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Cressida is an interesting young woman, though I’m not sure I ever entirely believed in her. She’s in her early twenties, and is vivacious and attractive. But she has never married, although she has been engaged more than once. She is currently quite close to Lord Langham, and rumour has it that they will get married, although she’s not entirely sure and knows she doesn’t really love him.
Lady Constance is a distant relative of Cressida’s, and lives with her as a kind of companion and chaperone. She’s quite talkative, but kind-hearted, and was left penniless when her husband died. Cressida inherited a lot of money from an aunt some years before the story starts, and she enjoys being as independent as was possible in the era. It’s probably wet around 1815, since references are made to Waterloo.
Lady Constance receives a letter from another young relative called Kitty, who wonders if she could visit, and make her ‘come-out’ as a debutante. She writes very properly, and says that the aunt who was going to do this is ill. Cressida is happy to have someone else in the household, and Kitty arrives a few days later. She seems a likeable, willing young girl who is good at needlework and very grateful for any help or clothes she is given.
Then there’s Captain Deverell, known to his friends and relatives as ‘Dev’, who was briefly engaged to Cressida some years earlier, but broke it off (or persuaded her that they would not suit). He’s been out of the country, but recently made his fortune after Waterloo, and is back in society. Cressida has mixed feelings about this. She’s still very angry with him, but also eager to know if they can meet again as friends.
Their first meeting is fraught with tension, and this continues through the book. Dev flirts with Kitty, who is rather younger than he is, but pretty and apparently quite malleable. Cressida keeps planning to be nice to Dev, and they end up quarrelling. I was pretty sure they would end up together - that’s the way these novels work - but they don’t appear to have anything in common, or any way of speaking to each other without being insulting.
It’s quite a good story, involving a rather cynical ‘Beau’ who is also very taken with Kitty, and a likeable young officer, a friend of Dev’s, who befriends Cressida and would love to spend more time with Kitty. The beau has no intention of marrying anyone, and the young officer is self-deprecating and rather shy, and doesn’t think he has any chance at all when compared to Kitty’s other admirers.
The writing is good, the settings and conversations authentic. There’s some excitement, and inevitably everything gets sorted out in the end, though I couldn’t entirely believe in the drastic change of heart that happens to Cressida. And I wasn’t at all sure about one of the potential couples who emerge. The characterisation is not as good as that of Georgette Heyer, despite Clare Darcy being touted as her successor, and there isn’t really any humour or ironies, though parts of the book are quite light-hearted.
I’m glad I re-read it, and perhaps I’ll do so again in another decade or so. If you love Georgette Heyer’s writing and long for more, this author is the only one I’ve come across who comes anywhere near close. However the characterisation is not as good as that of Heyer, and there isn’t really any humour or ironies, though parts of the book are quite light-hearted.
So I’d recommend this in a low-key way if you like the Regency romance style of historical fiction.
Note that Clare Darcy's books seem to be available for the Kindle, but reviews suggest that they may not be full editions.
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