Powder and Patch

This is another of Heyer's Georgian early novels. It hasn't got much plot. It is about a young man Philip Jettan who dismays his father by being a bit of a country bumpkin. Sir Maurice, his father, has an estate but he is a sophisticated man who likes to live in the town and to be a man of fashion. He sends Philip abroad to France to try and make him less awkward and dull -. Philip is in love with a beautiful girl called Cleone Charteris, but she also wishes he were more of a fashionable gentleman. In Paris, Philip learns to dress fancily and to be more amusing and charming. He learns to flirt with ladies, to the point where Cleone is annoyed with him. But he asks her to marry him and they fall in love all over again and get married.

Masqueraders By Georgette Heyer

This is one of Heyer's earlier novels, and is set in Georgian England shortly after the 1745 rebellion which attempted to put Charles Edward Stuart on the throne. The two main characters, Robin and Prudence are brother and sister and Robin has fought for the Stuarts so he is a wanted man. So he and Prudence disguise themselves. Robin is small and slender and he passes as a pretty woman and Prue who is bigger and sturdier, dresses as a man. She can look after herself, has learn to fight with a sword and to carry off an imitation of a male. The siblings have come to London, to hide out, and they take part in society. Robin rescues a young upper class girl, Letitia Grayson from someone trying to abduct her, and he falls in love with her. Prue becomes friendly with a young man, Sir Antony Fanshawe, who was supposed to marry Letty, but he is not in love with her. The siblings are called Merriott, and they have lived mostly abroad with their eccentric adventurer father who has engaged in all sorts of different professions. But then he tells them that their name is not really Merriott - it is Tremaine and he is the heir to a viscountcy. He puts forward a claim to be Viscount Barham, and his children are shocked to learn that they are not penniless adventurers of dubious origin but relatives of a noble family. There is another claimant to the viscountcy, a distant relative whose claim is actually very poor. Tremaine knows all about the family and their estate and he is accepted as the Viscount. Robin defends Letty when she is being forced to elope with her previous suitor. She had agreed to elope with him because he had some evidence that her father, Sir Humphry Grayson had sympathised with the Rebellion.. She is not very clever and is easily fooled by a weak piece of evidence. Robin saves her and fights a duel on her behalf and they fall in love. Prue has become close to Sir Anthony, and he knows her secret and asks her to marry him. Tremaine is now Viscount Barham and is delighted that his children have made good matches. I've never been keen on cross dressing romances but I quite enjoyed this one. However its not one I re read.

Also the Hills Part V

Dexter is keeping busy with his farm, and he is not too happy to see Judith back to help Alix with her confinement. He feels that she has shown herself to be quite selfish, in messing him around. She also realises that he is falling in love with Alix and says so to him, rather spitefully. He is hurt, and feels that he has no hope with a beautiful girl like Alix and that at present, she is grieving for Jerome. Alix has her baby, a son and Judith is posted to North Africa. She enjoys her work, and meets up again with Joe Racina who is a war correspondent. But then she is injured by a bomb and left with severe burns on her fact and arms and hands. She is very ill and has to be flown home to the US for treatment. She can't hold things and her face is damaged. But she has plastic surgery and its believed that she will recover and her hands will get better, and her facial injuries will improve. Daniel and Serena have been through a lot of pain and suffering, losing 2 of their children and their third child being badly injured. However they tell themselves that they have Alix who is a lovely kindly young woman and they have a grandson. Daniel tells Serena that they must be prepared for Alix to find a new husband in due course. She is a young woman and she can't live on memories forever. Serena is a little amused at her unsophisticated farmer husband showing such worldly knowledge. Alix decides to go down South to see her own family for a visit. Dexter is upset at her going as she has a cousin, Prosper, who was considered as a possible husband for her and he's afraid that she will decide to marry him and go back to her home state to live, rather than spend all her life in the cold of New England. Judith has reconciled herself to the fact that she can never be an army nurse again and she and Joe Racina get married. He loves her and she him and they begin to write articles together, so she has found an occupation to make up for giving up her army work. Dexter's sister Rhoda gets married to her Jewish fiance, and Benny their adopted child, helps to flush out a German spy in the neighbourhood. It makes up a little for Jenness' disloyal behaviour that the village manages to get rid of one enemy of the US. Alix returns suddenly to the farm and tells Dexter that she would never have married Prosper. But she will marry him. Daniel and Serena have a party to celebrate the changes, good and bad that have taken place over the past couple of years. They have lost Jenness and Jerome but he has left a son behind him and Alix will stay at the farm.. and marry Dexter. Judith is recovering and has a new and loving husband. The neighbourhood has grown and taken in new people from different cultures and made friends of them.

Also the Hills Part IV

Jenness' death is a horrible shock to her family and they are also pained by her activities before she died. She engaged in traitorous behavior and perjury, and she was clearly involved in a love affair with a man who had no intention of marrying her. Judith is still working in the US, and Jerome has been posted abroad. Then Alix, his young wife, comes up to New England from Louisiana. The family find her charming and sweet and take to her immediately. She is pregnant and wants to have her baby in Jerome's home. Serena likes her very much and gets over her prejudice against Catholics. Alix says that the baby will be brought up Catholic and she wants to get to know the locals in the neighbourhood who are Catholic. Serena is rather shocked to find out that her priest is quite happy to play cards or have a drink. Judith comes to see Alix to see if she can help with her pregnancy and having the baby. Alix also spends a lot of her money on making the farmhouse more comfortable and attractive, the Farmans have never gone in for luxury or comfort and are surprised by how willing Alix is to use her money to do up the house and her good taste. Then the family learn that Jerome has been killed in action. Alix is heartbroken..

Also the Hills Part III

Jenness has a fun time on her trip back to the farm, but her friend Joe Racina who comes as well, is a newspaper reporter. The Farmans learn that there is trouble brewing. It is in the early stages of America's entry into World War Two and there are still a lot of isolationists and pro Germans about. There is an investigation going on to find foreign spies and Germans living in the countryside are suspected. Jenness works for a politican - Horace Vaughn - and he has asked her to send out papers putting forward the isolationist line under a government frank. She is in love with him, and although she recognises that it is a bit dubious, she does what he asks. He gives her expensive fur coats and jewels. But she is now being investigated for her activities. Judith keeps up correspondence with her family and asks them to tell Dexter about her war activities, as she still considers him her fiance. Dexter's sister, Rhoda, is a bit of a dull spinster but she returns to teaching as war work, and becomes a bit more outgoing. She meets a Jewish man in the neighbourhood, a widower with a child.. and he has taken in a refugee Jewish child, Benny. Rhoda begins to plan for a marriage that she never expected. Meanwhile down South, Jerome tells his new bride that he's under orders to ship out, and he suggests that while he is on active service, she might like to go to the North and visit his family. Jenness finds that her boss, who had been flirting with her but is engaged to a well born socialite is now cooling on her as she ends up being investigated...He wants to put all the blame on her and has no intention of marrying her. Daniel is so desperate to help his daughter that he sells the farm to Dexter, with a proviso that he can live there.. so that he has money to engage a top lawyer for her. Jenness is examined by the Grand Jury and found guilty of perjury. She realises that she's going to go to prison and becomes terrified. Joe Racina who has come to see her before her sentencing, tells her that it is terrible but that she must face it and come out the other side stronger. She gets hysterical and says noone would want to marry her if she's been in prison. She begs her father to save her - but there's nothing he can do. She makes a sudden dash for the balcony of her apartment, and throws herself over, and dies.

Also the Hills II

Jenness comes to the farm, from Washington and brings a couple of friends, who are journalists, and she wants to have a party. She is inclined to complain about how bare and basic the farmhouse is, but never offers to help out financially to make it more comfortable. However she loves her family and they love her and she's popular with the local people, because she is so pretty and charming and fashionable looking. Dexter is unhappy about Judith wanting to be an army nurse.. and tells her that if she's not prepared to marry him soon, he wants out of the engagment. Judith however is determined to take on the army nurse role and she claims that she does not regard their engagement as broken. Word comes from down South, where Jerome has been posted, to say that he's getting married. He has met a Southern girl called Alix St Cyr - and she and he want to marry quickly because he might be posted abroad. Daniel and Serena are dumbfounded, especially Serena, who is prejudiced against Catholics.. and horrified that the couple are marrying in a Catholic ceremony...THey learn that Alix, though Jerome met her working in a jewellery store, is actually quite well off. Her mother died when she was a baby, and her wish was that the child should be reared in a convent, and then her father married a rich widow, so Alix has quite a bit of money of her own. M/F

Also the Hills By Frances Parkinson Keyes

This is a novel published by Keyes in the early years of World War Two. It is a story about the Farmans, a New England family, who have a successful farm but who are simple people. They work hard and dont care about creature comforts. Daniel and Serena have 3 grown up children, Jenness, a very beautiful but rather flighty girl, who has left the farm and gone to work in Washington DC as a secretary to a wealthy politican, Jerome, who left a banking job, to join the army.. and Judith, who is still living at home, and who has trained as a district nurse. Judith is engaged to a local farmer, Dexter, who was injured as a child and cannot join the army so he is dedicating himself to farming and local affairs, to make up for this. Judith loves him but she takes her nursing job very seriously, and upsets Dexter in the beginning of the book by telling him that she has to travel away from their local town to nurse some children. He is hoping that they can get married soon but when she comes back she tells him that she wants to join up as an army nurse. More will follow.