilles are [verbally] drawn so vividly, you may say several times, "Hey, this character/situation seems so familiar". Heyer's books have been the direct inspiration for a great many more recent romance novelists.

Do remember that these are quite old stories. Heyer pretty much invented the modern Regency genre, writing mostly from the 1920's through the early 1970's. Although she took some artistic liberties in her novels, she was a rigorous historian (one of her novels is even used at Oxford to discuss the Spanish campaigns against Napoleon!), whose expertise in capturing the flavor of the historical period is unmatched by anyone save Jane Austen, who actually **lived** in those times.

You will never find modern slang jarring oddly into conversations, in a Heyer novel. "Bodice rippers" were regarded as barely a half-step up from trash in those days, and Heyer had no interest in writing one. Her novels remain what they are: bright, sparkling, light romances of the Upper Ten Thousand, the aristocrats who prided themselves on their 'bon ton'.


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Frederica Georgette Heyer 9780099465645 Books Reviews

I agree with another commenter who said that this book is not particularly romantic. Frankly, I don't think any of Heyer's books are, not in the sense that people who've read a lot of romance novels generally understand that to mean. But at her best Heyer conveys through her story-telling just how perfectly suited her two main characters are. And in the case of Frederica, a large part of this book's appeal is Alverstoke's believable transition from a cynical hedonist who avoids taking responsibility for anyone else to a man who cares deeply for Frederica and her two youngest brothers.

Frederica is the oldest of the Merriville children at 24, and has been managing the family household since her mother's death when she was about 12. Although her brother Harry, 22, has been the nominal guardian of the younger Merrivilles since their father's death, it is Frederica who has them in charge sister Charis, 19; and brothers Jessamy, 16, and Felix, 12. With Harry now at Oxford, Frederica has brought the others to London to give the beautiful Charis a season in hopes she might find a worthy match there. Frederica applies to the Marquis of Alverstoke, a very distantly related cousin, for help gaining entry to the ton. He agrees merely to spite his sister Louisa, who has been plaguing him to give a ball for the come-out of her oldest daughter.

At 37, Alverstoke is a confirmed bachelor and a known rake. Having been born to wealth and title and as the only son, he has never wanted for anything, but neither has he ever known family life of the type the Merrivilles enjoy. From birth he was left in the care of staff and saw little of his parents. His two oldest sisters constantly press him to marry one of the eligible females they introduce to him, mainly to prevent his cousin and heir, "that block Endymion" Dauntry, from stepping into his shoes. Alverstoke's cynicism about marriage stems from having been hunted for years as a matrimonial prize and the realization "that his first love would have been as ready to marry a hunchback possessed of his rank and fortune as himself."

Frederica has never been in love and has no plans to marry without it. Quite satisfied being single and having the care of her siblings, she is so accustomed to viewing herself as on the shelf that she's surprised to find herself with two suitors who decidedly prefer her to the beautiful Charis. As Alverstoke privately concludes, Charis "lacked what the ton called that certain sort of something, which meant, in a word, quality, and which characterised Frederica. It was apparent, he thought, in whatever Frederica did from the air with which she wore her furbished-up gowns, to the assurance with which she received visitors in the shabby-genteel house she had hired for the season."

She is initially put off by Alverstoke's cynicism and the unscrupulous way he jockeys his sister Louisia into sponsoring the Merriville sisters' come-out, but gains a whole new appreciation for him with the "Baluchistan hound" incident, when she shows up on his doorstep with some park-keepers, a cowman and a hatchet-faced old busybody in tow. Luff, the family's beloved pet, had "forgot himself amongst the cows in Green Park" and fearing he would be impounded, Frederica manufactured a tale for this irate and ultimately unconvinced group that Luff was a rare breed of Barcelona collie, owned by the Marquis and only trying to herd the cows as he had been bred to do. In an hilarious scene, Alverstoke masterfully handles the situation by first telling Frederica before the whole group, "Really, cousin, you are too shatterbrained! He is a hound, not a collie; and what I told you was not Barcelona, but Baluchistan!" He then goes on to point out to the group precisely where, on the globe in his study, that country is located before giving the still officious busybody a well-deserved setdown and having the butler escort her out.

Without intending to, Alverstoke begins to assume a role in the lives of Frederica's younger brothers. First Felix, who is very bright and passionately interested in steam-powered engines, finagles the Marquis into taking him to tour a local foundry where some of these are being put to use "The Marquis believed himself to be hardened against flattery. He thought that he had experienced every variety, but he discovered that he was mistaken the blatantly worshipful look in the eyes of a twelve-year-old, anxiously raised to his, was new to him, and it pierced his defenses...he found himself quite unable to snub his latest and most youthful admirer. It would be like kicking a confiding puppy."

Alverstoke is especially deft in his handling of the sometimes emotionally volatile Jessamy. With plans to go into the clergy, Jessamy is sober and serious and harder on himself than on anyone else. When he gets into a minor scrape he turns to Alverstoke, who tells the guilt-ridden Jessamy, "I am glad to know you can fall into scrapes; you'll be a better parson if you have understanding of human frailty than if you were to be a saint at sixteen years of age!" Later, when Alverstoke and Jessamy are the first to arrive to Felix's bedside after he's injured some distance from London, Alverstoke's vulnerability is exposed when he realizes how unequal he feels to the task he must necessarily take on "He stood watching Felix for a moment, and then turned his head to find that Jessamy’s eyes were fixed on his face, a painful question in them. As he met them, he realised suddenly that there was more than a question in them there was trust as well. This queer boy, who was sometimes so much older than his years, not only trusted him, but was depending on him too, confident that he, who had all his life evaded irksome responsibilities, had seldom exerted himself on another’s behalf, and knew nothing about sickrooms, was competent to take charge of Felix, himself, the doctor, and even the hostile Miss Judbrook."

Along the way, first Alverstoke and eventually Frederica recognize that there is much more between them than just the ease they feel in each other's company, or their shared appreciation of the ridiculous or their ability to blurt out whatever they're thinking, no matter how ungracious or improper it might sound in different company. Frederica and her brothers exert a very humanizing influence on Alverstoke and he, in turn, becomes their protector and champion "His lordship, in fact, previously ruthless on his own behalf, was now prepared to sacrifice the entire human race to spare his Frederica one moment’s pain. Except, perhaps, the two youngest members of the family she loved so much Jessamy, concealing his chagrin at being allowed so little share of the nursing...and Felix – little devil that he was! – who was depending on his strength, and could be quietened by his voice."

Even knowing exactly how this story plays out, it's one I'm able to reread every now and then, enjoying all over again Heyer's eminently readable prose and her skill in crafting characters who are so easy to care about.
If you have never read a Heyer Regency novel, you are in for a treat! Although I don't consider "Frederica" to be her very best novel - "The Grand Sophy" and "Venetia" share that #1 ranking for me - "Frederica" is a true delight. I still own my original copy -- and yes, I reread it quite often.

"Frederica"'s plot, of a young family wrapping itself around the steely heart of a bored wealthy aristocrat, is a familiar one now, but back in 1965 it wasn't so common in historical romance fiction. Heyer does a superb job on the characters, and this is worthy of note because of all Heyer's books, "Frederica" has the most number of characters, who interact with one another in many different scenes.

The personalities fairly leap off the page, and the family's tiffs with one another have an especially true tone. Idealized, yes; but also adding depth and realism until you feel as if you would recognize these people if you saw them walking down the street. The Merrivilles are [verbally] drawn so vividly, you may say several times, "Hey, this character/situation seems so familiar". Heyer's books have been the direct inspiration for a great many more recent romance novelists.

Do remember that these are quite old stories. Heyer pretty much invented the modern Regency genre, writing mostly from the 1920's through the early 1970's. Although she took some artistic liberties in her novels, she was a rigorous historian (one of her novels is even used at Oxford to discuss the Spanish campaigns against Napoleon!), whose expertise in capturing the flavor of the historical period is unmatched by anyone save Jane Austen, who actually **lived** in those times.

You will never find modern slang jarring oddly into conversations, in a Heyer novel. "Bodice rippers" were regarded as barely a half-step up from trash in those days, and Heyer had no interest in writing one. Her novels remain what they are bright, sparkling, light romances of the Upper Ten Thousand, the aristocrats who prided themselves on their 'bon ton'.