Spoiler Warning: try as I might, it is impossible to write a review for These Old Shades without revealing the identity of The Black Moth. If you intend to read The Black Moth, I strongly recommend that you forgo reading this review until you have finished it.
These Old Shades is available at Amazon.com.
"Have naught to do with Avon: he was not called Satanas for no reason."
--Lady Fanny Marling
"I have something of a reputation, my father, for - uncanny omniscience. Whence, in part, my sobriquet."
--Duke Justin "Satanas" Alastair
In the late 1980s, I read Robert Heinlein's Job: a Comedy of Justice, a modern, humorous and irreverent retelling of the biblical story of Job. In Job, Heinlein characterizes Satan as somewhat of a janitor to The Deity. Satan's reason for existence was to clean up the messes left by The Deity's penchant for playing practical jokes on humanity. I could not help thinking of Heinlen's Satan while reading Georgette Heyer's These Old Shades. In the Heyer book, the Duke of Avon plays the role of Satan with much more relish than Heinlein's long-suffering janitor. However, like Heinlein's Satan, Avon does quite a nice job of setting things right in his own unique way.
In this quasi-sequel to The Black Moth, Heyer changes the names of the characters, although their personalities remain recognizable and their histories and relationships remain much the same. Tracy Belmanoir, Duke of Andover has morphed into Justin Alastair, Duke of Avon; Lady Lavinia Carstares, the Duke's sister, is now Fanny Marling and her husband, Richard Carstares, is now Edward Marling. Andover's Brothers Andrew and Robert Belmanoir have combined as a single brother, Rupert Alastair, who appears to have more in common with the rakish Andrew than the more upright Robert. John, brother to Richard Carstares in The Black Moth, is now Anthony Merivale, who is apparently not related to Edward Marling. Merivale's wife, Jennifer (previously Lady Diana Bauleigh), was once abducted twice by the Duke of Andover and rescued both times, at great cost, by John Carstares (Anthony Merivale). Jennifer is still apparently the Duke's lost love, although we learn that another, more bitter and more humiliating love experience seventeen years prior may have locked up the Duke's heart--perhaps forever.
In addition to name changes, the characters exhibit subtle differences between The Black Moth and These Old Shades. The most arresting differences involve the Duke's motivations. In The Black Moth, Tracy "Devil" Belmanior does the wrong things for the right reasons. In the end, the reader suspects that his rather shocking behavior effected precisely the results he had planned, bringing a little pain to others in exchange for their happiness. In doing so, he deliberately brought an enormous amount of pain upon himself, and his pain shall be more difficult to heal. In These Old Shades, Justin "Satanas" Alastair apparently does the right things for the wrong reasons. Alastair demonstrates some contrition over his past, but his altruism could stem as well from a desire for revenge over his humiliating youthful love experience. Like a doting father, however, he places his own happiness secondary to his ward's and is willing to endure any amount of suffering and deny himself any amount of happiness for his ward's benefit.
In The Black Moth, one appealing facet of Andover's (Tracy's) personality was his disdain for the sartorial splendor dictated by men's fashions of the day. By contrast, Avon (Justin) favors foppish purple and rose silks and red high heels, and at one point adopts the new "rage" of Paris, a fan. Perhaps the purpose of the former's somber black was to have the advantage if he happened late one night upon John Carstares (aka Anthony Merivale) plying his trade as a highwayman. The latter, Avon, however, does dress his page in black velvet--symbolic, maybe, of his passing the mantle to his future ward. Or not.
Getting slowly to the point, These Old Shades revolves around the chance meeting in an alley of Avon and Leon, a "tavern boy" who is running from an abusive older brother. Either through his fine-tuned powers of observation or his super-human sensibilities, Avon senses that Leon is something other than what he presents himself to be. Admiring (or perhaps recognizing) Leon's "Titian" red hair and aristocratic features, Avon buys the boy from his brother and takes him home to be his page. The story's suspense revolves around Avon's motives in taking the boy in and in later making the child his ward.
The story follows as an amusingly twisted romance, forcing the reader inside the skin of a young ward--admiring, yea, worshiping a character who has no right to be admired, much less worshiped. Georgette Heyer skillfully keeps the reader guessing how this story could and should resolve itself, and the joy of reading the story is that anyone who has read Heyer previously knows not to take anything for granted.
I have been a fan of Georgette Heyer for many years and my fav.historical novel is These Old Shades. Although I have read this book many times I always have difficulty in setting it to a particular decade in the 18th c.
Wikipedia sets the story in about 1756 which, when Louis 15 and La Pompadour are both mentioned on p50 seems to be correct . But-- and this is a big ,in chapter 13 " The education of Leonie" on page 122 we learn of Justin's own adventures 10 years ago for King Charles 11, this must be the 1670's or so. And , on the same page we hear that george 1 ie Elector George is on the throne 1714-1727!
My history is nor perfect, but these dates do not seem to add up, or am I missing something here ?Please ,please help
Pat
I have to admit that I'm pretty clueless regarding British / French history, so I just jumped over the dates. The only thing I can say about it is that as an historical novel, "These Old Shades" is probably lacking. A novel is by definition fiction, and with fiction, the reader must willingly suspend her disbelief, so I would relegate the anachronisms to this arena, and just enjoy the story. If you are looking for a good historical novel regarding at least one of the time periods mentioned, I recommend "Restoration" by Rose Tremain. (http://www.amazon.com/wiki/Restoration_%28Tremain_novel%29/ref=dp_proddesc_wp_rml), which deals with a physician (Robert Merival) who serves during the reign of Charles II.
I just feel that GH is right , her knowledge of history has never let me down. I can't see her making a big----- mistake like that.the thing is, my knowledge of English history isn't bad either.
Pat
Though I haven't read any GH (something I intend to rectify soon), I have heard that her attention to historical detail of the Regency period is unmatched in the genre. You may try to ask over at http://austenprose.com or http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/ since those ladies are well-read in GH and know the period well. I'm sure there are some GH dedicated sites as well that you could try.
Coming a bit late to this, but I can clarify the history time line a bit. She refers to Justin's adventures ten years previously with King Charles III, not King Charles II. I checked my copy, and it does say King Charles III. King Charles III was never crowned, and is otherwise known as the Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie. He was defeated at Culloden in 1745, so that timeline does work. I've been a fan of Georgette Heyer's books for almost thirty five years, and own rather battered copies of all of the historicals (no interest in the mysteries).
My confusion and bewilderment of the timeline arose because of two printing errors on the same page. In my copy Charles Edward Stuart is referred to as Charles 2nd and James 3rd referred to as James 2nd.Hence my bewilderment!!
I have been a fan of GH's books since 1964 when I was 19 years old, in fact, many of my paperbacks which I still read date back from that time.
However, I am in the middle of upgrading to second hand hardbacks, purchased from Amazon Market Place. I have got 13 so far , and have ordered more, but this is a costly business.As soon as Royal Mail deliver I dispose of the old copies.
Thank You for showing interest in my question.
Best Wishes
Pat
Not that will make much difference to the real issue here--the timeline of "These Old Shades" won't be hurt by a year, but the Battle of Culloden took place on April 16, 1746. (Laura's ancestors on both sides [I'm a McIntyre] were involved in that battle. What did my family do? They played the bagpipes while the MacDonalds fought.) An excellent description of what happened there via a personal narrative is Lillian de la Torre's "The White Rose of Stewart," which describes Flora MacDonald's assist in Prince Charlie's escape. Unfortunately, it is out of print, and I couldn't locate in on AbeBooks.com, either, but it may be available from your local library.