The Foundling

This is one of my favorite Georgette Heyer novels. It’s true that it’s less a romance than a coming of age story, but I love it. It’s hard not to like Gilly and I love his true friendship with his cousin, the only person who seems to understand Gilly’s frustration with his overpowering uncle and servants who treat him like a sickly child, though he’s a fairly healthy twenty-four-year-old Duke. The adventures and misadventures that Gilly finds are unique and hilarious and he proves himself to be more than a cosseted wimp. And the various characters he meets are equally funny. The longer I read, the more I laughed. The ending was quite satisfying, especially when the overbearing uncle first finds Gilly. He starts out going ballistic but ends up congratulating his nephew on surviving his ordeal. He’s far from approving of everything Gilly does, but you can see that he does care about him, so he’s not a villain. Overall a joy to read. Highly recommend.

As regency novels go, Georgette Heyer never wrote anything less than five-star books. Indeed, she essentially created the genre, and her writing set a standard that has rarely been equaled by the many regency novelist who have followed her. Her writing is witty and graceful, and NEVER is there overt sex. Of course, her novels vary in quality, and within her work, I would rate The Foundling as four-star. It is gratifyingly lengthy, and the plot and characters are well developed. But it doesn't have quite the sparkle of her very best work. Nevertheless, you will enjoy it. A word to the wise.... Heyer also wrote six mysteries, now becoming available again, and they are also very much worth reading.

I have just re-read this book for the umpteenth time. Every time I read it, it grows on me more. One does get a bit surfeited with romance, and this is a coming of age story more than a romance. It is one of Heyer's humorous works, with a loveable hero somewhat on the lines of Freddie in Cotillion. As Gilly, Duke of Sale, takes on the role of Mr. Dash of Nowhere in Particular, he realizes his own strengths and abilities. When his heroic cousin Gideon - a typical Heyer hero - comes to rescue him from the cellar where his kidnappers have put him, Gilly has already escaped, buring the house down in the process! In his gentle, but not weak way, Gilly finally grows into his ducal shoes. Heyer's ability to plot an intricate story, with many sub-plots, reminds me of P G Wodehouse. She can weave all these diverse strands until a satisfactory resolution ends the book. Her characters in this book are rich, funny and diverse. Heyer almost always has the ability to draw characters from all levels of society. Not always two-dimensional, but always interesting. In The Foundling, Tom Mamble provides some of the comic relief - his backward race on two pigs, a cow and an old horse, is hysterical! But Tom, scion of a very wealthy but vulgar ironmonger, saves the day at the end of the book... I won't disclose this in case the reader of this review has not yet read the book. Belinda, the foundling named in the title, is perhaps the most beautiful but empty-headed Heyer heroine of all! And yes, the heroine's role in this book is a small one, but she, too, is coming of age and her gentle assertiveness grows as she grows in confidence of Gilly's love for her. She seems a perfect, and loving, match for Gilly. No, there is no tension about this romance, but it is gentle and sweet, and perhaps inexorable. I no longer care for romance novels where the hero is a brute, and the love making takes on the character of sexual harrasment, to put it no higher. I like books that are well-plotted, have interesting characters, are historically as well as practically accurate. The Foundling fills the bill! Heyer's books would make wonderful made-for-tv movies as only the BBC can do it. Why has this not happened yet?

This is one of Heyer's least 'romance-driven' Regencies, but it's one of my favorites. I really like the mild-mannered Gilly and his dashing cousin, and The Villain of the Piece is hilarious. The dialogue, descriptions, and historical inter-weavings are all top-notch, as usual. This ranks right up there with The Unknown Ajax, The Talisman Ring, and Sprig Muslin (none of which pay overwhelming attention to the romance part of the plot,and all of which are enormously entertaining).

This is a more subtle story than most of GH's romances. On the first reading, I liked it but wasn't 'in love' with it, after the handsome, dashing heroes of 'These Old Shades', 'Venetia', 'Frederica' et.al. But upon re-reading it, I've started to enjoy it more. It hasn't actually got much romance -- the comments about the lack of character in the hero's fiancee, Henrietta, are pretty accurate. She's a timid and rather dull portraiture.What struck me upon re-reading it was the deeply affectionate relationship between Gilly and his cousin Gideon. Gideon is in fact the perfect Regency hero -- dark, tall, handsome, dashing -- but although he races off to Gilly's rescue when he learns his little cousin is in danger, his help turns out not to be needed as Gilly rescues himself, growing up considerably in the process. In fact, this is the only Heyer novel that shows such an openly caring relationship between two men raised as brothers. It's actually a nice change from the usual romance formula, watching Gilly gain confidence during his adventures after suffering for so long under the well-meaning tyranny of his guardian and the old family retainers.Most of Heyer's novels tend to have better-drawn female characters than male characters, so it's an interesting change to read one of her books where the male characters are much more vivid and active than the females. A great book? No. But a very charming one, and I re-read it more often than I first thought I would. I like Gilly a lot -- all those incredibly handsome, dashing heroes get a bit wearisome after a while! He's very believable, and engages one's sympathies in being burdened with wealth, responsibility and titles that he isn't sure he can live up to.

Another Heyer gem! Adolphus Gillespie Vernon Ware, the Duke ofSale, is tired of all the pompous trappings of his position. A mildmannered and kindly young man, he's also tired of being treated like asemi-invalid child by his family and retainers alike. Longing for anadventure, he leaps at the chance to help a young realtive who haswritten some unwise love letters to an unsuitable young lady, and whois now being sued for breach of promise. What follows is a series ofadventures, some hilarious, a few somewhat dangerous, as the youngduke comes into his own.A truly excellent book. The young Duke ofSale is exactly the kind of romantic hero one wishes one read more ofinstead of the autocratic-almost-a-rapist "hero" one comesacross more often in regency romances today.