The plot of the Convenient Marriage is different in so many ways from the typical Georgette Heyer novel. One is the tenderness with which the Earl of Rule treats his very young and captivating bride, and the second is that the couple has already tasted the delights of the marital bed and found the results not displeasing. The earl was all set to marry the eldest Winwood sister in an arranged marriage when her youngest sister Horatia “sacrifices” herself on the altar of sibling loyalty. Horatia’s older sister, Lizzie, is the Beauty of the family and in love with an impoverished soldier. Needless to say her family insists that she drop her soldier and marry the earl to save the family fortune. To help her sister out of her misery, Horatia sneaks off to see Rule and reasons (quite logically) that if the earl isn’t in love with her sister he might just as well marry her. The legal contract between the two families would not be altered with the switch in brides and he will still be assured that the future mother of his heir will have the appropriate pedigree. Struck by the simplicity of her argument and charmed with her slight stutter and forthrightness, the earl agrees to wed Horatia instead. Up to this point the book resembles more a 1930’s drawing room comedy than the typical historical romance novel we have come to expect from Georgette Heyer. One of her earlier books (1936) and set in the Georgian Era, the writing does not yet possess her command of the genre as she shows in later years, yet her descriptive style was already fully developed. In this instance, Heyer describes Georgian clothing with as much expertise as her knowledge of Regency garb:
It was naturally impossible for Horatia to visit a milliner without purchasing something on her own account, so when the flowers had been selected, she tried on a number of hats, and bought finally an enormous confection composed chiefly of stiff muslin in Trianon grey, which was labeled not without reason, “Grandes Pretentions.” There was a collet monte gauze scarf in the same delectable shade of grey, so she bought that as well. A cap a la glaneuse caught her eye as she was about to leave the shop, but she decided not to add that to her purchases, Lady Louisa having had the presence of mind to declare that it made her look rather prim.
The couple marry, they honeymoon, they return to London and live … not so happily after. It turns out that Horatia has fallen in love with her husband. Too unschooled in the ways of a man (for she is only seventeen) Horatia fails to realize that while she might not have her sister’s outer beauty, her intelligence, warmth, and charm are far more superior traits. Despite being short and possessing a pair of definite brows that stubbornly refuse to arch, she has bewitched her husband. With the earl so much older and secure in his own skin (he is thirty five), Horatia has a tough time interpreting his thoughts and actions and thus she fails to read the signs that he has fallen in love with her as well. And so begins a comedy of misinterpretations and errors on Horatia’s part, thinking Rule is in love with his mistress when in reality he has broken the relationship off. Horatia’s inept attempts to behave like a sophisticate and not interfere with Rule’s daily routine allows the earl’s nemesis, Robert Lethbridge, a foot through the door, and the plot begins to resemble Dangerous Liaisons. Lethbridge and Rule’s former mistress, Lady Massey, are hell bent on ruining our guileless heroine. Spoiled and bored, they team up for sport and to extract their revenge upon the earl. Horatia unknowingly falls into their clutches with her enthusiastic card playing, but Rule was not born yesterday and he can easily read his young wife’s transparent thoughts and actions.
The novel takes another twist and the reader now enters the realm of slapstick comedy, keystone cops and all. Horatia’s brother Pelham, an incompetent boob if ever there was one, enmeshes himself in Horatia’s affairs hoping to “save” her from ruining her reputation with Lethbridge, who has extracted a scandalous gambler’s promise from her. Pelham’s interference (and that of his equally inept friend), makes matters worse. Georgette Heyer often uses the ploy of a Greek chorus of family and acquaintances to enliven the action, and in this instance Pelham and his numskull friend do a splendid job of adding laughter and color to the plot. Added to the mix is a Dandy in the form of Mr. Drelincourt, the earl’s presumptive heir until Horatia conceives. He will do anything to separate the earl from his bride, but he fumbles and bumbles his way through life, acquiring the scorn of all.
As well as her talent for writing comedic scenes, Georgette’s casual observations about the Georgian Era are accurate and illuminating. Here she makes the distinction between a Macaroni and a Buck:
The Macaronis, mincing, simpering, sniffing at crystal scent-bottles, formed a startling contrast to the Bucks, the young sparks who, in defiance of their affected contemporaries, had flown to another extreme of fashion. No extravagance of costume distinguished these gentlemen, unless a studied slovenliness could be called such, and their amusements were of a violent nature, quite at variance with your true Macaroni’s notion of entertainment. These Bloods were to be found at any prize-fight, or cock-fight, and when these diversions palled could always while away an evening in masquerading abroad in the guise of footpads, to the terror of all honest townsfolk.
The book’s ending, though predictable, includes a rousing duel and is completely satisfying for the romantic at heart, with our Horatia recognizing that the earl has loved her for a long, long time and with the earl finally able to express his feelings for his young bride. Although thoroughly enjoyable, The Convenient Marriage is not one of Georgette Heyer’s best efforts. Having said that, I would read this book over 90% of the romances being published today. I give The Convenient Marriage four out of five Regency fans.
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My Other Georgette Heyer Reviews Sit Below
I love Jane Austen but I’ve never read Heyer. I’ll try to read one of hers, though, after reading this review. Which is the best to start with?
I have to thank Vic for this blog, for many reasons, but among them getting me to read Heyer.
learnonline, check out this link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A757343
(scroll down to the section: “So Which Ones Do you Read?”)
Me, I’m a comedy of manners fan. If you like comedy of manners I would say “The Grand Sophy” is a good place to start.
Hi Learn Online,
Frederica, Black Sheep, or the Reluctant Widow are among my favorites. Check you library first. Many carry GH’s books, and since she wrote 50, chances are that you will find a number of them! Some people, like me, love her books. Others are unmoved and find her irritating. If you like the romance genre, then you’ll like GH.
Good luck, Vic
My all time Heyer favorite is A Civil Contract.
I have read a book from Barbara Cartland with similar plot! mmm Cartland must be stealing from Heyer.
Enid, Steamy Darcy
Enid, Barbara Cartland “wrote” over 700 books. According to several sources she completed two romance novels a month. That’s 24 novels each year. (Some say she completed one every 10 days.) It was said she dictated them to her secretary as she dressed or prepared herself for an outing. In my estimation, her short books are mere derivatives of Georgette Heyer’s novels. Cartland sets her heroes and heroines in a similar regency setting, but that is all the two authors have in common. None of Cartland’s plots are anywhere near as complicated or as witty as Heyer’s, who meticulously researched her novels and took copious notes at museums and libraries, a habit Cartland did not much bother herself with. While Heyer lacks Jane Austen’s genius, I’ll take her worst book over 200 of Cartland’s best.
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LOL, Vic, can you find 200 of Cartland’s best? I find Cartland’s ones very “formula-like” and I can’t really name a good one at all.
Steamy Darcy
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This was the first Heyer book I’ve read, and I enjoyed it. I was hoping for a little more, especially since Horry got on my nerves after a while, but it was still a good book.
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I’m not a huge Heyer fan. I’ve read four or five of her books, liked some, disliked others. The Convenient Marriage is probably my favorite, partly because it is set pre-Regency (I’m a bad Austen fan, but I do prefer the earlier Georgian era to the Regency), but also because I really clicked with the characters in a way I didn’t with some of her other books.
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Thank you for the wonderful review of Heyer’s The Convenient Marriage! I’ve just now completed reading it and wanted to read the criticisms- which is how I ended up reading your post. I found the work to be absolutely delightful, light, and humorous- which is a fry cry from the works by most of the contemporary writers of Regency/Georgian fiction. Lovely blog, otherwise, too!
Best wishes
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As much as i love Heyer, and “The Convenient Marriage” in particular, it has always baffled me that any reader finds a kinship to Jane Austen in GH’s writing. Granted, all her period detail is accurate, and her research was formidable. But these books are enjoyable fluff, albeit very well-written; Heyer was concerned with the social aspects of courtship and marriage and deeply aware of the constraints women faced in that day, and of their paucity of options. But Austen, regardless of being a single woman as compared to the happy marriage of Mr and Mrs Ronald Rougier, had an understanding of the human heart, of courtship, of loneliness, that is simply not there in the delightful Ms Heyer. To compare Heyer with Austen is like comparing an inflatable back yard kiddie pool with an Olympic natatorium.
I have to agree with Mitchell. I have found nothing more than cheap romance in this book..
Hi! Thank you for your insights mitchell and Un nemicho al giorno: I wrote this in a previous comment: “While Heyer lacks Jane Austen’s genius, I’ll take her worst book over 200 of Cartland’s best.”
Another phrase I’ve used is that while Austen’s waters run deep, Heyer’s are broad and shallow.
I don’t think that Jane Austen’s fans confuse her timeless novels with Heyer’s witty output. Many of us, though, love to read Heyer as well.
Thank you for your reply. No attack or – God forbid! – flame intended, though. I have read just one book by Heyer and come to hate her very name, but it was only a matter of unfullfilled expectations (I expected another Austen and found romance, which I loathe).
Of course Austen’s fans can read whatever they like, and any comparison between the two has in my opinion no raison d’être.
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