primer for all regency arranged-marriage tales
Heyer is the queen of English historical romances, excelling at placing the reader in the room with her characters. Fans of Jane Austen movies who can't quite get a handle on her novels can read La Georgette and gain a wealth of context and insights into the era.
The Convenient Marriage relates how headstrong and outspoken (with a stammer) 17-year-old Horatia saves her two elder sisters from sacrificing themselves upon the marriage altar for the good of the family. Her family has a "fatal addiction" to gambling and is therefore quite strapped for money; the Earl needs to settle down with a suitably respectable girl of the haute ton. Horatia takes it upon herself to propose marriage to her sister's 35-year-old suitor--who raises an amused eyebrow at the quirky young woman, and urbanely agrees to the new arrangement.
Thus begins the adventures of a flighty young woman who falls deeply in love with her worldly husband, and fears he could never love her. She determines to allow him his paramours, and sets about creating a lively world of her own without him. Horry and Rule soon learn that this is not the ideal arrangement they thought it would be. But how to solve this dilemma when they both think the other is happy with the status quo?
