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Hugo is the hero of this book, but we don’t meet him immediately. Instead we meet his estranged family: his grandfather, a couple of his aunts, and several of his cousins. His grandfather, the Earl, has been in a worse mood than usual. Nobody imagines that he’s grieving the loss of his oldest living son Granville and Granville’s son Oliver, as he never much liked them. It’s assumed that his next oldest son, Matthew, is now his heir.
So it’s a shock to everyone - particularly Matthew and his sons Vincent and Claude - when the Earl announces that his heir is arriving soon. He is the son of his late son Hugh and a weaver’s daughter - cast out of the family due to this ‘low’ connection. The Earl knew of Hugo’s existence but hadn’t told anyone else. Now the family lawyer has located him…
The laws of inheritance were fairly complex in Regency times, and when land or property was ‘entailed’ the owners could do nothing to change it. The Earl is sure Hugo will be an illiterate yokel but hopes to make something of him before he comes into his inheritance. The family name - Darracott - is very important to him, as it is to most of his descendants. There’s perhaps more in this book about ‘classism’ than in some of Heyer’s others, much of it in a mildly humorous vein.
Whenever I read this book I have a few moments when I confuse the storyline with ‘The Quiet Gentleman’; but I did quickly remember that although Hugo’s cousins don’t much like him, they’re not bad people and don’t plan to murder him. Vincent does say he wouldn’t pull him away from the edge of a cliff, but then Hugo, who is always placid and good-natured, points out that if he attempted this feat, Vincent would fall too.
Anthea is the heroine, daughter of one of the Earl’s late sons, and sister to Richmond who is his grandfather’s favourite. I liked Anthea; she’s kind and caring, and mostly diplomatic, but she’s also quite spirited and takes exception to her grandfather’s telling her that she should marry Hugo. However the two become friends in the skilled way that Heyer had of showing, by conversation and action, how close two compatible people can come even when they start out with antipathy. It’s clear that they’re falling in love long before Anthea has any inkling of it, but this romance is one of the most low-key in any of Heyer’s books of this genre.
The family live near the Sussex/Kent border, and smuggling of spirits was rife in the area. Hugo is rather shocked at the family apparently turning a blind eye to ‘run’ cargo, and I found it amusing that his family consider his attitude ‘shabby-genteel’. Not that any of them actually approve of smuggling, but the taxes are so high and people need to earn a living, and get their brandy without bankrupting themselves…
It’s an exciting story, mainly character-based but with a good deal of plot, too. I did remember the outcome, and very much looked forward to the final, show-down scene which is brilliantly done. The morality is a bit shocking by today’s standards, and Hugo himself feels some remorse; but the result is positive for all concerned (well, other than the lieutenant involved).
‘The Unknown Ajax’ is not one of my absolute favourites of Heyer’s novels. Smuggling and the upper-class acceptance of it in the era is rather an anathema to me, and the quotations from what was apparently a well-known work, relating to the ‘Ajax’, went mostly over my head. But there are some amusing comments and a few wonderfully ironic scenes, and I’m already looking forward to reading it yet again in another few years.
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