The Nonesuch - Georgette Heyer

...Waldo is 'The Nonesuch' of the title of this book, an intelligent and athletic man in his mid-thirties in Regency England. The novel opens with various of his relatives bemoaning the fact that Waldo has inherited Broom House in Yorkshire from the recently deceased Joseph Calver. Not that they particularly wanted it for themselves, since it's reputed to be in a poor state of repair, but they resent the fact that Waldo is a philanthropist, and is planning ...
...in motion some refurbishments. The neighbourhood doesn't know quite what to expect of two wealthy and titled gentlemen appearing in their midst, but are soon pleasantly surprised to find them friendly, and happy to attend dinners and dances.

We quickly meet their richest neighbours: Mrs Underhill, her two children and her excessively beautiful neice Tiffany. Tiffany, who is only 17, is an heiress and has been considerably spoiled ... more

Sir Waldo is 'The Nonesuch' of the title of this book, an intelligent and athletic man in his mid-thirties in Regency England. The novel opens with various of his relatives bemoaning the fact that Waldo has inherited Broom House in Yorkshire from the recently deceased Joseph Calver. Not that they particularly wanted it for themselves, since it's reputed to be in a poor state of repair, but they resent the fact that Waldo is a philanthropist, and is planning to convert the house to a school for penniless orphans.

Sir Waldo makes his way to Broom House, accompanied by his young cousin Julian, Lord Lindeth, expecting to stay a week or so to set in motion some refurbishments. The neighbourhood doesn't know quite what to expect of two wealthy and titled gentlemen appearing in their midst, but are soon pleasantly surprised to find them friendly, and happy to attend dinners and dances.

We quickly meet their richest neighbours: Mrs Underhill, her two children and her excessively beautiful neice Tiffany. Tiffany, who is only 17, is an heiress and has been considerably spoiled all her life; she thinks of little but herself, and her stunning beauty. She determines to captivate Lord Lindeth as soon as she claps eyes on him, and not surprisingly he's bowled over by her looks.

Meanwhile Sir Waldo meets Tiffany's companion, 26-year-old Ancilla Trent. Miss Trent is a delightful character: wise, witty and with a very dry sense of humour that immediately appeals to him. She comes from an upper class family who fell on hard times, but Sir Waldo knows her uncle, and they discover a great deal in common. With such interesting new friends, Waldo and Julian decide to stay considerably longer in Yorkshire than they had originally planned.

Since the book is set two hundred years ago, life is in many ways a lot more complicated than it would be today. Miss Trent as a governess/companion only attends parties as chaperone to Tiffany, and would never expect to dance or to be given attention by a gentleman. Moreover girls in their late teens were very much protected - never allowed to see men alone, unable to go to town by themselves, and generally bound by conventions which seem by modern standards to be extreme and in some cases rather pointless. Men, on the other hand, expected to have a vast amount of liberty and were even encouraged to be promiscuous in their late teens and early twenties.

The book is lively and enjoyable, following the two households and various of their local friends as they go on outings, enjoy parties, and generally converse in the manner expected. It's obvious from fairly early in the book who is going to fall in love with whom, and in the manner of such Regency romances there are no unpleasant surprises, although Georgette Heyer is a master of unexpected situations.

The characters are mostly very well developed, none of them perfect and even the spoilt Tiffany having some redeeming features. I found myself relating quite strongly to Miss Trent. The language and conversation move the story forward at exactly the right pace for my tastes, and seem to me realistic; of course I wasn't around to hear how people spoke in Regency times, but it flows well and is certainly consistent. I find some authors of historical romances to be jarring in their mixed use of language (Barbara Cartland, for instance!) but Georgette Heyer's writing almost transports me back in my mind to the relevant period.

I first read this book in my teens, and found it a little slower moving than others by the same author; since then I've read most of her novels including this one every five or six years, and recently picked 'The Nonesuch' up again. I found I remembered the main plot and one or two of the minor events, but there were still parts I'd quite forgotten, and it was no less enjoyable for my knowledge of what was to come. Indeed I probably apprecated it all the more: Miss Trent's ironical sense of humour, and an amusing misunderstanding towards the end of the book had me almost laughing out loud.

The vocabulary, of course, is dated; I lent this book to a North American friend who had never read British historical novels before, and she said she found the first few chapters a bit bewildering, until she got used to the style and the slang words which pepper much of the conversation. Oddly enough I don't remember finding any problems with these when I first read the book as a teenager: possibly this is because I had previously read and enjoyed Jane Austen's books, or perhaps it was that it's so well-written that it's quite possible to understand the meaning behind the words even without a precise knowledge of what they mean. Indeed, I rather like the sound of such insulting phrases as 'buffleheaded clunch', 'sapskull' and 'gapeseed'!

I'd recommend this book to anybody, though it probably appeals more to women than to men. It's character-driven but there's a reasonable amount of action and not too much reflection or description. It isn't my favourite of Georgette Heyer's novels, but it's still enjoyable. It's the kind of book that kindled my interest in history by introducing realistic characters in past settings - so much more interesting than the politics and scientific discoveries that seemed to be the main content of my history lessons at school!

'The Nonesuch' was first published in 1962 and has been reprinted many times since then. It's currently available in paperback published by Arrow, for sale at £4.79 from Amazon.co.uk, or £5.99 from bookshops without a discount. Apparently yet another edition is due to be published in January 2005. It's also widely available second-hand. 

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