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Review: The Corinthian, Georgette Heyer

georgetteheyer-227x300Welcome to my stop for the Classics Circuit Georgette Heyer tour!  As a modern classic, this fit perfectly in with Classics Month, and it was also an absolute delight to read.

Celebrated dandy Sir Richard Wyndham is desperate to avoid marriage to a famed iceberg of a woman, who refuses to even consider love as a possibility between them.  On the eve of presenting his suite to her father, he of course gets ridiculously drunk.  On his stumble home, a young woman falls from a window, straight into his arms.  She is trying to escape her own arranged marriage and is determined to get to her country house, where she can instead marry a friend.  Richard decides to accompany her, and so begins a tale of hilarious adventure and, in the end, love.

Heyer’s Regency romances are among the most pleasurable books to read.  Even when fraught with danger, theft, and compromise, like this one should be, they are still funny and sweet.  This couple has a real adventure and it’s obvious that they adore each other as well as the unusual circumstances.  As is fairly typical, neither of them realize that they’re in love until the end, but their relationship still manages to grow without them realizing it.  And the character interactions really do sparkle.  Heyer’s prose is obviously smart and witty and this book will have you smiling as you read it.

I also love that Heyer includes little historical details which more modern romance authors don’t always use to such magnificent effect, like quizzing-glasses and snuffboxes.  And I’d never heard of a dandy referred to as a Corinthian before.  I’d never heard the terminology anywhere else, but then I don’t generally spend too much time on this particular period in history.  Even so, Heyer’s sense of the period is magnificent, and it’s easy to imagine yourself right there with the characters when reading one of her books.  I was cheering for this couple from almost the moment they met, and it was utter delight to spend an evening with these people.

As far as Heyer’s Regency romances go, The Corinthian is definitely a good choice.  It’s not particularly long, but it’s full of charm and wit, and is well worth a read.

I am an Amazon Associate. I borrowed this book from my local library.

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