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[owl]

I've noticed that there are several pairs of Georgette Heyer's books that have similar plotlines and characters; Lady of Quality and Black Sheep; April Lady and The Convenient Marriage, and Charity Girl and Sprig Muslin.

I suppose she wrote so many books that she was bound to reuse elements. Does anyone have a distinct preference for one out of a pair over the other, or discovered any more similar ones?

Comments

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

Oooooh, interesting line of debate! I like The Convenient Marriage much better than April Lady, because I adore Horatia but think that... um, Nell? is rather shallow and tiresome and that the whole plot could have been solved in five minutes if she was a bit better with money and she hadn't listened to her daft mother. It's probably my least favourite Heyer, closely tied with Regency Buck in which I can't abide the hero.

I honestly can't remember which is which out of Sprig Muslin and Charity Girl. I always think of The Foundling as part of a group with those two, though it's drawn in broader strokes and Belinda owes a lot to Harriet Smith rather than being anything anyone could mistake for a heroine.

I really do dislike it when lesser Regency writers take the plot and make the hero marry the runaway - actually, thinking about it, there is a Heyer where the hero marries the girl who he found climbing out of a window dressed as a boy, isn't there? I can't remember at all which one it is, though, except that it has an astonishingly slashy ending involving everyone in a coach being shocked at seeing a fashionable man snogging a boy.

Come to that, there's The Masqueraders as well. I suppose the rule is that if you run away in breeches you will probably marry your rescuer, but if you flee in a frock you won't. Except, hang on, there's Sylvester. Perhaps there's some subsidiary clause involving squires' sons and snowfall.

As far as Lady of Quality and Black Sheep go I think the one with Miles Calverleigh as the hero (I think this is Black Sheep but could well be quite wrong) just has the edge, mostly because of hypochondriac Aunt Selina.

[owl]

I don't much like Regency Buck either, but I do like April Lady, though not as much as Convient Marriage, because, hey, Horatia (and the Stammer).

Sprig Muslin is the one with the girl with the over-active imagination who wants to marry her soldier, who's out fighting in the Peninsula. Charity Girl's runaway is inf act called Charity (Cherry for short), and the hero spends the book trying to track down her disreputable male relatives and make them support her, and wondering why his best-childhood-friend-who-turned-down-an-arranged-marriage's suitors make him so cross.

there is a Heyer where the hero marries the girl who he found climbing out of a window dressed as a boy, isn't there? I can't remember at all which one it is, though, except that it has an astonishingly slashy ending involving everyone in a coach being shocked at seeing a fashionable man snogging a boy.

That's The Corinthian; the heroine is called Penelope Creed. I'm rather fond of it, despite its implausibilty. I always lump it in with Sprig Muslin and Charity Girl because of the girl running away and being rescued by the hero, but it is unusual that he marries her. The Foundling I don't associate with them because it's the hero who is the runaway; I always find the love story bit of it too short, and Gilly's turnaround in emotion rather rapid.

I suppose the rule is that if you run away in breeches you will probably marry your rescuer, but if you flee in a frock you won't. Except, hang on, there's Sylvester. Perhaps there's some subsidiary clause involving squires' sons and snowfall.

So....who should Elizabeth Swann marry, then? She's been rescued by practically everyone by now, and vice versa.

Lucy in Lady of Quality runs away too (except with the man she doesn't want to marry), and she doesn't marry her rescuer, who's the heroine. Or the hero, because he's her uncle. Goodness, girls in Heyers do spend a great deal of time sprinting all over the countryside, don't they? That's, what, five?

As far as Lady of Quality and Black Sheep go I think the one with Miles Calverleigh as the hero (I think this is Black Sheep but could well be quite wrong) just has the edge, mostly because of hypochondriac Aunt Selina.

Yep, that's Black Sheep. I was reading it this afternoon, which was what put the topic of the post into my head.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about the love story in The Foundling being truncated - we don't see half enough of, um, whatshername, though what we do see of her and Gilly together is rather sweet.

Hero in Friday's Child has just run away when she encounters Sherry, if I remember correctly, so that's at least six.

I really can't help thinking that Elizabeth and Will should at the very least have A Bit Of A Talk if they're going to have any chance at a happy ending - if not, he's either going to get it through his muttonheadedly noble skull that she really wants Jack (which I'm not convinced she does: I ship Jack / That Horizon, and I think I probably ship Elizabeth / That Horizon, too) and do something self-sacrificing and silly, or he's going to come to much the same 'You're a strong, resourceful person who I want on my side in a fight, but I'm not convinced you're quite who I fell in love with' conclusion as Norrington. Which would be a pity.

Technically, I suppose they've all just been rescued by Barbossa...

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Whatshername is Hatty, I think. She reminds me a bit of Jenny from A Civil Contract—I almost typed Campaign—and she and Gilly are both sweet, together or apart. I love when she asks him if plain Mr Dash always embrace females in hackney-carriages, and Gilly says, 'When not in gaol he does.'

Hero in Friday's Child has just run away when she encounters Sherry, if I remember correctly, so that's at least six.

I remember her sitting on a wall dithering about running away when Sherry finds her, but she certainly does so later.

I don't think Will has many illusions about Elizabeth and her taste for piracy, but he's certainly one for noble stupidity.

I ship Jack / That Horizon, and I think I probably ship Elizabeth / That Horizon, too

Jack/Elizabeth/Horizon threesome! :-P

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

The Horizon steals all The Rum. Finis. :)