Sylvester (by Georgette Heyer)

(Amazon UK link)

I do like Georgette Heyer’s historical romance novels. They feel authentic, the characterisation is excellent, and the stories very well crafted. I last read ‘Sylvester’ back in 2008, so it was definitely time for a re-read. I had entirely forgotten the story before I started, although I soon recalled the gist of it.

Sylvester, the Duke of Salford, is a complex and three-dimensional character whom we meet in the first chapter. He was born to wealth and aristocracy, and knew from babyhood that he would one day be a Duke. He is courteous, and very kind to those he cares for.

Sylvester is also always scrupulously polite to people who serve him as well, but we quickly learn that this civility is from a sense of duty rather than genuine philanthropy. He expects his servants to do his bidding, and is grateful; but he hardly seems aware that they have lives, and possibly problems of their own.

He feels that the time has come for him to get married. So he has selected five possible young women of his acquaintance. He presents their names to his mother… and asks her which one he should marry. Sylvester’s mother, who is an invalid, is a wonderfully warm character and I was sorry she didn’t appear more than she does. She would like him to fall in love, and mentions that she and a late friend jokingly betrothed him to the friend’s daughter almost two decades earlier….

Phoebe is the girl in question. She is no beauty, and thinks little of consequence or appearance. She’s prone to say what she thinks, she has a quirky sense of the ridiculous… and she is also a writer. She is no longer a debutante; brought up by a fair but unloving and often critical stepmother she has not developed any sense of style or confidence. She has decided to remain a spinster. She hopes to get a book published, and then live quietly with her beloved governess as a writer.

The initial meeting between Phoebe and Sylvester does not go well. And it goes downhill from there. Sylvester is bored; Phoebe terrified that he might offer for her- and she can think of nothing worse. So she takes matters into her own hands.

It’s a complex book with several different storylines running alongside each other. Clearly Phoebe and Sylvester will eventually decide they like each other, but it takes a crisis for them even to begin to get to know each other. Meanwhile Sylvester is also clashing with his sister-in-law about the guardianship of his young nephew, as the sister-in-law wants to get married to the wonderfully arrogant Sir Nugent. He is a caricatured upper-class dandy, not unkind or cruel, but self-centred and materialistic in the extreme.

There’s also an ongoing thread about the book Phoebe has written, and its ramifications. I don’t remember any of Heyer’s other books including a young author; that’s the part of the story I remembered. It wouldn’t have mattered if I had recalled the entire plot. It’s an excellent book, with a couple of passages where I chuckled aloud, and several that made me smile. Sir Nugent is a source of comedy but has no idea that he is ridiculous.

The writing is fast-paced for this genre, and I could barely put the book down once I had got into it. It was very enjoyable and I look forward to reading it again in another five or six years.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews