Rebel heiress (by Jane Aiken Hodge)

(Amazon UK link)

I started reading books by Jane Aiken Hodge when I was a teenager, and over the decades have collected several of them. I decided it was time for a re-read, and have just finished her historical romance novel, ‘Rebel Heiress’. I last read it in 2006, and had totally forgotten the characters and the story.

The first person we meet is Henrietta Marchmont, and we’re told that the year is 1812. She’s been living in the United States, where her mother was born. She lived with her aunt, whom she never much liked, as her mother died in childbirth. But the aunt has now died. Henrietta had always been told that her father, who was British, had gone back to the UK before she was born, and had never been heard from. 

Her aunt’s home has been left to the church, but she has discovered some papers and letters showing that her father did try to get in touch, but that her aunt suppressed the letters. And then he was told that both she and her mother died, so he made no more attempt to be in contact. Henrietta decides that her only option is to find a ship that will take her to England, so she can hope to find refuge with her father. 

It’s clear from all that transpires as she makes this journey that she’s strong-minded, determined, and basically likeable. She makes the best of a difficult situation, and is eager to learn about British customs and tastes from the sailors. They are all concerned about the wars happening in Europe, and are also worried that the US is going to declare war on the UK. 

Henrietta has some money, but most of it is taken up with her international passage, and then on a coach which should take her to Marchmont House. Things don’t go entirely as planned, but she meets two men who recognise that she probably is who she says she is. One is Beau Brummel, whom I’m familiar with due to having read so many Georgette Heyer books. The other is Charles Rivers, whom she finds very helpful and rather attractive too.

Most of the story involves Henrietta’s adoption in the home, accepted by her father but with some clashes with her stepmother. Her stepbrother is pleasant enough, but perhaps a bit too helpful, and she realises that he has romantic interest in her.  She’s launched into society, and tries not to be too eccentric…

But it’s not just a light historical romance. There’s a fair amount of politics in the book, too. Quite apart from the discussions of war, Lord Marchmont is quite high up in the Conservative party, although his wife takes no interest at all in it. Henrietta is more liberal, and some of her views are considered rebellious, possibly even treacherous. She has to prove herself as British, rather than American - and many of the people she meets are convinced she grew up in a wild, uncivilised home and cannot possibly know how to comport herself in society.

While I liked Henrietta and her father very much, and could believe in Cedric, some of the characters seemed a bit less well-developed; it was hard to know who could be trusted, and who couldn’t. For there are some villains, and some potentially quite unpleasant scenes towards the end when a new and unexpected turn to the story is introduced. 

The ending is somewhat abrupt, but it works well and overall I enjoyed the book. It’s not Heyer, but it all feels authentic, and it’s quite exciting in places. 

Recommended if you like this kind of historical fiction. 

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