Friday's Child (Regency Romances Book 6)

Friday’s Child by Georgette Heyer may be one of the silliest Regency Romances I’ve ever read, but for once, I’m using "silly" as a positive descriptor. I wanted something light and entertaining, and Heyer’s Regencies can always be counted upon to fit that bill.The male protagonist of this book is, at first, anything but heroic. Lord Sheringham, (otherwise known as the Viscount or Anthony) is a spoiled, entitled young rake who finds himself in a bind. Having inherited his title early, along with a generous allowance, he has been running wild, enjoying himself with drinking, gambling, and loose women. Naturally, this scandalizes the ton, but not too much, since he is male and boys will be boys. Anthony’s problem is that he has outspent his allowance. His late father, no doubt a good judge of his son’s character, has tied the family fortune up in a trust that Anthony cannot touch until he is twenty-five or. . .marries. Anthony has come up with a solution. He and half of London’s worthy gentlemen have been courting the exceedingly beautiful and well-bred Isabella Milborne. Anthony thinks she will have him. After all, he is first to offer for her. Moreover, he feels certain of her yes since they knew each other as children and he imagines she remembers this childhood friendship with some fondness. Isabella refuses him, citing his poor character for excuse, but in fact, she doesn’t feel his proposal is heartfelt enough. When she understands his reason stems from monetary embarrassment, even a somewhat temporary one (he’s not marrying her for her fortune, but for his own) she is sure she has made the right choice in saying no. Anthony is peeved. He’s furious Isabella would insult his character. Not because it isn’t true, but because it is true of everyone and besides, girls shouldn’t know about such things, etc. At any rate, while in his peevish state, he comes across another old friend, Hero Wantage. When the youthful aristocrats played together back in the old days, Hero was the tagalong, the baby of the group, and the misfit. Although her birth was as good as theirs, she was orphaned and taken in by a cousin, who made sure she understood her poverty and dependence. She was quite a bit younger. (Currently, she is not yet seventeen.) Anthony allowed her to fetch and carry for him and she was pathetically grateful. In fact, he treated her wretchedly, but with a certain regard which was better than the cruel disdain of the other children. Hero is now quite upset, and her distress distracts Anthony from his own problems. It seems that Hero’s cousin, who has three plain and unpleasant daughters to introduce to society, is finished with Hero. A choice has been put before the unfortunate girl: she may go to Bath and become a governess or she can marry the curate. Anthony is appalled. He has never liked Hero’s cousin or the daughters and this cements his opinion of them. Impetuous by nature, the obvious solution occurs to him, and before he can think of the down sides, he blurts out that Hero should marry him (by special license, the next day.) It would solve both their dilemmas. They wouldn’t have to change their lives, of course, it would just be a marriage of convenience. Hero has no idea what she is getting into, only that she is escaping a fate she does not want, to run away with a man she adores. And trusts. And things go haywire from here on out. Normally, I enjoy clever heroines and sardonic heroes. I like witty repartee. I like significant external forces keeping lovers apart, and the strong heroine and hero overcoming them to find their way back together. This isn’t that book–yet I loved it. These characters are not clever. Little more than children, they bumble their way into marriage, play at setting up a household, and pretend to start a life together. It is their good-natured bumbling that makes this book such a delight. The fun of this book is the refreshingly simple characters. They make mistakes and immediately apologize. Both of them. They forgive each other, laugh, and move on. Certainly, they go on to make other mistakes, but as one of Anthony's more astute friends points out, Hero never makes the same mistake twice. Their marriage is strange, but it is a fun and companionable one. However, there is one looming imbalance. Hero obviously adores Anthony. Anthony also adores Anthony. But eventually he’s going to have to realize that it isn’t just a sense of responsibility and proprietorship that he feels for Hero. Either he regrets his rash decision in marrying her or he doesn’t. Either he yearns for the carefree abandon of his bachelorhood, or he would not trade Hero for all the gambling hells and opera dancers in the world. Which will it be?

I loved this book! And loving a book by Georgette Heyer usually means a little intellectual blather in the review, about the dead-on history or the period language. But Friday’s Child is entirely of the heart, and that’s where it hits you. It’s also quite possibly the funniest book she ever wrote, and I think this one-two punch explains why Friday’s Child always comes up high on the list of fan favorites.Anthony, Lord Sheringham, needs a wife to come into his inheritance. He’s very young, barely out of his twenties, good-looking and utterly self-centered. The story opens with the hapless Sherry proposing to a girl he grew up with and always assumed he’d marry, Miss Isabella Milborne, nicknamed the Incomparable. To his astonishment she turns him down flat, and that’s when the fun begins.Miss Hero Wantage is an orphan, a poor relation thrust on some cousins to raise. She, too, grew up with Sherry, although, unlike the Incomparable, she was always his stooge. Driving back to London, way too fast, Sherry stumbles on Hero, who’s crying. She’s seventeen and about to be tossed out on her ear, to a school in Bath that will train her to become a governess. Hero doesn’t mind telling him everything, because she’s always adored Sherry. And Sherry, of course, likes being adored. By a girl who’s actually rather pretty. And who has nowhere to go.Why not? After all, she’s so green, so sweet, she won’t be any trouble. Or, as he tells his friends, “If I must marry someone, I’d as lief marry Hero as anyone else. Poor little soul.” You can almost smell the comeuppance brewing.Sherry believes he’s rescuing her, but Hero isn’t content merely to marry a viscount. It may look like an adolescent case of hero worship, but Hero’s love for Sherry is the touching constant in the story, unchanging. It sounds corny, but she’s pure of heart. She’s a bit like Leonie in These Old Shades, but unlike Leonie, Hero is an innocent, dangerously so. She never questions that what Sherry does is right, that what he wants is what is best, leading to several Regency-style domestic disasters.Most of the laughs come from Sherry’s three close friends, his London cronies – his cousin Ferdy Fakenham, Gil Ringwood, and the wildly Byronic George Wrotham. Lord Wrotham also happens to be madly in love with the Incomparable. Once more, as in Cotillion, an array of sharply-drawn characters, including daffy grandmothers and pickpocket postillions, tangle into great situations punctuated with hysterical dialogue, particularly from the unforgettable dim-bulb Ferdy. It’s straight out of Wodehouse’s Drone’s Club, though really, all of them do some growing up in the course of the book. Hero not only doesn’t resent Sherry’s friends, she makes them her own, and they come to adore her. To Sherry’s jealous irritation.And the end? Magic. She skillfully weaves another of her Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum chase-and-mix-up endings, as fine as The Grand Sophy. As for romance, growing up with Sherry as he comes to understand how much he loves his wife makes this one of her most touching love stories. Truly a winner.

"Friday's Child", oder in der deutschen Übersetzung, "Lord Sherry", war einer meiner Lieblingsromane als Teenager. Der Protagonist ist ein liebenswerter Egoist, die Protagonistin ein sehr naives Mädchen vom Land, das ihn anhimmelt. Beide entwickeln sich während dem Buch zu reiferen Menschen. Wie in jedem Georgette Heyer Roman ist der Ton sehr leicht und locker; realistisch sind die Romane nicht, aber man geht ja auch zu ihr um der Realität zu entfliehen. In der wirklichen Welt wäre die Beziehung der beiden milde gesagt das Rezept für eine sehr unglückliche, wenn nicht missbräuchliche Ehe. (Wir müssen auch die Zeit berücksichtigen, in der das Buch geschrieben. Sherry ohrfeigt Hero merhmals. Das ist natürlich absolut nicht in Ordnung! Im Buch wird es dargestellt als normales Verhalten eines ungezügelten jungen Mannes. Er bereut es ein bisschen, aber meiner Ansicht nach wird es zu verharmlost). In Georgette Heyer's Welt wird alles gut, auch wenn die aufmerksame Leserin (also nicht ich mit 16) bemerken wird, dass düsterere Möglichkeiten durchaus angedeutet sind. Und Ferdy Fakenham und Gil Ringwood sind meine absoluten Lieblingsnebencharakter. Die beiden sind herrlich zusammen und bilden einen schönen Kontrast zueinander aber auch zu Sherry.----This was my favourite romance novel when I was a teenager and it still ranks high among my favourites. The male protagonist is a charming egotist, the female protagonist a naive girl from the country, who worships him. Both mature during the course of the novel. The tone is very light, as in every Heyer novel. Her novels are never realistic, but one reads a Heyer novel to escape reality. In the real world, the dynamics between the two would be the recipe for an abusive marriage. In Heyer's world it all works out. The astute reader (not me at 16) will notice, however, that Heyer is not naive; there are hints that both of them are lucky it all worked out as it did. (We also need to make allowances to the time this was written: Sherry does box Hero's ears from time to time, which is not framed as spousal abuse but as normal for a rash young man, and although it is not exactly condoned it's also not punished enough, in my opinion). In addition to those two, I love Ferdy Fakenham and Gil Ringwood. Those are two of my favourite minor characters. They are hilarious together and a good contrast to Sherry.

Ho letto il mio primo Georgette Heyer quando avevo tredici anni e, anche se da allora i miei gusti sono certamente cambiati e i miei interessi si sono notevolmente ampliati, trovo che un libro di Georgette Heyer sia sempre un grande 'comfort reading'. 'Friday's Child' (che prende il nome da una filastrocca inglese: Monday's child is fair of face,..., Friday's child is loving and giving...) era il romanzo preferito della Heyer. Il mio preferito resta These Old Shades, seguito da Devil's Cub, Venetia, Black Sheep; ma Friday's Child è sicuramente un Heyer di qualità, brillante nei dialoghi, curatissimo nei dettagli storici e con protagonisti (e comprimari) che non possono non suscitare simpatia. La storia è in fondo molto semplice: i due giovani protagonisti si sposano per convenienza e finiscono per innamorarsi - dopo duelli, malintesi e avventure varie. Come in tutti i romanzi della Heyer, il lieto fine è sobrio, ma perfettamente soddisfacente. Un libro gradevole, elegante: 'comfort reading' assicurato.

C'est un roman de formation presque plus qu'un roman d'amour. En effet, les deux héros sont pour l'une très jeune (Hero Wintage surnommée Kitten a 17 ans), très ignorante du monde et très influençable et pour l'autre un peu plus âgé (le vicomte Anthony Sheringham dit Sherry a 23 ans) mais très immature et colérique. Le titre est inspiré d'une comptine pour enfants: "L'enfant du vendredi est affectueux et généreux" ("Friday's child is loving and giving"). Or loving and giving correspondent aux voeux de mariage anglais et au comportement de Hero dans l'histoire, de l'avis même des amis de Sherry.Sherry doit se marier s'il veut disposer librement de sa fortune sans attendre ses 25 ans. Refusé par la très belle Miss Milborne, qui le connaît depuis l'enfance, le trouve tyrannique et sait qu'il ne l'aime pas vraiment, il décide d'épouser Hero qu'il rencontre en pleurs car, trop pauvre, elle va être envoyée à Bath par sa tutrice comme gouvernante. Depuis l'enfance elle aime Sherry, l'admire et l'imite en tout. Il l'enlève et l'épouse. Il la traite en camarade, lui parle librement de choses inconvenantes, de même que ses trois amis les plus intimes qui semblent oublier qu'elle est une jeune femme, et il s'irrite de plus en plus de la voir ignorer qu'on ne peut parler dans le Monde comme entre amis hommes.Hero multiplie en toute candeur les erreurs mais chaque fois parce qu'elle a cru les principes énoncés par Sherry en toute mauvaise foi. Elle en est mortifiée le plus souvent car elle adore son époux, qui ne l'est que de nom et la traite toujours comme une petite camarade de jeu tyrannisable.Les trois amis de Sherry sont de plus en plus attachés à la jeune femme et choqués du comportement de Sherry que Hero justifie toujours en s'accusant elle-même. S'il la négligeait au début, il devient jaloux dès qu'un ami s'occupe d'elle, sans prendre conscience qu'il pourrait l'aimer.Après une bourde plus forte que les autres, il décide de l'envoyer se former aux usages du Monde chez la douairière Sheringham qui déteste, méprise et diffame Hero depuis leur mariage. Hero s'enfuit avant d'être conduite chez la mère de Sherry et obtient l'aide des trois amis de ce dernier. Pendant qu'elle vit à Bath chez la grand-mère d'un des trois, Sherry la cherche partout, très inquiet pour sa sécurité.Au bout de quelques mois, soupçonnant qu'elle est à Bath , il s'y rend. Après quelques malentendus et de nouvelles aventures, tout se termine bien. Sherry comprend qu'il aime Hero.C'est un roman d'éducation car c'est en voyant Hero croire tout ce qu'il dit et l'appliquer que peu à peu Sherry devient plus raisonnable, notamment en matière de jeu et de dépense. Le renvoi en miroir de son propre comportement lui permet une prise de conscience.C'est un roman choral comme très fréquemment chez Heyer puisque nous avons aussi l'histoire d'amour entre Miss Milborne et George Wrotham, de nombreux personnages comiques (le mondain obsédé par le bon ton, l'irascible lançant constamment des duels, le valet kleptomane au langage original...). Les dialogues sont drolatiques entre ces jeunes gens de bonne famille mais peu cultivés (à la Wodehouse) dont l'ignorance fait rire. Les allusions à Némésis sont inénarrables.C'est donc un roman charmant, drôle, aux héros immatures et sympathiques, que nous voyons grandir peu à peu, au milieu d'un monde fourmillant de personnages certes stéréotypés mais dont la caractérisation est efficace narrativement et comiquement.

ヘイーヤーのこんなに人気のある本をまだ読んでいなかった、と買ってみたら何と以前購入していた。　ヒーローが比類ないと言われる美人にプロポーズするシーンから始まるのだが，軽蔑したようなことを言われて断られてしまう。それで，ヒロインと結婚することにするのだが，なんだか先が見えない。悪い癖が出て，終わりのページを見てみると，この美人が私の知らない別の人と結婚すると言っている。結婚相手ではない美人が主人公ばりに最後で登場しているなんて訳が分からない、と読まずにいたことを思い出したのだが，今回ちゃんと読んだらすごくおもしろかった。　ヒーローは美人に指摘された通り，自分勝手だしゲーム好き遊び好きでまじめとはほど遠い。賭け事で損がかさんで子供の頃からの仲間が心配するほどになっても意にかえさない。結婚してもそれまでの生活を変えないつもりだったが，社交界に無知なヒロインを気遣って夜会につきそったりそんな事をしてはいけない、そんな所へ行ってはいけない、と注意したりなかなか忙しい。子供の頃からヒーローが好きだったヒロインは言いつけを良く守るのだが、何しろ手本がヒーローなので次々心配させるようなことをしでかす。笑わせられたり，ほろりとさせられたりする内に，ヒロインという鏡を持ったヒーローは成長し，悪人はそれなりに罰せられ，ついでに美人も結婚に対する考えがかわる。　ところで，このプロポーズシーンで，ヒーロー、美人、ヒロインが近所に住んでいて遊び友達だったこと、ヒーローは子爵であり、25歳になるか結婚するとすごい財産が自由になることなどいろいろ分かる。

Dialogues délicieux qui me font rire. Un moment d'évasion. Toujours un plaisir de lire Georgette Heyer. Des personnages qui me renvoient à d'autres livres mais néanmoins un renouvellement.