The Spanish Bride

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful blend of military history and real-life love story
Review: A wonderful book by Georgette Heyer, dealing with the true story of the marriage between Harry Smith, a brigade-major in Wellington army, and Juana, his Spanish bride. It's a marvelous blend of romance and history, and it has been very well researched. It would be interesting not only to Georgette Heyer fans, or those who love a good story, but for all the military buffs out there. I really reccomend i

Rating:
Summary: War, Romance, Humour and Tragedy.... and yes its true
Review: Another superb book from Georgette Heyer, focusing on the early life of Brigade Major Harry Smith and his marriage to a 14 orphaned Spanish girl in the midst of Wellington's Peninsular campaign. Unlike her other great Napoleonic book 'An Infamous Army' the principle characters in this book are based on actual people whom she vividly brings to life again.

The story begins with the battle and sacking of Badajos and continues right through the Peninsular campaign, drawing a wonderful tapestry around the hardships and privations suffered by the soldiers and civilians caught up in a global conflict.

Rating:
Summary: A historically interesting yet boring book
Review: I've been a reader of Georgette Heyer books for quite some time now and I adored most of her novels. However, I was really disappointed with this one. If you expect a traditional Heyer novel, you also will not like it very much. The story is boring and I really had a hard time continuing the book. However, if you're intersted in history, and especially in English history at Lord Wellington's time then you probably will enjoy the novel very much, because Heyer gives a very specific account of the war on the Iberian peninsula against the French. Nervertheless, it is not a novel that I would recommend.