Friday, October 19, 2012

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer

book cover
Sylvester
or The Wicked Uncle
by Georgette Heyer


ISBN: 0-06-100257-7
Mass Market Paperback:
410 pages
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Released: 1985, 1957

Source: Bought through Half.com

Book Description, my take:
Sylvester, the Duke of Salford, takes his responsibilities very serious, and he's decided that it's time for him to marry--but he hasn't yet met a woman he loves. When his mother mentions the daughter of her dead best friend, he decides to meet the girl.

Phoebe Marlow had a poor showing during her London season, and she wrote a novel mocking the silliness of the ton after she came back to the country. She makes Sylvester the villain due to his slanted eyebrows. When she's told that he's coming to ask her to marry him, there's only one thing to do--run away!

She ends up stranded at a small inn in a snowstorm with an injured companion, so she welcomes Sylvester's help once she's told he didn't intend to marry her. Still, she's offended by his sometimes aloof attitude and occasional thoughtless actions, and she blames him for causing her to run away. She knows that he's not the villain she's made him out to be, but surely his pride will never forgive her for portraying him as one...


My Review:
Sylvester or The Wicked Uncle is a historical adventure/romance set in Regency era England. I like Heyer's funny novels, but it turned out that this one had more scornful criticism than humorous dialogue or events. It also had a lot more adventure, including a kidnapping and travel in France. It was very exciting, and I hated putting the book down because I could never guess what would happen next.

I didn't really like the "romance," though. There were moments when I could see that Sylvester and Phoebe could get along very well, but Phoebe spent most of their time together criticizing Sylvester (not because he's bad, but because he isn't perfect) and blaming him for provoking her bad behavior. I suspect she did this because she was very insecure and felt like she'd be safer if she was constantly on the attack and could pretend to have the moral high ground. Sylvester took it all like a gentleman, apologized when he did wrong, and even modified his behavior when she made valid criticisms. He kept rescuing her from the consequences of her rash actions.

But if they'd been a modern, married couple, they'd be filing for divorce. They're going to have a miserable marriage. Even Sylvester's mother thinks this is the likely result, though she hopes it's the making of them instead. So it's not the "they're better people when together than when apart" type romance I like.

There was no sex. There was some explicit bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this novel to those interested in reading all of Heyer's books, those interested in the adventure part of it, or those who don't mind "always fighting" romance novels.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.

4 comments:

Jenny Allworthy said...

Hello. Great review. I am reading Sylvester right now so I can't say how I like it yet. I think The Convenient Marriage and The Grand Sophy are my faves so far. I still want to read Frederica too.

If you are interested, I have a petition going to try to bring Georgette Heyer to film. Feel free to add a link if you agree.

http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/georgetteheyerfilm

JuneA** said...

Sylvester wasn't one of her better books, I thought. For myself, I felt disconnected from it due to Phoebe's behavior. My favorite Heyer books would be The Reluctant Widow, The Nonesuch, The Tollgate and The Unknown Ajax. I think most people tend to favor the Grand Sophy, I like it, but not one of my favorites. Good Review!

Debbie said...

Jenny,
I've often wondered why Heyer books haven't been made into movies since I think they'd do well as movies. I'll sign your petition.


June,
I'm reading Tollgate right now and enjoying it a lot. Nonesuch is also one of my favorites. I'll have to try The Reluctant Widow and The Unknown Ajax since we seem to have a similar "favorites" list! :)

JuneA** said...

Debbie, I'll be very interested in what you have to say about them!