Frederica
[openbook booknumber=”1402214766″]
[rating:5/5]
Georgette Heyer was an author known for her witty writing and historical accuracy, and was known as the Queen of Regency Romance. She wrote over fifty novels in her lifetime, though she led a very private life and so her work was not recognized until late. Her novels are now being republished, and I happened to have one of them recommended to me, the novel Frederica.
Frederica is a story about a woman who is the eldest daughter in her family, and has taken charge in the wake of her parents’ death. Her brother is off at university and this leaves her and her younger sister and brothers to fend for themselves more or less. Frederica takes the entire brood to London determined to give her sister a proper London Season, knowing that her sister’s extreme beauty will be more than enough to garner her proper suitors and have her situated happily soon enough. While there she calls upon the only relative that she knows of in London. A distant cousin, a bachelor and a Marquis, is surprised by Frederica and her pluck and determination to do for herself with little or no help for anyone and takes them under his wing. Doing so starts a chain of events that finds him in way over his head.
Well, I must own that you are not at all goodnatured to your sisters,” she said frankly. “Not that I blame you for that – at least, not altogether! They seem positively to take delight in setting up your back! I wonder they shouldn’t know that pinching at one’s brothers is fatal! But whatever you may say you are not a monster of selfishness. You wouldn’t be so kind to Jessamy and Felix if that were so.”
I loved this novel, I could barely put the book down! The characters were colorful, the dialog witty, the repitare was very entertaining, and the story line pulled me and didn’t let me go until the last page was turned. The heroine was engaging, intelligent and had a great sense of humor. I loved how much she worked in the background for others and seemed to honestly believe that nothing should be done for herself. I also enjoyed her counterpart the Marquis, and loved watching both characters grow and change throughout the book, and in a very endearing and believable way. The secondary characters were wonderful too and also offered their own brand of humor and believability to the story, whether it was the youngest brothers, the passersby in the park or even the family dog.
It is so rare that I find a book that I enjoy so much, find so easy to get into and not only that, but also am looking forward to reading again very soon! This was my first Georgette Heyer novel and I am already looking forward to my next one. Modern romance novels have nothing on the tasteful romantic tension, well researched historical content, and the complete and believable characters written by Mrs. Heyer.
