Nonesuch By Georgette Heyer

This is another of Heyer's novels that I took some time to get to like. I still feel that one of the characters is a little over the top but I enjoy it more the more often I read it. It is set in Yorkshire, and the hero is known as the Nonesuch because of his sporting prowess. He is one of Heyer's older heroes, a charming bachelor who is always careful when flirting with women to make it clear that the flirting is understood by both parties as fun. The novel starts with the death of Joseph Calver, who is related to Sir Waldo Hawkridge, the Nonesuch. He was miserly and unpleasant and neglected his estate. He disliked his family, and decided to leave his property to Waldo because unlike other relatives, Waldo never bothered him or seemed interested in getting anything from him. This causes some bad feeling, since Laurence Calver, one of his younger relatives is not well off - and could use the money. Waldo can see that Laurence is angry, he is a touchy young man, but he himself is pleased to get the estate, Broom Hall, because of his interest in philanthrophy. Waldo does not talk about this much but like some Regency aristocrats, he is keen on helping the poor, and has 2 homes which are orphanages, and tries to get children into good apprenticeships, rather than ones where they are harshly treated. He decides to use Broom Hall as another orphanage, and to use the proceeds of the estate to fund it. He plans to go to Yorkshire with his young cousin, the gentle Lord Lindeth, who has been like a son or nephew to him. When he arrives, he finds to his surprise that he is much better known than he had expected. The young upper class circle of the neighbourhood have all heard of his being a sportsman and fashionable figure and so have the young ladies. He finds that the Hall is in bad shape and that old Joseph Calver had neglected it terribly. Ancilla Trent, a governess who is living and working nearby, disapproves of sporty fashionable men, and tries to discourage her charges from being fascinated by him. She is a well born governess, from a genteel family, but her father was killed in the war and she has no money. She worked as a teacher in her own old school and then got a better job as governess to Miss Tiffany Wield, whose aunt owns a small estate in Yorkshire. Mrs Underhill is widowed, she has 2 children and her husband had retired from his business and settled into a life as a country gentleman. However Tiffany's father left his daughter to her care, and Tiffany is heiress to a very large fortune. Mrs Underhill is a good natured, rather vulgar woman, and she knows that she cannot manage Tiffany, who is 17, spoiled and headstrong. So she finds Miss Trent a great help.