Georgina

Georgina is a Regency in the Heyer tradition although, unusually for this genre, mostly set in Ireland. Georgina, after rejecting a suitable offer of marriage from Mr Smallwood, goes to visit some Irish relatives to get away from her overbearing grandmother and weak mother. The Irish family, the Quinlevans, have to leave their home as it has passed to Mr Shannon, husband of their relative Nuala who died in somewhat suspicious circumstances. Georgina hasn't escaped matrimonial plans by going to Ireland as Mrs Quinlevan is hoping that Georgina will make a match with her son, Brandon. Mr Shannon makes his appearance and all the plans go awry - he is ostracised by the neighbours and yet over time Brandon and Georgina find themselves liking him and trying to work on his behalf to make him socially acceptable. We learn that Mr Shannon didn't particularly like his wife Nuala and their marriage only lasted two years before her death. Georgina finds herself in company with Mr Shannon and wanting to spend more time with him against all the advice of her relatives. She is courted by some of the important people and yet can't bring herself to fully become part of their social circle which requires that she ignore Mr Shannon. The ending is no great surprise, the only difference being that we are offered hints of a mystery - why did Mr Shannon marry Nuala? why doesn't he grieve her death? did she die mysteriously? - that aren't really answered. I never understood why he fell in love with Georgina, or she with him, and why his previously appalling track record with his wife didn't seem to have any influence on her decision. Setting, language and tone of the book were generally good, although Georgina persuading a relative to take her off to Ireland without her family knowing seemed remarkably unlikely, and the book was a reasonable read, but it's not as good as a Georgette Heyer novel. Still, worth getting hold of if you like this genre of book.

I liked the characters in this book very much and the story was interesting enough to keep me reading. However, I'm really not sure how the main characters fell in love since they barely spoke to each other throughout the entire book. I almost went back and counted the number of times they were in the same room (it couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 times) but I decided it wasn't worth it. Still I would recommend reading this book if you are a fan of Ms. Darcy because I find her style of writing very enjoyable.

By the time she wrote Georgina, Ms Darcy seemed to have a firmer understanding of narrative structure. She was slipping more information into the intereaction of the characters rather than long paragraphs of exposition. This novel had an unusual hero for it's time (or indeed since). He is the illegitimate son of an Earl, who had been raised with the Earl's own children and given the task of running the Earl's estates. After his father died he did not get along with the new heir so he was set on finding a new post. Instead he chanced to meet an Irish heiress, marry her and go journeying on the continent.When the novel opens, the heiress is dead (within a year of their marriage) and her estate has passed to the widower's hands adding the reputation of fortune hunter to his own significant social disabilities. He is expected at any moment to arrive and claim his estate. Meanwhile the relation who had been in charge of the estate in the absense of its owners, has let things get very much out of hand. The Bailiff has the accounts in a muddle, the Butler has been in the Madeira and Arabella, who should have removed herself and her son months ago, has complicated the matter by inviting a young cousin, who was by way of being an heiress herself, to visit in the hopes that she would make a match with her son Brandon. Georgina, who was sent to Ireland in disgrace because she would not marry a suitor approved by her tartar of a grandmother, is a headstrong miss with decided ideas about honor and family feeling. She is quite determined to support her cousins against this interloper. But when the interloper does appear to have some finer qualities she finds herself championing him against the prejudices of the neighborhood worthies instead.Unfortunately the heroine is 18 and her social sense is not yet developed. Her attempts at bringing Mr. Shannon into the County society are more well meaning than successful.This book still bears reading. The Regency era is more than wallpaper to the story. The characters are interesting. And if I spent a certain amount of time wanting to shake Georgina, it has to do with the 30 years that have passed since I last read this book, rather than any lack of skill on the author's part. I have the same reaction to most of my friends' children at that age.