63%
26.04.26This was well researched and compelling with a great two-word hook - Jesus's wife! - but I wondered at the choice of exiling her while he was doing all the messiah stuff. Then I realised that it was really about the first-century female experience and the biblical Easter eggs (ha!) were just for decoration.
18.04.26
Many people say this is the best Heyer novel but it was pretty indistinguishable from the others - spirited heroine, noble hero, comedy supporting characters, unlikely coincidences. That's not necessarily a bad thing.
04.03.26
I tend to avoid translated novels as they're usually sterile and stilted, but this was the opposite - smooth, fast-paced (for an epistolary novel - recounting a police chase by letter is an eccentric choice) and fascinating. Apparently, its cheeky take on Renaissance figures is controversial among those who know the period, but I don't, and it got me looking up most of the characters in Wikipedia. And I laughed out loud when the murderer turned out to be [x] because... of course it was.
09.01.26
Heyer is a dependable comfort read when I'm under the weather (I've been winged but not by a pistol) and this, as usual, featured vivid characters and gentle humour, but it's also a little dull (despite the smuggling subplot). Much of it hasn't aged well since the 1950s - marrying one's cousin and bullying a queer relation lands rather differently these days.
24.06.25
I want to describe this as a Regency romp, but it's set too late to be Regency and is too serious in places to be a romp. But it's a fun read with well-drawn characters, good world-building and no embarrassing attempts at realistic period dialogue. Yes, the identity of the villain quickly becomes obvious but it's an entertaining journey to their unveiling.
17.06.25
The only memorable thing about this middling Heyer was its excellent use of The Tiffany Effect (even if it is a nickname for Theophania).
06.03.25
Sarah Waters hasn't published a novel for more than 10 years so I was pleased to remember there was one I hadn't read. In her anniversary afterword, she's pretty critical of this, her debut novel, but I think she's too harsh on herself. From the start, the reader is clearly in the hands of a confident and sophisticated storyteller, a late-20th-century Dickens. Yes, it was a bit messy, and the main character is self-serving to the end - and it wasn't quite as good as The Little Stranger, for example - but it's certainly a good read.
This was only really notable for its sympathetic characterisation of two plainly gay male characters. Otherwise, the plot was based on a stupid misunderstanding that could have been easily resolved in the first few chapters. And the 'hero' was too full of toxic masculinity for my taste. Not one of Heyer's best.
As usual, I found myself reading Heyer as a relief from a couple of rather more hardgoing novels. This had its moments of brilliance, especially in its characterisation and dialogue, and it even had rather higher stakes than usual - but overall I don't think it will stick out among the many other Heyers. (Not really a spoiler: Despite the title, she doesn't marry her cousin, which is a relief.)
58%
This obeyed the creative writing rules of conflict, pacing, engaging all senses and heaping misfortune on the protagonist, and was therefore an absorbing read. It was rather heavy handed on how bad life was for everyone - rich and poor - in 18th-century Paris, and, of course, especially for women. The characters were also a little vaguely drawn, being defined by one or two significant USPs, but it was an unusual take on an interesting period.
This modern classic was spectacularly (spectre-cularly?) well written on a line level, a model for using different techniques to create atmosphere, which explains its presence on Eng Lit reading lists. But the pace and the story itself didn't match that poetry. It wasn't particularly scary and only slightly creepy. And it never was clear why the woman wanted to get her revenge on random people. She just did. I suppose ghosts don't need to explain themselves.
Didn't finish
65%
This is the 16th Georgette Heyer novel I've read in five years so I am clearly among those readers who regard her as an inexplicably underrated master of her art. This was slightly unusual in its subtle romance and rather predictable mystery, but it was no worse for that: I had to read some passages several times to savour their delights. Some wonderful characters here too, as usual, not least the rather plain, rather boring heroine who (spoiler) charms her earl with her unfashionable brains and good sense.
56%
30.09.22
53%
Not the best Heyer, but not terrible - how could it be, with its typically vivid characters and seamless worldbuilding (although the slang was overdone to the point of incomprehension)?
11.07.22
Heyer's characterisations and amazingly in-depth research (which we'd call 'worldbuilding' today) make her books stand out, and this was one of her better examples. You know what the outcome will be, but not how it will come about, and that, too, adds to the pleasure.
This Heyer at her jolliest, with a clear nod to Austen in its spirited (and frankly rather tiring) Emma-like heroine. Featuring the rich characters and vivid Regency world-building you'd expect, if typically formulaic, although cousin-as-love-interest is a little too 19th-century for my comfort.
(So many covers to choose from but I liked this rather unconventional one best.)
70%
This was extraordinary. Flawed and confusing but still, overall, extraordinary in a good way. Pulley's engaging writing style and the complex, well-researched plot unexpectedly combine to produce a refreshing take on that hoary old genre: time-travelling historical speculative fiction.
09.09.21
On the one hand, day-to-day wartime life at Bletchley Park was well researched and fascinatingly portrayed. On the other, the story was so awkwardly written to be almost unreadable at times. From the weird American phrasing and unconvincing dialogue to cringingly rendered characters to the rather tedious plot (such as it was), it didn't crack the code for my idea of an excellent novel.
