Frederica

Gossip, scandal and an unforgettable Regency romance

Brought to you by Penguin.

Vernon Alverstoke sees no reason to put himself out for anyone.

But when a distant connection asks for help, he is quickly plunged into one drama after another by the disorderly Merriville family.

Surprisingly, he finds himself far from bored - especially when he encounters their strong-minded daughter, Frederica.

However, she seems far more concerned with her family's welfare than his romantic advances....

©1965 Georgette Heyer (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Absolutely delicious tales of Regency heroes.... Utter, immersive escapism." (Sophie Kinsella)

"I could mainline Heyer's Regency romances until the end of time and still not get bored.... Georgette Heyer is perfect lockdown escapism." (India Knight)

"One of my perennial comfort authors. Heyer's books are as incisively witty and quietly subversive as any of Jane Austen's." (Joanne Harris)

The story and writing

Excellent narrative with a real down to earth story. Clear prose and realistic dialogue capturing the era and flow of language of the time

One of the best

Georgette Heyer’s Regency and Georgian books are my favorites and this is one of the best. The Marquess of Alerstoke is a bored and indolent aristocrat whose world is turned upside down by Frederica and her family. The ensuing results are funny and touching.

Honestly - I think next to the Grand Sophie, it’s my favorite.

The plot, content, the characters, the annoying sub-plot that… well I won’t say, the kids, the maturity of Heyer’s writing.

Family relationships, and that siblings may be very different but fully loved anyway

Some other writers, and even social scientists, seem to hold to an idea that siblings raised together in a family will be very similar. Cut from the same cloth, as that might have been expressed then in Regency times.

That concept has often been quite untrue in families which I’ve known. Loving and close, but certainly not cookie-cutter sameness in personalities and ideas..

Fun story

Characters including the children and young adults were all interwoven into the story well. I enjoyed the historical aspects of ballooning, bikes, steam engines and such as well as the romance.