Black Sheep (by Georgette Heyer)

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I re-read my collection of historical novels by Georgette Heyer regularly; they’re my comfort reading, but I try to limit them to one a month. I last read ‘Black Sheep’ in 2019 but - as ever - had forgotten most of the details of the story, even though I recalled, vaguely, the main outline of the plot. 

Abby is the main character in this. She’s twenty-eight, and a strong-minded, practical young woman with a good sense of humour. She sometimes rails against the rules imposed on society in the Regency era, but has no wish to bring shame or disgrace on her family. She lives with her much older sister Selina, and their orphaned niece Fanny, who is sixteen. 

Abby has been away, visiting other relatives at the start of this book and returns to her home in Bath to discover that Fanny has fallen in love. Selina rather likes Stacy, the young man who has captured Fanny’s heart, although she agrees that Fanny is rather young to think of marriage; she hasn’t yet had her debutante season in London, and had been looking forward to it. 

However Abby is suspicious of Stacy, partly fuelled by rumours having reached her old-fashioned and prudish brother. And it turns out that Stacy, while outwardly charming, is quite manipulative: Fanny is an heiress, and Stacy is seriously in debt. 

Then Stacy’s uncle, Miles, appears in Bath after a lengthy exile in India. He’s escorted home a young man, the brother of Fanny’s best friend. And while Miles never used to appeal to me much, I did like him when I read the book this time. He is confident without being arrogant, and clicks immediately with Abby due to a shared sense of the ridiculous. He also tends to scoff at convention, but is different in that he cares nothing for family ties.

It’s well-written, as I expect with Georgette Heyer, and is quite educational in the sense of explaining some of the cultures and customs of the era. Miles has rather a sordid past, although he insists he is now reformed. And while he has some things in common with his nephew (whom he had not seen for more than twenty years), he doesn’t have his worst faults and rather despises him.

The solution to Fanny’s infatuation (and the risk of her doing something she would regret) is partly solved by an attack of influenza. But Miles takes a part in a way that’s a bit high-handed, but also amusing. 

It’s a fast-paced and enjoyable novel, one whose ending I hadn’t entirely recalled although as each scene started I did remember the outcome. I still don’t really like what happens at the end - last time I read this, I was very unimpressed - but Abby goes along with it, and I’m not sure any other solution would have worked.

Not my favourite of Heyer’s novels, but still a good read. As with most of this author's books, it's available for the Kindle, sometimes quite inexpensively.  These books are usually in print in paperback too, and widely available in second-hand and charity shops. 

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