[.ca] The Nonesuch (ISBN 0786282584)

Another triumph:
What follows is not a review - just a few thoughts about The Nonesuch. I would think anyone looking at the reviews here probably knows the plot anyway! I really think that the whole of my adult reading life has been spent looking for something to fill in the gap left on Georgette Heyer's death. I first read Austen in high school and discovered Heyer in my freshman year at university when someone suggested to me that she was "the next best thing to Austen". I guess that was a truth self-evident. I've read thousands of romances, sandwiched in between the serious history and biography I adore, on buses, trains, in the car, in waiting rooms, during hurried lunch hours and in bed at night to relax after another stressful, hectic day. But, really, if I am honest with myself, there are just a very, very few authors that are on my keeper shelf. Hundreds of authors have come and gone for me. Some I have dismissed after reading a chapter as too puerile, too facetious, too ill-researched, too derelict in the simple use of the English language. Heyer, however, rarely disappointed. I adore her later books, filled with characters of great wit, insight, morality and self-knowledge who mature and come together through real life experiences - all conveyed in prose of the very highest standard. I guess that's it - Heyer's exquisitely wrought prose telling stories of genuine human emotional experience, all carefully and perfectly set in the Regency world - immaculately researched and painted for the eager reader. The Nonesuch is, of course, one of my favourites - and I expect I would say that about most of her works. But Sir Waldo and Ancilla so perfectly epitomise adult love, good works and social constraints and decent moral standards that you have to love them. Village life is portrayed beautifully - so much remains the same! Rant, rant, rant. Every time I go back to Heyer, I am demoralised when I pick up a modern "wanna be". What to do about that?

A Delightful Romp:
I discovered Georgette Heyer in Junior High (that should date me) and have been a huge fan of hers ever since. This is one of her more delightful romps, combining her humorous comedy of manners with a mystery. A rollicking good read!!