Book Review: Sylvester

Sylvester
by Georgette Heyer
Adult fiction, romance
I listened to the abridged audio book, read by Richard Armitage (He is a favorite actor, so finding him as narrator helped me to decide to listen rather than read. I usually avoid abridged versions, but this one seemed to be well-edited. It never felt choppy or incongruous. I am curious about what is missing, though, so I probably will find a print version to read)

I first heard about Georgette Heyer from my pal Mendy, who is a prolific reader and always good for helping me find things I've never heard of before. This is my first of Heyer's books and I absolutely enjoyed it. It is a Regency Romance, set in the same sort of time period as Jane Austen's books, and somewhat similar in tone and plot. Heyer is usually called the originator or the queen of Regency Romance. Jane Austen wrote contemporaneously-of the time when she lived, but Heyer wrote in the early 20th century and had to meticulously research her Regency details. Anyway, in that spirit, it was full of the manners of the time, the ins and outs of society and the difficulties of class and gender. It was a fun, dreamy read that kept me completely engaged and wondering how things would turn out.

It is about the eponymous very proper, somewhat misunderstood, highly eligible bachelor and an unlikely young lady named Phoebe. The enjoyably well-paced plot runs on witty lines, misunderstandings, flirtations, lovely settings, bad decisions, wishes, dreams and all sort of happenings-much like Austen-something is always happening, so my interest never waned.

She was a prolific writer, and I look forward to discovering more of her works.