 First edition | |
| Author | Georgette Heyer |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Arthur Barbosa [1] |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Regency, Romance |
| Publisher | Bodley Head |
Publication date | 1970 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 384 pp |
| ISBN | 978-1-4022-1350-2 |
| OCLC | 209794918 |
| 823/.912 22 | |
| LC Class | PR6015.E795 C48 2008 |
Charity Girl is a Regency romance novel by Georgette Heyer, first published in 1970.
Charity Girl revolves around the character of the twenty-nine-year-old Viscount Ashley Desford and his mission to save Charity Steane from a precarious life with her uncaring relatives. The novel also takes up the Viscount's friendship with Henrietta Silverdale, his neighbour and childhood friend, familiary known as "Hetta".
The narrative opens on a conversation between the Viscount and his father, the Earl of Wroxton. Wroxton asks Desford to look into the affairs of his younger brother Simon. Wroxton fears that Simon has fallen into bad company and will destroy his reputation. Desford declines to interfere in Simon's doings, saying that the last person Simon is likely to listen to is his older brother. In the same conversation, Wroxton also reproaches Desford for having failed to marry Henrietta nine years before. Desford protests that, while he loves Hetta as a sister, there is no passion between them and that she cared to marry him as little as he cared to marry her. Later in the novel it emerges that, at that time, Hetta had begged Desford not to propose marriage to her, even though it was the wish of both their families.
After Desford learns that the latest of Hetta's admirers is Mr. Cary Nethercott, he visits her family home of Inglehurst and meets the man, whom he pronounces appropriate but immensely dull. Later, at a party in the neighbourhood, Desford meets Miss Steane, who prefers to be called "Cherry". She is almost nineteen years old, but is being used as an unpaid servant by the aunt and cousins with whom she has lived since her father abandoned her and failed to pay the bill at her boarding school in Bath.
Desford later encounters Cherry running away from home and, against his better judgment, he makes himself responsible for her welfare and takes her to her grandfather's house in London. However, upon arriving there, it is apparent that Cherry's grandfather, Lord Nettlecombe, has left home for the season, so Desford takes Cherry to stay with Hetta and her mother, Lady Silverdale, for the sake of her reputation. When Desford finally tracks Nettlecombe to Harrowgate, Desford finds that the miserly old man has recently married his housekeeper as a matter of economy. Nettlecombe shows no interest whatsoever in his granddaughter's plight and resents the implication that she is in any way his responsibility. Desford then makes for Bath to see if Cherry's old schoolmistress can find her a situation.
Wilfred Steane, Cherry's disreputable father, who had fled London and was presumed dead, reappears after an absence of many years, hoping to blackmail Desford into marrying Cherry on the grounds that he has compromised her reputation. Since Desford is away, he is vigorously defended by his younger brother, Simon, who pretends that Desford is engaged to Hetta. Simon then rushes over to Inglehurst to forewarn them that Steane is on his way, only to find that Cherry seems to have run away yet again. Arriving at Inglehurst only a few minutes after Steane, Desford baffles the wayward father, whose only interest in his daughter is how he can profit by her.
Cherry is finally discovered out in the country with a sprained ankle by Nethercott, who carries her home, having proposed marriage to her and been accepted. Desford has meanwhile realised from his jealousy at Nethercott's former interest in Hetta that he really cares for her and declares that he does not mean to break off the engagement that his brother invented for them. Hetta admits that she loves him in return and they receive Lady Silverdale's blessing.
Simon, invited to stay to dinner too, excuses himself since he has to make an early start for Brighton the next day. His parting words to his brother are: "But if you should get into any more scrapes, Des, just send me word, and I'll post straight back to rescue you!"
A Publishers Weekly review of Charity Girl describes it as "full of dashing period slang, and it trifles with the affairs of several maids and men with such style and gentle irony that readers of good 'ton,' as Miss Heyer herself might put it, will find reading it a very 'comfortable cose' indeed." [2] Beyond that, Charity Girl has not received a lot of serious critical attention, but it does continue to garner a steady trickle of readers, especially fans of the regency genre. Charity Girl has seventeen reviews, most of them positive, at Google Books.[ failed verification ] [3] Good Reads posts forty-eight reviews of Charity Girl with an average 3.39 rating out of five. [4] At Library Thing, the novel has a 3.55 out of four rating. [5]
Georgette Heyer was an English novelist and short-story writer, in both the Regency romance and detective fiction genres. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story conceived for her ailing younger brother into the novel The Black Moth. In 1925 Heyer married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer. The couple spent several years living in Tanganyika Territory and Macedonia before returning to England in 1929. After her novel These Old Shades became popular despite its release during the General Strike, Heyer determined that publicity was not necessary for good sales. For the rest of her life she refused to grant interviews, telling a friend: "My private life concerns no one but myself and my family."
These Old Shades (1926) is a historical romance written by British novelist Georgette Heyer. The novel is set around 1755: Heyer refers to the Duke of Avon's participation in the 1745 uprising as ten years previous; in addition the Prince of Condé is said to be about 20 years old. However, she also refers to Madame de Pompadour as actively involved with Louis XV, whereas her relationship with the King ended at about 1750.
Regency Buck is a novel written by Georgette Heyer. It has three distinctions: it is the first of her novels to deal with the Regency period; it is one of only a few to combine both genres for which she was noted, the Regency romance and the mystery novel; and it is the only one of her Regency stories to feature Beau Brummell as an actual character, rather than as someone merely mentioned in passing. The story is set in 1811–1812.
Friday's Child is a novel written by Georgette Heyer in 1944. It is generally considered one of Miss Heyer's best Regency romances, and was reportedly the favourite of the author herself. Heyer retained only a single fan letter, which was from a Romanian political prisoner who kept herself and her fellow prisoners sane for twelve years by telling and retelling the plot of Friday's Child.
Arabella is a Regency romance novel written by Georgette Heyer. It records the plight of a relatively poor girl from the English gentry who captures the attention of a very wealthy man by claiming to be an heiress; although he disbelieves her, he is amused by her presumption and character. The story is set in the spring of 1817.
The Grand Sophy is a Regency romance novel by Georgette Heyer. It was first published in 1950 by Heinemann in the UK and Putnam in the U.S. Sales were brisk. Heinemann reported that in Australia it sold forty thousand copies in its first five months. There was also a Book Club edition in 1951.
The Foundling is a Regency romance novel written by Georgette Heyer and published by William Heinemann Ltd in 1948. It was also serialised in the Woman's Journal as "His Grace, the Duke of Sale", followed by a Book Club edition in 1949.
Sprig Muslin is a Regency romance novel by Georgette Heyer. The story is set in 1813.
Sylvester, or the Wicked Uncle is a Regency romance novel by Georgette Heyer. First published by Heinemann, London and Putnam, New York in 1957, it is the story of intelligent and desperate Phoebe who ends up marrying the man she has run away from home to avoid, and whom she has caricatured as the villain in her novel. The book features gentle mockery of the Gothic novel genre and also features Heyer's characteristic strong heroine, with a desire for independence, who marries on her own terms. The story is set in 1817-1818.
Sarah Sophia Child Villiers, Countess of Jersey, born Lady Sarah Fane, was an English noblewoman and banker, and through her marriage a member of the Villiers family.
April Lady is a Regency romance by Georgette Heyer, published in 1957 by Heinemann in the UK and by Putnam in the US. Previously serialised in the Woman's Journal as “My Lady Cardross”, the new novel was Heyer’s forty-fourth book and her fifteenth Regency novel.
The Black Moth (1921) is a Georgian era romance novel by the British author Georgette Heyer, set around 1751. The Black Moth was Heyer's debut novel, published when Heyer was nineteen. It was a commercial success.
The Talisman Ring is a historical romance novel by Georgette Heyer, first published in 1936. Set in 1793, in the Georgian era, the action takes place in Sussex, where Heyer then lived.
The Corinthian is a regency novel by Georgette Heyer.
Lady of Quality is the final Regency romance written by Georgette Heyer. Published in the UK by The Bodley Head in 1972, and by E. P. Dutton in the U. S., it was the last of her novels to be published during her lifetime.
The Nonesuch is a Regency romance novel by Georgette Heyer. The story is set in 1816/1817.
A Civil Contract is a Regency era novel by Georgette Heyer, first published in October 1961 by Heinemann in the UK and in January 1962 by G. P. Putnam's Sons in the US. Set between 1814–1815, the story centres on a bankrupted viscount who reluctantly enters a marriage of convenience with a wealthy merchant's daughter. In this case the time is supported by a rich assortment of period detail.
Simon the Coldheart is a historical fiction novel by Georgette Heyer published in 1925. Not a typical Georgie Heyer regency story, it is a tale of chivalry, intrigue and conquest. Set in the medieval period during the Hundred Years' War between England and France, it is her fifth novel, and the first of only three set in that period.
My Lord John is an unfinished historical fiction novel by the British author Georgette Heyer, published posthumously in 1975 after her death the previous year. It traces the early lives of the "young lordings" – Harry, Thomas, John, and Humfrey – all sons of the future Lancastrian king Henry IV of England. They grow up amidst turbulent events including the 1394 pestilence, the exile of their father by Richard II, the death of their powerful grandfather John of Gaunt, and the seizure of the throne by their father. John of Lancaster serves as the novel's main character.