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Civil Contract

Civil Contract

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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A most satisfying Civil Contract
Review: I have read this book so many times at various ages and stages of my life and I find that looking back it is still my very favorite romance by Georgette Heyer.
The hero is heroic in his unhappily but willingly giving up those
things that meant so much to him: his military career, his "tendre" for the frail and beautiful Julia. Trying to insure that his home stays in the family against the massive debts his
father created in his life's enjoyment, he is pushed into marriage with a gentle, plain and very pratical miss who he vaguely remembers as being a friend of Julia's. Though initially
embarrassed to be sold to a cit for his daughter to gain a title.
His natural kindness and honor come through and he does try and
treat this unwanted female with decency. For her part, Jenny has long loved Adam and is willing to marry him despite knowing he loves another because it is the only way she can help him.
(at this point the tears fall) At first shy and uncomfortable with each other and especially with the rare visits of Jenny's
overloud, overbrash and smotherng father, the two neverthe less manage to find some contentment in their relationship. Jenny never stops working on ways to please Adam and he in turn, though tempted by Julia's continued interest in him, refuses any
involvement. citing how much she does for him and how little she gets in return, honoring their relationship is the least he can do. It is not an easy read, many conversations make the reader want to beat up one or another of the protaganists but we hang in there and in the end, when he tells Jenny that Julia was a young man's dream BUT that he could never have a life without Jenny. This reader's sigh's abound. Deep, Passionate love there may not be but the kind that grows with daily contact and mutual respect will last a whole lot longer. Though hero and heroine, both have multiple scenes where their reactions to each other are often close to cruel BUT only briefly. It may have not started as a happy arrangement, but by the time we are finished reading, we are assurred that this will be a good marriage and that there is love present. A must read for those interested in
arranged marriages and in the steady growth of friendship and respect into love.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: the best Heyer romance!
Review: My mother is an audiologist, and in the early days of her career, she was an independent, and worked in various local nursing homes. Every once in a while, I was dragged along and left in the waiting room.

In one of these nursing homes, they had a single bookshelf filled with old out of print books, romance novels, mainly. I picked up a civil contract because I was attracted by the title. Not being able to finish it in the one visit, I hid it behind other books in the shelf, and the next time we went to that nursing home, it was finshed.

It was my first and eternal favorite Georgette Heyer novel. Don't you get tired of all those passionate, beautiful heroines? Can't you see yourself as a Jenny? I can. The novel gives me a certain hope, that there is a chance for us quiet shy bookish types. :)

And it makes me cry a little every time I read it. ^_^

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The benchmark for writers in the regency genre
Review: One of my great treasures is my collection of the complete works of Georgette Heyer, started when I was still at university and completed with the publication of Lady of Quality. I haven't read any of them for over 20 years but they have travelled with me all over the world, carefully packed up every time I have moved.

In preparation for a recent long-haul flight, I picked out several Heyers including A Civil Contract to re-read. The story is outlined by other reviewers and indeed it is exquisitely plotted, moving slowly through the seasons and the social, political and economic events of the times. Essentially, it is the story of unlikely opposites marrying much in accordance with the customs of the time and building a deep and affectionate relationship despite themselves.

The characters are all well drawn (although perhaps Mr Chawleigh is a bit two dimensional) and they slowly grow on you so that you care what happens to them and you cheer them on as they find their way through a situation that initially seems unlikely to offer any personal happiness.

What struck me when re-reading this novel was just how few writers of the regency genre have come anywhere near reaching Heyer's standards. Her intimate knowledge of every aspect of life during the Regency, her acute literary skills and sheer ability to tell a good story have never been equalled by her aspirants. She continues, to this day, to be the ultimate benchmark for regency fiction.


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