These Old Shades

 

by Georgette Heyer (read by Cornelius Garrett ) c. 1926

an annual -re-read

 

 

 

   

 

 

"I bought him body and soul."

The Masqueraders and These Old Shades have been my two most favorite Georgette Heyer titles since I first read them as a teenager. While the rest of my Georgette Heyer top-10 list is constantly changing its order, the top slot has always been shared by these two books. I stubbornly refuse to choose one over the other and I stubbornly refuse to allow any other GH title to take their place.

So why These Old Shades?  Call it a young girl's romantic fancy. Mr. Talk, Dark and Dangerous and all that rigamarole. These days I read and re-read the stories for the language, the characters and for the insight into the author's time period not just the romance.  Yes, I read fluff, but that doesn't mean I can't have standards.  Every time I read the book I find another gem -- a bit of description, a character name that makes me laugh -- or even worse, makes me think.

Revenge is a dish best served cold and Satanas ( our hero's nickname) dishes it up with ice cold accuracy. He has a grudge against the Comte de St. Vire  and when he "buys" young Leon Bonnard from his jealous and abusive older brother and his wife, he has found the tool of his revenge.  Young Leon becomes the hero's page and the plot to topple St. Vire is underway.

This is a very early Georgette Heyer; she was 24 when this, her sixth book, was published. It was her first "bestseller."  I think that with this book, Heyer has finally found her storytelling voice. She always has been a storyteller, but now she has technique. Her first book, The Black Moth, was stories the teenaged Heyer would tell her invalid brother to entertain him. But, It took a few years and a couple of stories to find her talent for character development, for caricature and to find her sense of humor. Her books are definitely the happily ever after kind and for many of her readers, their "go-to" when they just need to escape the everyday world.

This is four star Georgette Heyer.

 

 

Cover comments: Cover on the first copy I ever read. Audio edition cover. Paperback I currently own.