Where the Last Third Is the Best

April Lady by Georgette Heyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Halfway through the book, I liked this the least of any of the Georgette Heyer books I had read. It seemed rather silly, more like an I Love Lucy episode than a Regency novel. But past the middle it gets much better. By the end, I liked it much more and found it pretty satisfying.

In the first place, it's odd for a romance from any era, as the lovers in question are already married at the beginning. (No doubt there are many such books out there, and others might supply some titles; I would be surprised if it's a very high *percentage* of novels, however.) That's interesting and quirky, though. Nell loves her husband and Cardross loves his wife, but neither is sure of the other's regard. He thinks she very likely married him for his money and only pretends to care for him; she thinks he chose her just to look respectable while he continues his affair with another woman.

The surface conflict for Nell--the one I don't care for--is that she's spent too much money and owes many people around town. Her husband finds out and is angry but says he will pay for all of it and say nothing if she just gives him every bill at once. She believes she has done that, then discovers the next day that she has forgotten the biggest one, which is being called in, but she is too afraid to admit it to her husband and looks for some way out.

Hijinks ensue.

Her brother pretends to hold her up like a highwayman, but it doesn't work out like he hoped. She almost borrows money from a dangerous moneylender, but a friend stops her at the door. She considers pawning some jewels. Nothing is promising.

This storyline tangles with that of her young sister-in-law who is in love with a good guy who has no money. She wants to elope with him before he leaves the country for his work, so she needs money, too. Her disappearance makes it appear to Cardross that it is his wife--not his sister--who has stolen some family jewels and run away.

It comes together in a reasonable way, with some very sweet scenes that make up for the sitcom-like goofiness of the beginning. Everybody is a little wrong, everybody is a little right, everybody has to forgive everybody else. It's good.

The one thing I always like is how the author commits to making her characters so very different, at least in the dozen or so books I have read so far. She lets them have significant flaws without deciding they don't deserve happiness, which I think is very generous.

Recommended most for readers of the author.

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