The Riddle of the Deplorable Dandy: A Novel of Georgian England - Hardcover

Veryan, Patricia

3.8

142 ratings by Goodreads

9780312290979: The Riddle of the Deplorable Dandy: A Novel of Georgian England

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312290977 ISBN 13: 9780312290979

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2002

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Elspeth Clayton's family has been living in considerably reduced circumstances, and to improve their finances, her brother Vance becomes a soldier of fortune. His assignments take him to France, where he is caught up in political intrigues. Injured in an attempt to escape a troop of dragoons, he is arrested and held in a French gaol for questioning and probable execution.

In an effort to save her beloved brother, Elspeth turns first to his best friend and then to her most devoted suitor, but both are prevented from coming to her aid. Meanwhile, she has unintentionally antagonized Gervaise Valerian, a quick-tempered dandy, much admired in Town, but whom she finds far from enchanting. Valerian has devised a daring plan to smuggle his father, a fugitive from justice, out of England. When his accomplice in the scheme is rendered helpless, he blames Elspeth.

Despite their mutual antipathy, they are each desperate to aid their loved ones, and with considerable reluctance they eventually decide to work together. Hunted by authorities on both sides of the Channel and pursued by unknown assassins, their efforts are fraught with danger but they persist with their struggle, in the course of which their feelings for each other undergo a marked change.

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About the Author:

Patricia Veryan was born in England and moved to the United States following World War II. The author of several critically acclaimed Georgian and Regency series, including the Sanguinet Saga, she now lives in Kirkland, Washington.

From Booklist:

Elspeth is a Lady of Quality. Gervaise is a Foul-tempered Fop. Both are entangled in a Georgian melodrama of international intrigue surrounding Madame Pompadour and the overthrow of a king. Elspeth's brother, a soldier of fortune in the employ of Pompadour, has been taken prisoner and threatened with torture for information about the insurrection. Gervaise is in need of a nursemaid to accompany his aunt to France. Elspeth is in need of an escort to France to rescue her brother from certain execution. The two avowed enemies join forces to make the journey and attempt the rescue, and along the way there is much huffy bantering, teeth gnashing, arrogant proclamations, and some swashbuckling. The marginally witty badinage between the hero and heroine is laced with vitriol, and the reader may have difficulty believing these two can overcome their disdain for each other to fall in love, as expected. A frothy gentle read for fans of Regency and other drawing-room romances but not an essential purchase otherwise. Kaite Mediatore
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