Cotillion by Georgette Heyer (English) Paperback Book

Description: Cotillion by Georgette Heyer "Sparkling" -Independent on SundayA most unusual heroFreddy is immensely rich, of course, and not bad-looking, but he's mild-mannered, a bit hapless-not anything like his virile, handsome, rakish cousin Jack?A heroine in a difficult situationYoung Kitty Charing stands to inherit a vast fortune from her irascible and eccentric guardian-provided she marries one of his great-nephews?A sham betrothalNo sooner does Kitty arrive in London then the race for her hand begins, but between confirmed rakes and bumbling affections, Kitty needs a daring scheme?"Thus begins Cotillion, arguably the funniest, most charming of Georgette Heyer's many delightful Regency romances."-Amazon.co.uk "Triumphantly good?Georgette Heyer is unbeatable."-Sunday Telegraph "My favourite historical novelist." -Margaret DrabbleGeorgette Heyer is the author of over fifty books and one of the best-known and best-loved historical novelists. She was legendary for her research, historical accuracy and extraordinary plots and characterizations. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description "Sparkling"-Independent on Sunday"A literary bubble bath...Take a delightful and frothy dip among the gayer aspects of the author's favorite and well worked Regency period."-Sunday TribuneAlmost an heiressCountry-bred, spirited Kitty Charings is on the brink of inheriting a fortune from her eccentric guardian - provided that she marries one of his grand nephews. Kitty has spent her secluded life pining for the handsome, rakish Jack, who is well aware of her attachment.A plan of her ownBut when Jack fails to respond to his great uncle's ultimatum, Kitty hatches a strategy of her own - a counterfeit betrothal to mild mannered Freddy Standen (who neither needs nor wants the money).A most unlikely heroAnd when Kitty's generous heart leads to all sorts of unintended troubles, there is only one man who can rescue her from more than one dreadful fix, pick up the pieces of her plotting and in the process her heart..."Thus begins Cotillion, arguably the funniest, most charming of Georgette Heyer's many delightful Regnecy romances." - "Amazon.co.uk" Author Biography The late Georgette Heyer was a very private woman. Her novels have charmed and delighted millions of readers for decades, though she rarely reached out to the public to discuss her works or personal life. She was born in Wimbledon in August 1902. She wrote her first novel, The Black Moth, at the age of seventeen to amuse her convalescent brother; it was published in 1921 and became an instant success. Heyer published 56 books over the next 53 years, until her death from lung cancer in 1974. Her work included Regency romances, mysteries and historical fiction. Known as the Queen of Regen Long Description "My favourite historical novelist."-Margaret Drabble "Triumphantly good Georgette Heyer is unbeatable."-Sunday Telegraph "Sparkling."-Independent on Sunday A sham betrothal isnt the only thing that gets Kitty and Freddy into trouble, but its definitely the beginning Freddy is a most unusual hero. Hes immensely rich, of course, and not bad-looking, especially with his ultra-starched shirt points and elegant quizzing glass. He gets engaged to his cousin Kitty only to help her get away from their irascible Great-uncle Matthew. The two head for London, where a series of hilarious mishaps threaten their charade. But Freddy discovers hitherto unplumbed depths of cleverness and practicality beneath his dandyish exterior, and Kitty discovers that the rake she was in love with cant hold a candle to her Freddy. He sets every mishap and adventure to rights in the end, surprising all (especially himself) and winning his hearts desire. Review Text It helps to have excellent historical details as well as superb writing, both of which happen to be what the author is known for. Georgette Heyer writes a novel that you are always dying to pick back up once youve set it down. Review Quote "It helps to have excellent historical details as well as superb writing, both of which happen to be what the author is known for. Georgette Heyer writes a novel that you are always dying to pick back up once youve set it down. " -- Blog Critics Excerpt from Book One The Saloon, like every other room in Arnside House, was large and lofty, and had been furnished, possibly some twenty years earlier, in what had then been the first style of elegance. This, however, had become outmoded, and although the room bore no such signs of penury as a ragged carpet or patched curtains, the bright brocades had faded, the paint on the panelled walls had cracked, and the gilded picture-frames had long since become tarnished. To a casual visitor it might have seemed that Mr Penicuik, who owned the house, had fallen upon evil days; but two of the three gentlemen assembled in the Saloon at half-past six on a wintry evening of late February were in no danger of falling into this error. They knew that Great-uncle Matthew, who had made a fortune in the large enterprise of draining the Fen-country, was one of the warmest men in England, and suffered merely from a rooted dislike of spending money on anything that did not administer directly to his own comfort. The third gentleman gave no indication of thinking about it at all. He did not, like his cousin, Lord Biddenden, level a disapproving eyeglass at a spotted mirror; he did not, like his younger cousin, the Honourable and Reverend Hugh Rattray, comment acidly on the inadequacy of the small wood-fire burning in the hearth. Throughout dinner, which had been served at the unfashionable hour of five, and had been chosen (as Lord Biddenden pointed out to his brother) more with a regard to the hosts digestive difficulties than to the tastes of his guests, he had maintained a silence that might have been unbroken had his cousin Hugh not addressed a series of kind and simple remarks to him, which could be easily understood, and almost as easily answered. Upon entering the Saloon, he had drifted to a chair on one side of the fireplace, where he now sat, chewing a corner of his handkerchief, and staring with an expression of vacuity at his elder cousin. Lord Biddenden knew that this gaze betokened nothing but blankness of mind, but he found it disconcerting, and muttered fretfully: I wish the silly fellow would not stare so! He is doing you no harm, his brother said gravely. However, he picked up a book of engravings from one of the tables, and gave it to Lord Dolphinton, directing him to look at the pictures, and telling him that he would find them very pretty and interesting. Lord Dolphinton, who was accustomed to being told, far less kindly, by his mother, what he must do, received the book gratefully, and began to turn over the pages. Lord Biddenden said, still in that complaining under-voice: I cannot conceive what should have prevailed with Uncle Matthew to have invited him! It is absurd to suppose that he can have an interest in this business! He received no other answer than one of his brothers annoyingly reproving looks, and with an exclamation of impatience walked over to the table, and began to toss over one or two periodicals which had been arranged upon it. It is excessively provoking that Claud should not be here! he said, for perhaps the seventh time that day. I should have been very glad to have seen him comfortably established! This observation being met with the same unencouraging silence, his lordship said with a good deal of asperity: You may not consider Clauds claims, but I am not one to be forgetting my brothers, I am thankful to state! Ill tell you what it is, Hugh: you are a cold-hearted fellow, and if you depend upon your countenance to win you a handsome fortune, you may well be disappointed, and there will all my trouble be spent for nothing! What trouble? enquired the Rector, in accents which lent some colour to his brothers accusation. If it had not been for my representations of what you owe to the family, you would not be here this evening! The Reverend Hugh shrugged his broad shoulders, and replied repressively: The whole of the affair seems to me to be most improper. If I make poor Kitty an offer, it will be from compassion, and in the belief that her upbringing and character are such as must make her a suitable wife for a man in orders. Humbug! retorted Lord Biddenden. If Uncle Matthew makes the girl his heiress, she will inherit, I daresay, as much as twenty thousand pounds a year! He cannot have spent a tithe of his fortune since he built this place, and when one considers how it must have accumulated--My dear Hugh, I do beg of you to use a little address! If I were a single man--! But, there! It does not do to be repining, and I am sure I am not the man to be grudging a fortune to either of my brothers! We have been at Arnside close upon twenty-four hours, said Hugh, and my great-uncle has not yet made known to us his intentions. We know very well what they are, replied Lord Biddenden irritably. And if you do not guess why he has not yet spoken, you are a bigger fool that I take you for! Of course he hoped that Jack would come to Arnside! And Freddy, too, he added perfunctorily. Not that Freddy signifies a whit more than Dolphinton here, but I daresay the old man would wish him not to be excluded. No, no, it is Jacks absence which has made him hold his tongue! And I must say, Hugh, I never looked for that, and must hold it to be a piece of astonishing good fortune! Depend upon it, had the opportunity offered, the girl must have chosen him! I do not know why you should say so, replied the Rector stiffly. Indeed, I am at a loss to understand why you should be so anxious to have me offer for a lady whom you apparently hold in such poor esteem! If I did not believe her to be a well-brought-up young woman to whom such persons as my cousin Jack must be repugnant-- Yes, well, that is more of your humbug! interrupted his lordship. You may be a handsome fellow, Hugh, but you are not an out-and-outer, like Jack! I have no wish to be an out-and-outer, as you term it, said Hugh, more stiffly still. Nor do I regard his absence or his presence as being of any particular consequence. Oh, dont sham it so! exclaimed Biddenden, flinging down a copy of the Gentlemans Magazine. If you fancy, my dear brother, that because he gave you your living my uncle prefers you above his other great-nephews you very much mistake the matter! I wonder you will talk such gammon, I do, indeed! Jack has always been my uncles favourite, and so you know! He means Kitty to choose him, depend upon it, and that is why he is so devilish out of humour! I marvel at his having invited any of the rest of us, upon my soul I do! Lord Dolphinton, who occasionally disconcerted his relations by attending to what they said, here raised his eyes from the book on his knees, and interpolated: Uncle said he didnt invite you, George. Said he didnt know why you came. Said-- Nonsense! You know nothing of the matter! said Lord Biddenden. Lord Dolphintons understanding was not powerful, nor was it one which readily assimilated ideas; but once it had received an impression it was tenacious. Did say so! he insisted. Said it last night, when you arrived. Said it again this morning. Said it-- Very well, that will do! said his cousin testily. Lord Dolphinton was not to be so easily silenced. Said it when we sat down to luncheon, he continued, ticking the occasion off on one bony finger. Said it at dinner. Said if you didnt care for your mutton you neednt have come, because he didnt invite you. I aint clever, like you fellows, but when people say things to me once or twice I can remember them. He observed that this simple declaration of his powers had bereft his cousin of words, and retired again, mildly pleased, into his book. Lord Biddenden exchanged a speaking look with his brother; but Hugh merely remarked that it was very true, and that in such a contemptuous voice that Biddenden was goaded into saying: Well, at all events, it is as much to the purpose that I have come as that Dolphinton has! Folly! Im an Earl, said Lord Dolphinton, suddenly re-entering the conversation. You aint an Earl. Hugh aint an Earl. Freddy aint-- No, you are the only Earl amongst us, interposed Hugh soothingly. George is only a Baron, said Dolphinton. Lord Biddenden cast him a glance of dislike, and said something under his breath about impoverished Irish peers. He had less patience with Dolphinton than any of the cousins, and the remark, moreover, had slightly wounded his sensibilities. He was a man of more pride than genius; liked to think himself the head of a family of great consequence; and was ambitious to improve his condition. However poorly he might think of Irish titles, he could never see Dolphinton without suffering a pang. A juster providence, he felt, must have reversed their positions. Not that he wished to exchange more with Dolphinton than his title: certainly not his snug inheritance for Dolphintons Irish acres, mortgaged to the hilt, as he had good reason to suppose they were. Dolphinton was an only child, too, and that would not have suited his cousin. Lord Biddendens instincts were patriarchal. He liked to see his brothers and sisters under his roof, and to feel that they depended upon him for guidance; and he was almost as anxious for their advancement as his own. It had been a source of considerable chagrin to him that circumstances had made it impossible for him to bestow his first living upon Hugh. He, and not Matthew Penicuik, should have been Hughs benefactor, and he could never quite forgive the valetudinarian who was nursing Hughs Rectory for having grossly outlived expectation. That Hughs presence within walking distance of Biddenden Manor might not be conducive either to his happiness or to his self-esteem he Details ISBN1402210086 Author Georgette Heyer Pages 355 Publisher Sourcebooks Casablanca Language English ISBN-10 1402210086 ISBN-13 9781402210082 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY FIC Year 2007 Publication Date 2007-10-31 Edition 1st Short Title COTILLION Residence US Birth 1902 Death 1974 Series Regency Romances Imprint Sourcebooks Casablanca DOI 10.1604/9781402210082 Series Number 12 Audience General/Trade We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:9998306;

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