The Masqueraders

The Masqueraders (1928) Georgette Heyer

A couple weeks ago I decided I wanted something completely different to read. After coming upon a review of The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer, “I thought this might be a fun read,” and ordered it.

I will admit, the language took some getting used to. The book is set in London in the mid 1700s, and written in 1928, so it did wander a bit in comparison to what I usually read, and there were lots of flowery descriptions, but once I settled into the book and got comfortable with its pace and wording, it was a very fun read.

Prudence and Robin were involved in the Jacobite rebellion, and so Robin cannot show his face in England, so the two contrive of a plot to return to London–Robin as Miss Kate Merriot, and Prudence as Kate’s brother Peter. They are to wait in London for their father–a extraordinary trickster who often kept Prudence in trousers instead of skirts as a child, for her safety in their ventures.

First, Prudence is marvelous. Her attitude! Her skill! her wits! Then there is the man she falls for, Sir Anthony Fanshawe. Robin, on the other hand, falls for a woman of far less substance, the heiress Letitia Grayson, who is far more a woman of her times than Prudence (and thus–to me–rather annoying) and whom Peter and Kate manage to save in the opening chapters of the story.

Yes, it is a romance, with true love and all that, but there is also fencing! fighting! and adventures galore! Would I recommend it to a teenage boy? No way. Would I recommend it to someone else looking for an enjoyable read set in historical London? Most certainly!
Rating: 9/10

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