Thursday, September 23, 2021

Sylvester, or the Wicked Uncle

 

by Georgette Heyer (read by Nicholas Rowe) c. 1957
an annual re-read
 
 
Sylvester  By  cover art
 

The Duke of Salford grows up

Sylvester, Duke of Salford, is a 30 year-old arrogant prig of the first stare. OMG is he self-important. He has decided it is time to get married. So he draws up a list of 5 names, of women he has never met and consults his mother as to which one he should marry. Fortunately, it is all up-hill from there. Miss Phoebe Marlow pulls the rug out from under him, teaches him a thing or two about life in the real world and they live happily ever after.

Sylvester also gives of one us one of my favorite secondary characters: Sir Nugent Fotherby, a very rich fop with very opulent taste --and very unlikeable. I group him with Sir Bonamy Ripple (False Colours), Robert Barham (Masqueraders) and Mr. Jonathan Chawleigh (A Civil Contract), older gentlemen, a bit rotund, outlandishly dressed, without financial worries, who give some comic relief to the story.

Four stars for a most entertaining and enjoyable romp. 
 
And, yes the cover is an abomination. For a book set in Regency England, the use of photography is an anachronism and entirely off-putting.

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