Frederica (by Georgette Heyer)

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The 20th century writer Georgette Heyer’s historical novels are some of my favourite comfort reading books, and one of my top ten amongst them is ‘Frederica’. Heyer’s characterisation was always good, but in this book she created one of the most delightful families, the Merivilles, newly arrived in London and quite unused to its customs.

Frederica is the oldest in the family, and she’s strong-minded, kind and caring. At twenty-four she sees herself as past marriageable age; since she’s never been in love, or had any desire to marry, this doesn’t worry her. She feels that her calling is to be an aunt. But as this story starts, her role is that of older sister, and she’s in the role of mother, to some extent, to her two youngest siblings, as they have no parents.

Due to the laws of the era, it’s Frederica’s brother Harry who is in fact the head of the household; he must be about twenty-one in the book, and is at university. But he’s quite immature, and has no desire to be saddled with his family, so he leaves everything to his sister.  And she has decided that her sister Charis, who is nineteen, must have a London ‘season’. Charis is extremely beautiful, so her sister is determined that she should contract a suitable marriage. Tucked away in the countryside, there are few opportunities to meet eligible young men - and Charis combines her looks with a sensitive, kind temperament, so she can never bear to rebuff anyone.

Then there are Jessamy and Felix. Jessamy is sixteen, highly intelligent and studious, and determined to take orders as a clergyman when he is older. He is an excellent creation, in my view: he has a strong sense of ethics and morality, but he also likes sport, particularly riding or driving horses. He is quite strict with himself, but has a sense of humour too. As for Felix, at twelve he seems at times younger - but he’s passionate about anything related to the modern technologies of the times. He wants to know about steam engines and how money is made - he seems to absorb knowledge with little effort. He can’t understand why others are not necessarily so enthusiastic.

Their distant cousin Lord Alverstoke is approached by Frederica, and asked if he would help to launch them into society. He’s quite a selfish person at heart, but decides that he will do so, in order to upset one of his sisters. But Alverstoke, agreeing to do one small thing, finds himself inexorably drawn into involvement with the family, including the large and over-friendly dog Lufra...

I had remembered the main outline of the story, which I last read in 2012, and the people, but had forgotten most of the detail. I found myself smiling, almost chuckling at some of Heyer’s brilliant turns of phrase even in the first chapter. She portrays Alverstoke’s relationship with his sisters in just a few words, always ‘showing’ rather than ‘telling’. She paints wonderfully caricatured people such as the prosy Lord Buxted, Alverstoke’s nephew, whose principles are sound, and his outlook kind - but he is so sure he is right that he upsets everyone.

I should also mention Charles Trevor, Alverstoke’s excellent secretary who hankers after a political career. He is the ideal administrator, but is blessed with a sense of the ridiculous, and a great deal of charm. I liked Charles very much. His conversations with his employer don’t necessarily add to the plot, but certainly helped my appreciation of them both.

There’s quite a lot that happens in this book - it’s not all balls and routs; indeed, other than the one Alverstoke gives for his nieces, they’re only touched upon lightly, despite being the main reason for the Meriville family being in town. Instead we see Jessamy and Felix involved in one escapade after another, the final, climactic one being quite moving at times as it plays out over several chapters.

Definitely recommended if you like Georgette Heyer’s writing, or if you’d like a good starting point to trying her novels.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's Book Reviews