Cotillion By Georgette Heyer

Been reading Cotillion, one of Heyer's best works. It shows her ability to twist plots and characters to make a new book. She often has a character who is male, elderly and miserly and who dominates his family. In her detective story, Penhallow, she has such a character ruling over his family and it all ends tragically, but in Cotillion, she plays the situation for laughs. Matthew Penicuik is wealthy and well into middle age. He had 4 sisters, all older than him, who are now dead. He hates spending money except on himself. He has several great nephews. He occasionally hints to them that he will leave generous legacies or even the whole of his large fortune to one or other of them. However, he has a favourite, Jack Westruther, who is a rakish gambler, attractive but selfish. Penicuik also has an adopted daughter, Kitty Charing, whom he took in when she was orphaned, but he has never been all that affectionate to the girl who is now 19. Her father was a friend of his from boyhood and Kitty was left an orphan with no money. Mr Penicuik has never spent more than a minimum on his foster daughter, he is too mean. She is dressed plainly, has no pin money and he does not arrange a social life for her. Kitty has a kind but foolish governess, Miss Fishguard, but has never been allowed to escape from their rural estate and has a rather bleak life. Matthew invites his great nephews to come and see him, as he is making his will. So George and Hugh Rattray, and his slow-witted Irish nephew, Foster, the Earl of Dolphinton, turn up to Arnside. Hugh is the local vicar and lives at nearby Garside Rectory. The cousins are not close friends and there is a good deal of bickering. Matthew is annoyed that Jack does not turn up. Also missing is Freddy Standen whose mother Emma is Matthew's niece. Kitty is very upset because Jack was also her favourite of her adopted cousins - and she has hero worshipped him for years.