Her heroines are respectable gentry, bound by the conventions of their time, station, and often dwindling economics.
When they were written, Austen’s books were contemporaries rather than historical recreations. Heyer is often suggested to readers who love Jane Austen, yet in a way the comparison is an uneasy one. (It also spawned a sequel, An Infamous Army, published in 1937.) Regency Buck has justly remained a reader favorite for seventy-five years.īut what struck me most about rereading Regency Buck was how much it reflects its own times as well as the early 1800s. But nothing (and no one) in London is as it seems, and by the time every secret is revealed, Judith has discovered not only the truth, but true love as well.įirst published in 1935, Regency Buck was Heyer’s first novel set in the Regency, an era that became so closely associated with her that her books defined the genre of Regency romances. Of course, too, Peregrine continues to tumble into every mishap that a young buck can, only to be rescued by Bernard Taverner, the sibling’s charming cousin. Of course he continues to be insufferable, refusing every gentleman who offers for Judith’s hand.
Of course the gentleman turns out to be their guardian, Julian, Earl of Worth. Along the way they stop to watch a boxing match (one of the book’s most famous scenes), where an odious gentleman mistakes Judith for a disreputable woman. Heiress Judith Taverner and her impulsive young brother Peregrine (the “buck” of the title) travel from their Yorkshire home to London to meet their new guardian and join fashionable society. Everything that had first captivated me about Heyer’s work was still there: the wit, the detailed recreation of another time, the cameos by famous folk, and the trials of a young lady searching for the perfect gentleman, and love as well.
First loves are usually better left in the hazy glow of the past.
When Laurel Ann asked if I’d re-read Regency Buck for the Austenprose Heyer Event, I hesitated. This was not only my introduction to Heyer, but also to Regency England, and by the time I’d reached the end of that shelf, I’d discovered both a new favorite author and an era to match.īut that was a long time ago (another century!), and I’ve had many other favorite authors come and go since then. I ripped right through them, one after another, in the kind of focused excess that only adolescents possess. I read my first Georgette Heyer years ago, when I discovered a long row of her books on a shelf in my school’s library. Guest review by Susan Holloway Scott, of Two Nerdy History Girls
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