A Brilliant Mismatch

Rating:
Summary: Unconvincing
Review: This has a fairly predictable, and common, plot line: Moira, in a fit of temper, tells her father that she'll marry the first stranger she meets. The following morning, she wanders into the stables and finds what one would normally expect to find in the family stables: a vagrant asleep, close to unconsciousness. So she brings the man into the house and introduces him as her fiance.

Oliver Sherrard, the 'vagrant', is actually the younger brother of an earl. Feeling stifled by his position as scion of the aristocracy, he takes off on a walking tour of the country, dressed in rough clothes and only 30 golden guineas in his pocket. As we could have predicted, he is relieved of his wealth - and his boots as well - and left for dead within 24 hours of leaving home, and this is why he has taken shelter in the stables. He goes along with Moira's plan because... well, because it suited Ms Mansfield for him to do so, but whatever his rationale was for doing so was not something she chose to share with her readers.

So the man everyone assumes is a penniless common vagrant is invited into a viscount's home and treated as an honoured guest and the potential fiance of the daughter of the house. Ummm... why? But this is merely one of the many elements of the story which left me puzzled and frowning in disbelief.

First, just why does no-one (well, except for Horatio, who for some reason decides to say nothing to anyone) even suspect that Oliver is not what he pretends? People notice that his accent is cultured, quite like that of a gentleman. Moira and her sisters and brothers-in-law are around members of the working class all the time - house servants, grooms, gardeners, people in the village - so would it not occur to them that their accents and modes of speech are completely different? Oliver may have been wearing rough clothing, true, but his hair will have been elegantly styled and well cut. His nails will have been well looked after. His hands will not be rough and full of callouses, all signs that he couldn't possibly be a vagrant or common labourer.

And the biggest clue of the lot is when Oliver asks for something to read, and goes on to display his familiarity with contemporary novels. Now, what common labourer, or even any member of the working class, could even afford to buy or borrow books, always assuming that they could read in the first place? And if they did, would they read novels? At the time, novels were very definitely regarded as a luxury.

If, after all that, Moira still believed him to be a penniless vagrant, she's even stupider than she appeared to be at the start of the book.

There is also a scene involving some elements of violence on Oliver's part towards Moira, which I found off-putting. In all, not a book I would be interested in re-reading.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect !!
Review: This is the first book of Elizabeth Mansfield which I have read .....once I started I could'nt put it down....I would love to read more of her books.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect !!
Review: What a delicious book this is! It features two of the best male characters to be found in Regency fiction as well as a perfectly delightful, absolutely not run-of-the-mill heroine. An off-beat plot only enhances this story of an unusual family and how it copes with the very hard-headed father, Lord Pattinger. Left a widower with four small daughters under the age of six, his word has been law for so long that almost no one has the will--or the heart--to question or challenge him. Except, that is, for his oldest daughter, the feisty, red-haired Moira, still unwed at twenty-six.

It is not her wish to be still unwed at this advanced age, having become nearly betrothed on three occasions. In each instance, however, after being offered an enticing settlement by the Viscount, the gentleman in question has instead become betrothed to one of Moira's sisters. Her father's reasoning is that in each case, the gentleman was not worthy of her. After the third such happening, she vows to marry the very first stranger to cross her path. The very first!

Oliver Sherrard, now twenty-three, having finished his schooling, is ready to make his way in the world, but quite undecided as to what or just where that way might be found. The second son of an earl, his inheritance is almost nil, however he has hopes of a career as a civil servant. But not just yet. Before settling down to life's duties, he decides to embark on a walking tour of England, for as much a year, much to the disgust, even chagrin, of his older brother John, now the new earl of Lydbury.

Equipped with a backpack and thirty guineas, Oliver sets off to explore his world. Unfortunately, he runs into trouble on his very first night. A local prize-fight is being celebrated at the inn where Oliver stops to spend the night, and the next morning finds Oliver beaten, bloody, bruised and left for dead under a hedgerow--minus his thirty guineas, of course. Awakened by the rain in his face, and the urgings of a small dog, he finds his way to shelter--the stables of an apparently prosperous holding, which, at least, is warm and dry.

Of course, poor Oliver in such a state IS the very next stranger encountered by Moira, who arranges for the wounded man to be cared for in the best guest room of the house, to the dismay of her sisters and nearly everyone else, including Oliver. He pretends to be a vagrant, but agrees to her betrothal charade in spite of his doubts. Little pieces of the façade each of them has erected as protection is chipped away as events move forward to a most satisfying conclusion, ably abetted by various siblings and in-laws.

This book demonstrates very well why Elizabeth Mansfield has remained at the very top of the favorite author list of so many readers for the past twenty years or so. This reader hopes she stays there for many more years.

Rating:
Summary: Who is really who, here?
Review: What a delicious book this is! It features two of the best male characters to be found in Regency fiction as well as a perfectly delightful, absolutely not run-of-the-mill heroine. An off-beat plot only enhances this story of an unusual family and how it copes with the very hard-headed father, Lord Pattinger. Left a widower with four small daughters under the age of six, his word has been law for so long that almost no one has the will--or the heart--to question or challenge him. Except, that is, for his oldest daughter, the feisty, red-haired Moira, still unwed at twenty-six.

It is not her wish to be still unwed at this advanced age, having become nearly betrothed on three occasions. In each instance, however, after being offered an enticing settlement by the Viscount, the gentleman in question has instead become betrothed to one of Moira's sisters. Her father's reasoning is that in each case, the gentleman was not worthy of her. After the third such happening, she vows to marry the very first stranger to cross her path. The very first!

Oliver Sherrard, now twenty-three, having finished his schooling, is ready to make his way in the world, but quite undecided as to what or just where that way might be found. The second son of an earl, his inheritance is almost nil, however he has hopes of a career as a civil servant. But not just yet. Before settling down to life's duties, he decides to embark on a walking tour of England, for as much a year, much to the disgust, even chagrin, of his older brother John, now the new earl of Lydbury.

Equipped with a backpack and thirty guineas, Oliver sets off to explore his world. Unfortunately, he runs into trouble on his very first night. A local prize-fight is being celebrated at the inn where Oliver stops to spend the night, and the next morning finds Oliver beaten, bloody, bruised and left for dead under a hedgerow--minus his thirty guineas, of course. Awakened by the rain in his face, and the urgings of a small dog, he finds his way to shelter--the stables of an apparently prosperous holding, which, at least, is warm and dry.

Of course, poor Oliver in such a state IS the very next stranger encountered by Moira, who arranges for the wounded man to be cared for in the best guest room of the house, to the dismay of her sisters and nearly everyone else, including Oliver. He pretends to be a vagrant, but agrees to her betrothal charade in spite of his doubts. Little pieces of the façade each of them has erected as protection is chipped away as events move forward to a most satisfying conclusion, ably abetted by various siblings and in-laws.

This book demonstrates very well why Elizabeth Mansfield has remained at the very top of the favorite author list of so many readers for the past twenty years or so. This reader hopes she stays there for many more years.

Rating:
Summary: book synopsis
Review: Willful Moira Pattinger vowed that her domineering father would rue the day he dared interfere with her choice of husband, and so she made an impetuaous promise to marry the next man to cross her path. But the next morning, the first man she laid eyes on was a bootless, rugged and unsightly vagrant sleeping in her stables. Undaunted, the stubborn redhead declared her engagement, while convincing the confused stranger to play along with the charade. But Moira didn't bargain for the discoveries she would make about her mysterious fiance...or the tender feelings that he would arouse in her heart...