Arabella

After reading so many posts about the authoress Georgette Heyer, I thought I should give one of her books a read. I was my local bookstore several months ago when I came across a promising title of Heyer’s called Arabella. This title was originally published in 1949 and recently reissued this year.

I chose the book not so much for the synopsis on the back cover, but a reader’s comment underneath that said that it was a Cinderella-type of Regency novel. One of my favorite types of books are modern retellings of fairytales so I picked up Arabella out of the other half a dozen Heyer titles on the shelves.

The story begins with a young girl named Arabella Tallent, one of the several daughters of a local parson. With so many daughters, marrying off each one is a daunting task when they come of age so Arabella’s mother seeks the help of her best friend, Lady Bridlington, Arabella’s godmother and namesake.

Lady Bridlington heartily agrees to provide Arabella with a London season in hopes of securing a husband. And so Arabella is bedecked with the finest dresses that can be made up by the town’s local seamstress and embarks on her journey to London, accompanied by her governess Miss Blackburn.

Unfortunately, Arabella’s coach breaks down along the way and she and her governess are forced to take shelter from the rain in a nearby house while the coach is being repaired. Neither woman realizes that they have entered the house of an extremely wealthy man named Mr. Beaumaris, a confirmed bachelor. Arabella and Miss Blackburn are introduced to Mr. Beaumaris and his friend Lord Fleetwood before being escorted upstairs to change into drier clothes.

Coming downstairs at the request of a servant, Arabella overhears Mr. Beaumaris comment to his friend that the broken carriage was an elaborate hoax invented by her in order to ‘lure’ him into matrimony and gain his fortune. Assuming that she will never met either individual again, the rebellious-natured Arabella decides to play a trick and tells them of her ‘unfortunate’ story of being sought after for her fortune. She begs them not to reveal her circumstances to anyone as she is going to London to relax and escape from the demands of society.

Arabella and Miss Blackburn leave for London with the assurances of Mr. Beaumaris that her identity will not be revealed. Little does Arabella know that her ‘story’ becomes the latest gossip amongst the ton and that she is the most sought after young lady of the London season.

Mr. Beaumaris offers Arabella his attentions during the season as a courtesy to Lady Bridlington, not realizing that Arabella is slowing turning him away from his bachelor ways with her unspoiled attitude and the later introductions of a stray puppy and an urchin boy.

By the end of the story, Mr. Beaumaris who has known from the beginning that Arabella’s story was false, admits his love for Arabella and asks for her hand. Arabella has fallen in love with him as well, but doesn’t know how he will response when he finds out that she has no fortune at all. Needless to say, everything turns out well in the end and Arabella and Mr. Beaumaris are married.

After reading one of Heyer’s novels, I must say that I’m on the fence about her writing. Periodically throughout the novel, I was strongly reminded of Jane Austen with certain elements of the story. And while I can appreciate Mrs. Heyer’s extensive research into the Regency period, the use of historic ‘slang’ and terminology on practically every page was a bit of a distraction.

At the moment, I am not sure if I will ever pick another novel of Heyer’s unless someone can swear to me that I will not be reminded of Jane Austen or bombarded by Regency slang at every turn.

Does anyone know if her other non-Regency novels are any good? I’ve heard that she has several novels that deal with early English history and the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries in France.

Until next time ^_____^