April Lady

April Lady is one of Georgette Heyer's well written, well researched, highly readable and thoroughly amusing Regency romances. The characters are fresh and enjoyable and their actions and attitudes are those of the time in which the novel is set. Anyone who enjoys Heyer's lighter works will enjoy this book. I take issue with the previous reviewer who accused Heyer of anti-Semetism. A little research of her own would show her that 'going to the Jews' when one needed to borrow money was a perfectly reasonable 19th century colloquialism. The reason, of course, was that give the situation in which most Jews lived, many of those who lived in Western Europe earned their livelihood as money-lenders. There was little else open to them. Heyer is reporting historical fact and that does not make her anti-Semetic.April Lady

"April Lady", by Georgette Heyer, is a shortish, delightful story of a very young, very well-meaning newlywed lady who, in trying to help others, runs up too many bills! The flavour of the Regency is in full flower here, and Ms. Heyer's prose are as elegent abd sophisticated as always, touched with humour, warmth, and truly three-dimensional characters the reader comes to care very much about. However, towards the middle of the front of the book, is a sentence which totally floored me -- unprepared and unknowing as I was, on first reading, of the slight tinge of ANTI-SEMITISM, that, sadly, shows itself in a few of her otherwise faultless novels. Our heroine is seen to be thinking that "going to the Jews" to borrow money is something she wishes to avoid at all costs. This is the ONLY hint of anti-semitism in THIS book. (Much more of it is seen, sadly, in "THE GRAND SOPHY", and, perhaps, in others of her novels of which I am at present unaware. No one is perfect, it seems -- and this sad, glaring flaw in this, and (many??) other Heyer works is, (as she might have put it), "the one sad blot upon the otherwise equisitely-worked and beautiful tapestry", that comprises Heyer's works. I, for one, will NOT stop reading Heyer's works because of it -- but it is best to be fore-warned about this sad attitude that creeps, however slowly, steathily into her otherwise SO wonderful, elegant, and exciting prose. I hazard to guess this anti-semitism is NOT in all of Heyer's works -- but having it appear, in even one sentence, (as it does in "April Lady"), especially as it could, (at least in this book), been so easily avoided, sadly makes this only a "4 star" book, and not a "5 star" book, as I so much would have wanted to rate it. : (

Heyer's writing vividly brings her reader into the social life of regency England and the fictitious Earl and Countess of Cardross after a year of marriage. Nell is the beautiful young bride and Giles is the handsome, devoted husband. She loves him but has been advised not to expect him to love her owing to their age difference. He loves her but begins to believe she only married him for his wealth and title. Cardross is largely clueless regarding his wife owing to the lack of communication between the couple; and his disruptive baby sister, Letty is badly in need of a sound spanking. Nell is clueless owing to her inexperience and dependence upon her even less mature brother, Dysart who's speech and actions steal each scene he appears in. Fans of modern romance will be disappointed to learn the most explicit sex is the public kiss of the ardent earl upon his lovely wife (both remain fully clothed). This story is delightful different as the main characters learn to truly love and trust each other after they are married. Nell's story is timeless in the manner of most young wives who have been taught an ideal of marriage and are badly advised and ill-prepared for the practical realities of relationships and the stumbling path from naive ignorance to self-confidence. For 'tasteful' romance liberally scattered with engaging characters and light farce, Georgette Heyer is a must read!

If this were anyone but Heyer, I'd probably give it 3 stars. Her ability to write vivid characters, and her sense of fun, earn this one an extra star. I haven't checked, but I'm sure this must be one of her earlier Regencies. You can see her experimenting with characters who become archetypes, like the gamester brother, or the perfect gentleman friend who supports the heroine in her trials.She includes some details that don't appear in later novels, hinting at the darker side of Regency society.My biggest problem is the hero, Lord Cardross. Her heroes often have a harsh streak, but he comes across as too harsh and cold, without the humor that usually softens her heroes. He and Nell are at outs for most of the story, which doesn't help. He's a man in his thirties, while Nell is barely nineteen, and that makes them an uneven match. And he has an unkind and ungracious habit of baiting Nell for marrying him for his money. Since she came from a noble but bankrupt family, the rules of their world dictated she didn't have a choice. He knows that as well as she does. It's unpleasant to watch him holding it over her head.Since Cardross isn't the most sympathetic hero, it's hard to identify with Nell's love for him. She can seem like a bit of a twit. That's especially true since she's got a debt she won't tell her husband about, and all kinds of silly, frustrating scruples about how to get the money to pay it back. She's not all bad, but she reminds me of the kind of female Heyer satirized in later books. Also strange is that we are asked to believe they both fell in love at first site, and that neither one of them has even suspected it, even though the marriage has been consummated for several months. Possible, I suppose, but not pleasant to think about.What saves this story for me is the tempestuous Letty, Cardross' half sister and ward. She's more of a risk taker than Heyer's later young ladies. Of course she is head over heels in love with an unsuitable young man. Letty's attempts to get her own way and marry him before he sails abroad are very entertaining. The lover himself is certainly not what you'd expect.In short, this is not Heyer at the top of her form. For the true fan it is worth collecting, and certainly worth re-reading, but not as often as her best.

Once again, Georgette Heyer takes the reader on a rambuncious ride with laughs and surpises at every twist and turn and doesn't stop until the very last page. This is a great novel for first-time readers of Regency stories, as the plot and character descriptions sweep you away even as you acclimate yourself to the idioms, mannerisms and delightful dialogue of the English Ton. One of Heyer's more outlandishly comedic novels, you will find yourself laughing at Nell's antics as she tries to settle her debts, which in and of themselves do not seem terribly outrageous but taken in the context of the time period are undoubtably hilarious. I challenge you to be able to put this one down once you realize Nell's predictament -- and wonder how it will resolve.