Beauvallet: Gossip, scandal and an unforgettable Regency romance

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The endpaper and frontispiece of the American first edition of Beauvallet published in February1930. Ronald’s practical support when she was writing books such as Beauvallet and later The Conqueror also meant that he had a legitimate stake in his wife’s work. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. He has to fool the king of Spain, the French Ambassador, and the many Spanish nobles while locating Dominica and planning how to bring her out.

Occasionally they would make the trip to the capital, Skopje, and there join other ‘Britishers’ for drinks or dinner. Known to the Spanish as ‘El Beauvallet’ and ‘Mad Nick’ to his men, he is a master swordsman, a pirate and a gentleman, with a sparkling sense of humour that sees him through all of his many adventures. Nick gets what he needs but his typical good fortune leads him to something even better - after besting a Frenchman who was trying to steal his horse near the Spanish frontier, he discovers the man was the Chevalier de Guise, a courier for the powerful de Guise family who carries a secret, encrypted message to King Phillip in Spain.

Dominica's character isn't perhaps as well developed as she might be, but Beauvallet is just wonderful. It's only the fact that I know Heyer also wrote The Talisman Ring and The Grand Sophy, both of which I love, that means this rather pales in comparison.

My edition is very old, actually it's the First Australian Edition from 1948, it has no dust jacket, and the pages are brown and brittle. If you love thrilling swashbuckling adventures with witty dialogue and a true romance at the centre you will love this book. All of the fake defiance and bitchiness that she'd displayed when she was Nick's 'captive' suddenly became real when she was truly in danger. I have even read a few random pages from Devil's Cub (one of my favorite Heyer's books) to check if I am not exaggerating. corner crease on front cover and some other 1" or less creases, a crease down back cover, and covers show light wear.She tries hard to spurn his advances but just can't seem to say no to the English Love Boat Technique.

Kratovo, where Georgette lived from 1928 to 1930 and where she wrote her sixth historical novel, Beauvallet.It's not a Regency novel like most of Heyer's others, but one of the more historical ones, and honestly I could've dispensed with the romance for more of Nick swashbuckling his way around Spain as a spy. Indeed she was not: she engratiated quickly too me, with her humour, tentative to manipulate people around her with more or less success.

The heroine started up badly, as I thought she would be another too young, naive and slightly stupid heroine, typical of some Heyer's heroines. Travelling as a Frenchman provides Beauvallet with a convenient disguise in a rigidly Catholic land where the English are abhorred as Protestant heretics. She had heard that those who fell into the clutch of the Inquisition were sometimes never heard of again.Nick and Dominica have some nail-biting adventures, alone and together, before their final nick-of-time escape. I'm sure I'd have enjoyed this book no matter what, but listening to it with such a great narrator was a real treat. It is fascinating, reading her other books, not only her Regency romances or detective books (I haven't read the latter yet, but I am going to). There are imprisonments, escapes and rescues and all done in a way that puts you on the edge of your seat. Nick can seem boastful but I see it more as certainty and confidence in his own abilities - he has never failed to achieve whatever feat he set out to accomplish.