A Civil Contract (by Georgette Heyer)

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I regularly re-read my historical novels by Georgette Heyer. As I’ve got older I find that some which I counted as favourites no longer seem quite so special, while some that I didn’t like so much as a teenager are more enjoyable now. One of the latter category is ‘A Civil Contract’, which I last read in 2013.

I recalled the basic plot, of course. Adam, a young man who had been in the army, has just acquired a title as Lord - or Viscount - Lynton after the death of his father. He’s returned to the family estate, Fontley, and is rapidly discovering that his inheritance mainly consists of large debts. Adam is conscientious and honourable, and determined to sell as much of his property as is necessary to discharge the debts. And that may include Fontley itself…

Adam has two sisters: Charlotte, who hopes to marry a young man called Lambert, and Lydia, who is 17 and just emerging from the schoolroom. Charlotte is earnest and kind, but rather lacking in humour; Lydia, however, is delightful, full of imagination and friendly to everyone. And their mother, Lady Lynton, bemoans her lot at length, despite her guaranteed income being quite sufficient, in the era, to support her, even if not in the manner to which she was accustomed.

Like many of Heyer’s novels, this is firmly set in a historical context: this one in the first half of 1815 when Napoleon is exiled in Elba, but is due to escape and cause a great deal of chaos before the battle of Waterloo. There’s rather more war talk in this novel than I like, but some of it is quite relevant to the storyline.

We learn that Adam was injured after the battle of Salamanca (which, I gather, took place in July 1812) and had to recupate back home. During that time, his parents’ friends the Oversleys spent some time with him, and he and their daughter Julia fell in love. Julia is a great beauty, and has many suitors, but even after not seeing him for over a year, she still hankers after Adam - and he regularly dreams of her. But his circumstances make it impossible for him to support a wife, and he’s wise enough to realise that her insistence that she could survive in a country cottage is far from the case. Julia likes her luxuries, and she wants to be the centre of attention, although she can be very gracious when she chooses.

When it becomes clear that Adam must sell not just his London house and horses but his family estate, Lord Oversley comes up with what seems to be a preposterous notion - that Adam should marry the ‘commoner’ daughter of a very wealthy man. Not something a member of the nobility would want to do at the time of this book. 

When Adam meets Mr Chawleigh, he’s somewhat disgusted, at first, by his appearance and manner; fortunately he has a sense of humour, and also realises that Mr Chawleigh has no intention of offending anyone. He is a widower, and has one daughter, Jenny, and his main aim in life is to see her established in the upper classes. He would really have liked her to marry an Earl, but he’s willing to put up with a Viscount…

It’s a very well-told story. Adam is extremely reluctant to do what seems entirely alien to him, but he realises that to save his family from ruin - and to keep his estate - this really is his only option. Jenny is plain and squat, as different from Julia as can be imagined, but Adam is determined to make the best of his marriage. It’s an era when marriages of convenience were still fairly common. Jenny has loved Adam from afar for a while, but she’s well aware that he still yearns for Julia.

This novel is different from many of Heyer’s romances - there are no misunderstandings between Adam and Jenny; she is generous, and thoughtful, and while she can’t raise great passion in him, she can keep him comfortable by remembering and pandering to his likes and dislikes. Yet she’s no doormat: she’s an independent, strong woman with a dry sense of humour and a great ability to organise both homes and groups of people.

There’s plenty of humour, a lot of historical references, and some anecdotes and incidents related to farming, too. Heyer’s gift of characterisation shines in this novel: nobody is all bad, nobody is perfect. Mr Chawleigh is rather a caricatured figure of fun - and yet he is extremely generous and warm-hearted. I liked Adam very much, and Jenny too, but there were many likeable people in the book; no villains, as such, at all.

As the book progresses, Julia appears increasingly narcissistic although it’s not until near the end that Adam finally acknowledges that he’s better off with Jenny. This seemed quite unromantic to me as a teenager, but I found the end of the book quite moving when I finished re-reading it this morning.

For added enjoyment, it's worth reading up a bit about Napoleon in this time frame before embarking on 'A Civil Contract', rather than afterwards as I did, if you're not familiar with this part of history.

Definitely recommended.

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