Very enjoyable time with interesting characters and a romance.STORY BRIEF:Annis is 29, single, and financially secure. She is beautiful and had many offers of marriage. She turned them all down because she was never in love. She wants to live on her own, away from her older brother who has a wife and two children. Annis does not want the life of a babysitting aunt. The story begins with Annis traveling to Bath to set up her new home. There are three sub stories.1. Maria:Annis’ brother Geoffrey insists that Annis take Maria as a paid companion to live with her. Maria is their cousin who needs financial support. Maria talks incessantly about nothing. Just being around Maria is tiring, boring, and upsetting for Annis. Throughout the book, Maria irritates various people.2. Lucilla:On the way to Bath, Annis sees a carriage with a broken wheel. Lucilla and Ninian are stranded. Their families had arranged a marriage between them. Lucilla is running away to Bath to take a job as companion to a woman to escape the marriage. Ninian is escorting her to keep her safe. They have been friends since childhood. Lucilla is 17. Annis is bored and sees this as something to do. She knows the woman Lucilla is planning to work for and tells Lucilla how unpleasant that would be. Annis suggests Lucilla become Annis’ companion instead. (Maria is jealous and offended by this. Maria sees Lucilla as a threat to her own position.) Lucilla goes to Annis’ home. Instead of companion, Annis acts more like a guardian and chaperone for Lucilla. Annis arranges a party to present Lucilla to the social circle in Bath. Annis also arranges outings and other things for Lucilla.3. Oliver:Lucilla’s parents died and she has been raised by her aunt Amber. Her uncle Oliver is her guardian but lives elsewhere. Oliver comes to Bath to resolve the situation. Prior to this he had no idea that Amber arranged the marriage to Ninian. He is known as a rake, having had a number of mistresses. He is immediately drawn to Annis. In almost all of their conversations he is brusque and argumentative. Annis is argumentative as well. She is surprised that she likes him.REVIEWER’S OPINION:There is no major plot going on. I felt like I was visiting a group of people living their daily lives with conflicts amongst themselves. I really enjoyed it. I kept looking forward to getting back to the book. I didn’t want to stop. I liked being with Annis and wondered how everything would work out. I hated Maria’s effect on people and wished someone would hire her to get her away. I was happy with the romance that developed, but it wasn’t typical romance. They argued from the beginning, yet they apparently enjoyed each other. The romantic happy ending happened too quickly for me. I wanted to see them spend more time together. I wanted more relationship development. But I still enjoyed the book. The main draw is various character types, their interactions, and lots of interesting conversation.The narrator Eve Matheson is wonderful. I think listening to this book on audio would be better than reading it. I love and agree with Carrie Gwaltney’s review in which she says “I love listening to Heyer’s books on audio in part because of the way the language flows, the accents and vocabulary are such a nice change…odd, funny, sometimes challenging and often beautiful. I love to lose myself in the time and place, as well.” Thank you Carrie. You say it so well.DATA:Unabridged audio length: 9 hours 23 minutes. Narrator: Eve Matheson. Swearing language: none. Sexual content: none. Setting: 1817-1818 Bath, England. Book published: 1972. Genre: regency romance.
Georgette Heyer’s romance novels are almost always a pleasure, with good writing, entertaining characters, and subtle humor. At times, however, they’re so noticeably similar they seem to run together. It’s as if she had a copy of Romance Novel bingo and threw darts or something to pick the story elements. I enjoyed this novel but very little about it stands out in my mind as compared to other Heyer novels. It was the last regency she wrote, which may explain why it did not feel as fresh as some of her other novels. The trick with her novels may be to space them out rather than reading them in a binge. Our heroine, Miss Wychwood, has decided she probably doesn’t want to marry but sure really doesn’t want to live with her brother and his new wife. So she uses her own considerable fortune to establish a household in Bath. On her way there, she rescues a young heiress, Lucilla, who’s fleeing familial pressures to marry. Lucilla’s an orphan who has been entrusted by her two Uncles (also her guardians) to an elderly aunt who’s never let her develop friendships, go to parties, or do anything else a young 17 year-old might do. When she has written to Lord Carleton, one of her uncles, begging his assistance he simply tells her to listen to her Aunt. {Spoilerish comments}. It’s easy to predict even before he arrives to “rescue” Lucilla, that Lord Carleton and Miss Wychwood will fall in love. They bicker relentlessly when together, but each seems to find that characteristic attractive. Perhaps that why it feels like the author is phoning it in - everything is so predictable that the story doesn’t move very much. The heroine is likeable, but Lord Carleton is a bit of a jerk. I would think that would get old, but who am I to say. One of the other main characters, Maria, poor cousin and paid companion to Miss Wychwood. She can and does talk anyone and everyone’s ear off. This is one of those cases, however, where I wish the author would have told, instead of showing. The first few conversations with Maria demonstrate that she is a bore - but after that it becomes boring for the reader and then it’s just annoying. It might have been tolerable if she had not been such a central character in the book. If you’re aiming to read through Ms. Heyer’s entire catalog, then perhaps read this one. Otherwise I’d skip it. 2/5 stars - on my Georgette Heyer scale, probably a 3/5 on romance scale.
What do You think about Lady Of Quality (2005)?
Lady of Quality wasn’t my favorite Heyer novel. It seemed a little boring most of the time and only livened up when Mr. Carleton and Annis were sparring, when they weren’t together the story kind of dragged by. I am not really a fan of “rakes” and don’t find it romantic when they are purposing they are promising never to stray again. Yeah, right. Other than that, I actually thought Oliver and Annis were perfect for each other and again enjoyed their interactions.I thought Annis was a little short with some of the characters, acting almost like she was better than everyone else. I thought her cousin, Miss Farlow was annoying, but harmless and I felt bad about how she was treated by everyone. I was also hoping for a little closure with Lucy and Ninian (dumb name), throughout the story I suspected that maybe they would end up together, but their story never really gets resolved. This story was packed full of Heyer’s trademark odd vocabulary, more so than usual. Normally I don’t mind spending the extra time reading an Heyer novel, but this one seemed a little more tedious and I was looking forward to finishing it so I could go on to other books.
—Kathy
So, I read this. I'm hard pressed to really come up with how I felt about it. I liked it, but I didn't love it. The witty repartee was fun, and, uh, witty. The characters were ... see, that's the thing, I felt like I didn't really get to KNOW them, like they weren't real people. Part of my issue maybe have been the lingo - this book assaulted me with an endless series of phrases and slang terms that I had never heard before, and it was interesting, but also a little annoying. Was this language more authentic than the dialogue in more recently-written Regencies? I have NO idea. A random assortment: give it to me with no bark on itWell, if that is not the outside of enough!What a ninnyhammer she must be!What a kick up over something that might have been settled in a flea's leap!Why the devil didn't the little nod-cock write to me?Of all the farradiddles I ever heard that bears off the palm!I never flummery people.That's given me my own again, hasn't it?Pray don't hide your teeth, sir!No, don't scowl at me! Really I've no wish to break squares!You are a positive rake-shame.So when you meet him don't put him out of temper by looking black at him, and getting on your high ropes! he seems to be as mifty as he is uncivil.Now you are being foolish beyond permission, my dear!don't be so rag-mannered!Oh, what an odiously complete hand you are!Oh for heavens sake come out of the mops!Such an extraordinary change must give rise to conjecture, and a great deal of poker-talk which I am persuaded you wouldn't relish. Moreover that sort of scandalbroth must inevitably reflect on [your aunt].This, as Mr Carleton, cynically appreciative of this exchange, recognized to be a leveller, did not prove to be a home-hit.being burnt to the socket is her favorite pastime.So detestably top-lofty!I might have known you would be quick to seize the opporunity to throw me in the close.I had as well level at the moon as try to get a point the better of you!You tipped me a settler at our very first meeting, my dear!Pray don't rake me down for having said anything so ill-judged!he has made you as cross as crabs, and positively quaked for fear that you would fly up into the boughs!Briefest of plot summaries, for my own personal self, because I know I'll forget this book: Miss Annis Wychwood comes upon young Ninian Elmore and his friend Miss Lucilla Carleton withe a broken down carriage on the side of the road to Bath. Turns out Lucilla is running away because her guardians were forcing her to marry Ninian, who is her best friend, but she doesn't want to marry him. Annis takes her in to stay in Bath for a few weeks. Annis is a 29 year old single woman (a spinster!) living with her extremely annoying older cousin, Maria Farlow. I had to skip over every single page of dialogue from Miss Farlow. This was a case where "show don't tell" maybe didn't work out so well - the book DEFINITELY showed how annoying Miss Farlow is. Lucilla's other guardian, Mr Carleton, her uncle, shows up. He had no idea about the forced marriage plans. He's a rude pain in the ass, but Annis finds herself refreshingly entertained by his bluntness. They fall in love, but - while we see lots of witty repartee - I found very little evidence of love.
—Nadine Jones
Every time I think I've found my favorite narrator, I find another one just a good. Eve Matheson does a wonderful job on this audio version of Georgette Heyer's Lady of Quality. She does a superlative job with the voices. I love listening to Heyer's books on audio in part because of the way the language flows: the accents and the vocabulary are such a nice change..odd, funny, sometimes challenging and often beautiful. I love to lose myself in the time and place, as well. Maybe Heyer didn't get all the details perfect, or all the speech patterns correct. But this is fiction, and the strange phrases, and archaic sentence structures, as well as the old-fashioned ideas and manners, takes me to another place. The romance in Lady of Quality is typical Heyer in some ways, but it also differs by taking up a little time over the declarations of love than some of her novels. I liked that.
—Carrie
