An Infamous Army (by Georgette Heyer)

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I have been collecting Georgette Heyer’s novels since my late teens. I love the Regency Romance books, and re-read them regularly. But I wasn’t so keen on the two more serious historical novels, ‘Beauvallet’ and ‘The Conqueror’ which I bought second-hand many years ago. They are full of battles and no doubt very well researched, but not my kind of book at all.

So I hadn’t bought Heyer’s other war-related fiction. But, in discussion on an online group dedicated to this author, several people mentioned that ‘An Infamous Army’ had more than just army-related content. Indeed, I learned that it featured some of the characters from other books: in particular Lord Worth and Judith, now married. They were the main protagonists of the novel ‘Regency Buck’, which I re-read last year. It’s not one of my favourite books but I always liked Judith Taverner, and was eager to read more about her.

‘An Infamous Army’ also claims to be a sequel to ‘Devil’s Cub’, which I also re-read last year. Again, this is not one of my top favourite Heyer novels, but I rather liked Mary Challoner. I was interested to know how she fared when marrying Lord Vidal.

So I put the book on my wish-list and was given it for my birthday a few months ago. It’s quite a long novel - over 400 pages - and it took me five days to finish. It does indeed feature Lord and Lady Worth, married for a few years, and with a small son, although he is only mentioned in passing. Lord Worth’s brother Charles is particularly significant in this book; he is a Colonel in the British army, stationed in Brussels in 1815. That city appears to be a popular place for visitors, despite Napoleon being active in much of Europe.

One of the notorious women in society is Lady Barbara Childe, a young widow who indulges in flirtations and sometimes shocking behaviour, but doesn’t seem to care. Her older brother is referred to as Lord Vidal, and is rather dull; when I discovered that his even duller wife is called Augusta, I was very confused. On learning that his parents were both dead, I felt disappointed until I learned that Lord Vidal of ‘Devil’s Cub’ and his wife are their grandparents, now known as the Duke and Duchess of Avon. They don’t in fact appear until almost the end of the book and have only a small role to play.

There’s a lot of army discussion in the book, probably extremely well researched and accurate; indeed the author evidently quotes letters and dispatches as she weaves her society story around the real history. But the descriptions of armies marching, full of names of generals and officials, left me glazed and confused, so I quickly realised I could skim those sections - sometimes entire chapters - without losing the gist of the story.

And yes, there is a typical Heyer-like plot involving Charles falling in love with someone entirely unsuitable, or so it seems. Charles is a delightful creation, with a good sense of humour and an intuitive understanding of those around him. Judith remains the confident, intelligent person she was in ‘Regency Buck’, with an excellent relationship with her husband.

Towards the end of the book, war becomes a reality, and we learn quite a bit about the battle of Waterloo. I knew, of course, that it would be a success for the Allied troops, and found the ‘Abba’ song going around my head. However, Heyer shows some of the horrors of war; there are losses and serious injuries. In contrast to the words of the song, ‘I feel like I win when I lose’, it becomes clear that many of the survivors would have said, ‘I feel like I lose when I win’, on seeing so much destruction and loss of life. The young men eager to fight on the battlefield soon discovered that the reality was a long way from their idealism. The point is made without any preaching that war is a terrible thing.

I’m glad I have finally read this book, and that I have it in my collection. I’m sure I’ll reread it in another nine or ten years, perhaps soon after rereading ‘Regency Buck’. But I would have preferred fewer war scenes, and a great deal less detail about names of people involved in the war.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews