A Civil Contract

Opinion unchanged on re-reading. :) The only thought to add concerns Lydia. Proof that GH CAN write teenage characters who are young, unexperienced, and yet endearing (or at least highly entertaining). My recent encounter with the horrible Horry in The Convenient Marriage has shaken my faith a little......more

3.5 stars, rounding up: this is an unusual story that has grown on me. A Civil Contract is a marriage of convenience tale, very different from Georgette Heyer's other Regency novels that I've read. There is a romance at the heart of it, as usual, but it's practical-minded and a little bit heartbreak......more

the marriage is a transaction. she is short, squat, plain, and plump. her conversational skills are minimal; she is more comfortable with being dry and straightforward than sparkling and ironic. her tastes in decor and couture are what would be expected of a nouveau riche heiress: gaudy, loud, overd......more

Having just read a god awful Pride and Prejudice ‘sequel’, I wanted to read a bona fide Regency romance, and picked one by no one less than Georgette Heyer, the originator of the genre, and perhaps the only romance novelist who comes with glowing recommendations from A.S. Byatt. Not being a romance......more

(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] I've read quite a few of Heyer's novels and this one struck me as particularly interesting. Heyer is a legend among romance readers--her characters have depth, the events make sense, and while these are books with more talk than action, that talk is lively and always well written. Heyer's novels......more