{"id":11067,"date":"2018-09-12T19:26:22","date_gmt":"2018-09-12T23:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=11067"},"modified":"2021-12-16T08:33:43","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T13:33:43","slug":"the-reluctant-widow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11067","title":{"rendered":"The Reluctant Widow"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Reluctant Widow<\/a><\/em> (1946) Georgette Heyer<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Set in Regency England<\/p>\n

Elinor has set out to take a position as a governess–her father’s ruin and death left her to make her own way in the world–at this point hiring out as a governess.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Lord Carlyon believes her to have answered her advertisement, which is not for a governess.<\/p>\n

\u2018I made no secret of my age, sir. I am perhaps older than you imagine. I am six-and-twenty.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u2018You look younger,\u2019 he commented. <\/p>\n

\u2018I hope it need not signify, sir. I assure you, I am not without experience.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u2018You can hardly have had experience of what now lies before you,\u2019 he retorted. <\/p>\n

A dreadful suspicion crossed Miss Rochdale\u2019s mind. \u2018Good heavens, he is not \u2013 he surely cannot be \u2013 deranged, sir?\u2019 she exclaimed. <\/p>\n

\u2018No, he is quite sane,\u2019 he answered. \u2018It is brandy, not madness, to which the greater part of his propensity for evil is attributable.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u2018Brandy<\/em>?\u2019 she gasped. He raised his brows. <\/p>\n

\u2018Yes, I thought you had not been told the whole,\u2019 he said. \u2018I am sorry. I intended \u2013 and indeed ordered \u2013 otherwise.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Instead he wants her to marry his odious cousin.<\/p>\n

\u2018But I do not want to be a widow!\u2019 declared Elinor. <\/p>\n

\u2018I am afraid it is now too late in the day to alter that,\u2019 said Carlyon. <\/p>\n

\u2018Besides, if you had known my cousin better you would have wanted to be a widow,\u2019 Nicky assured her.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nicky is possibly the most delightful part of this fun story. He’s Carlyon’s younger brother, sent down from school, and staying with Elinor in the decrepit house she is to inherit. <\/p>\n

As the pockets of both gamesters were, in Nicky\u2019s phrase, wholly to let, they played for fabulous but imaginary stakes, with the result that when the tea-tray was brought in, Elinor found herself several thousand pounds to the good.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Because this is not just a romance, it’s also a mystery: who are the strangers attempting to break into the house? What are they searching for? Who does have the papers stolen from the Army?<\/p>\n

It’s a fun romp, and I very much enjoyed it, especially the twists and turns of the mystery.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Reluctant Widow (1946) Georgette Heyer Set in Regency England Elinor has set out to take a position as a governess–her father’s ruin and death left her to make her own way in the world–at this point hiring out as a governess. Unfortunately, Lord Carlyon believes her to have answered her advertisement, which is not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,30,33,8,26],"tags":[151,556],"class_list":["post-11067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-british","category-historical","category-mystery","category-romance","tag-georgette-heyer","tag-georgian-era"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2Sv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14077,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14077","url_meta":{"origin":11067,"position":0},"title":"The Reluctant Widow","author":"Michelle","date":"March 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Reluctant Widow (1946) Georgette Heyer Set in England in 1813. Elinor Rochdale fell upon hard times when her father fell into ruin and shot himself, and has been a governess in recent years. She has come to take a new position as a governess, but ends up in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Reluctant Widow","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/The-Reluctant-Widow.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11263,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11263","url_meta":{"origin":11067,"position":1},"title":"They Found Him Dead","author":"Michelle","date":"November 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"They Found Him Dead (1937) Georgette Heyer The third Inspector Hannasyde mystery. This one I was pretty sure who the murderer, even if I couldn't figure out why. Or quite how the second murder was managed. Silas Kane is found dead the day after his 60th birthday celebration. He's survived\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/They-Found-Him-Dead.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11256,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11256","url_meta":{"origin":11067,"position":2},"title":"Death in the Stocks","author":"Michelle","date":"November 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Death in the Stocks (1935) Georgette Heyer This is, as best I can tell, set around the time it was published, the mid 1930s. What I found fascinating was that I was totally unable to pin down the time. I was pretty sure it was post WWI, but wasn't quite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Death-in-the-Stocks.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1720,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1720","url_meta":{"origin":11067,"position":3},"title":"The Masqueraders","author":"Michelle","date":"May 23, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"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.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Masqueraders","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/The-Masqueraders.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2885,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2885","url_meta":{"origin":11067,"position":4},"title":"These Old Shades","author":"Michelle","date":"April 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"These Old Shades (1926) Georgette Heyer This was a reread, just because I felt like it.","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/these_old_shades.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27292,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27292","url_meta":{"origin":11067,"position":5},"title":"Why Shoot a Butler?","author":"Michelle","date":"July 19, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Why Shoot a Butler? (1933) Georgette Heyer Set in England in 1933 Mr Amberley left the breakfast table in the middle of Sir Humphrey\u2019s dissertation on hooliganism in These Modern Times. One of the young constables had retired to the ditch. The other stood his ground, but he did not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Why Shoot a Butler","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Why-Shoot-a-Butler-214x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11067\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}