Customer Reviews

The Unknown Ajax

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Lord Darracott's heir is dead - and now the martinet and generally gouty old man must call on the new heir, Hugh Darracott - the child of a mesalliance between his favourite son and a Weaver's daughter - thus the scene is set for one of Heyer's funniest and strongest romances.

This is the story of the heir Hugh, generally disliked in advance by the entire Darracott family before he arrives, and the gradual way he insinuates himself into the household, without ever trying. His good-natured humour, but iron-will win him friends, respect and love. God, that sounds so wet doesn't it? That's the trouble with Heyer - you strip the plots back to the bare bones and the whole thing looks pathetic - yet it is her ability to characterise, overlay complex story lines and inject the whole with an ironic voice that gives her books such strength.

The book is one of Heyer's best. All the action takes place at Darracott Hall which geographically is somewhere down on the border of Kent and Sussex, it has the requisite number of smugglers, dandy's, beau's and gouty grandfathers, along with a beautiful grand-daughter for a love interest. What sets this book above the norm is the wonderful hero - Hugh - or Hugo. He is a gem.

The first time I read this book I have to admit I didn't much like it. I was defintiely put off by the accent which Hugh adopts at the start. He did seem a clumsy oaf and I never quite recovered. However as a confirmed fan of Heyer I have come back to it again and again and not only has it grown on me, it is one of the top five (alongside Talisman Ring, Corinthian, Cotillion, and Toll-Gate). It is witty, ironic and the hero is so capable but so humourous I can't help falling in love with him each time I read it.

The story develops at an even pace. There are a number of threads to tie together. The grand-daughter love interest - Anthea has been told by her grandfather that she must marry Hugh - and naturally she is very resistant to this idea. There are also some mysterious goings on round the manor and these need to be sorted out - and the estate is going to wrack and ruin.

If you find yourself a bit at sea for the first part of the book - new readers of Heyer often find this difficult, then bear with it - it is worth the effort and re-reading will only get better. But it this has an especially good and complex ending which is difficult to predict.

This has to be one of the best Heyer-on-audio books that I have heard (so far, I have worked my way through Frederica and Cotillion several times, through These Old Shades once, through Regency Buck once, and through The Talisman Ring twice). Daniel Philpott undertakes the challenging task of portraying the various voices and accents of Major Hugo Darracott, the despised new heir to his cantakerous and tyrannical grandfather Lord Darracott, and all the voices of those around him.

I was taken aback when I first heard Philpott, thinking that he could not possibly do the Yorkshire dialect justice. A few minutes into his reading (well before the dialect and accent started) I was hooked. It helps that this is one of my favorite Heyers where I love even the asides from the servants. But Philpott shows us Hugo tripping up his hostile family neatly into his particular net, along with Lord Darracott, his several other descendants and daughters-in-law, Lt Ottershaw (the customs officer), and even the servants - Charles the footman, Grooby and the other valets, Chollacombe the butler, and Mrs Flitwick the housekeeper. He manages to create a distinct "voice" for each character, and to make each one come alive in a way highly satisfying to me.

Highly recommended, particularly in this unabridged audio book version.

Georgette Heyer, the reigning monarch of romance fiction, has contributed another winner to the genre with "The Unknown Ajax."

Lord Darricott calls his entire family together at his estate, Darricott Place, on the border between Kent and Sussex. His son, two daughters-in law, three grandsons and a granddaughter, are all present when he informs them that they are to prepare for a visit from his new heir within the week. Lord Darricott's son and former heir had been recently killed in a boating accident and Darricott has had the unfortunate duty of recognizing the grandson he has never met, who will inherit the title and all his worldly goods upon his own demise. Hugh Darricott, the new and recent heir, had been raised in the North country, far away from the family seat, and now, in his mid-thirties has left the military with the rank of major. Hugh's father was disowned by the family patriarch after marrying a common weaver, and never seen by the family since. Lord Darricott, who rules his clan with an iron fist, except for granddaughter Anthea, who fears him not at all, has made plans that Hugh is to be schooled in the ways of a gentleman by his cousins. He also plans for Hugh to eventually marry Anthea, to prevent him from making an unsuitable match like his father did. The family, forming all kinds of stereotypical ideas about this base born cousin, is prejudiced against him before he arrives on the scene. And he is the last man Anthea wishes to marry.

Hugh arrives and, finding the group predisposed to dislike him, puts them on and plays the country bumpkin. He discovers each family member's weaknesses and strengths, their characters, and comes to know each of them, perhaps, better than they know each other. Hugh Darricott is much more intelligent and adept than the family gives him credit for and manages to uncover some family secrets, a ghost or two, and a crime in the making. He also finds the way to Anthea's heart, not to mention into his grandfather's and the rest of the group's good graces.

As always Ms. Heyer's humor is delightful, as are her characters. Hugh Darricott makes a wonderful hero as he bumbles along, so sure of his own intelligence and common sense that he is not at all embarrassed to play the clown in order to become better acquainted with his family, without intimidating them. His courtship of Althea is funny, romantic and endearing. His solutions to the many problems that confront his relatives are unusual and creative. This is a wonderful story, beautifully told - one of Georgette Heyer's best. I highly recommend it.
JANA

I am a very long time fan of GH. Her best books combine a talent for humor, plot twists and characterization. The Unknown Ajax combines these talents to perfection as the hero (see other reviews for plot synopsis) impales his erst-while relatives on his very reprehensible predilition for practical jokes. In so doing he manages to get the feisty heroine to fall in love with him as well as saving the family's honor. But if the hero were the only high point in the book, it would be mediocre by GH standards. Look too for a very funny aristocratic aunt, a grandfatherly curmudgeon, the de riguer independently minded heroine and a wonderfully dithering prospective mother in law. This cast of characters has pulled me back to read the book at least as many times as I've read Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. I consider Heyer as her most worthy sucessor.

I can't pick which of Georgette Heyer's books is the best, but surely the ending of this book must take the prize for being the most inventive. Somehow, she contrives to bring a very fractious family together by having them take dramatic roles as in a play. And, as the reader slowly learns, one person is acting not at all like himself until the end of the story.

At first, you may not like the Darracott's very much, particularly the patriarch. Wait until the new heir arrives, Hugo Darracott -- the son of the scapegrace of the family. He has never met the rest of his family, and Hugo, having grown up in Yorkshire, is considered to be a country bumpkin by his poor, but land wealthy family. Hugo decides to live up to their low expectations of him while he finds out if it is worth his while to help sort out the finances and fractured relations in the family. Hugo is large, funny, and ultimately smarter than all the Darracotts put together.

You may want to get the sound recording of this book to help you understand some of the Yorkshire accent that is a little hard to penetrate on the page. But, you will fall in love with Hugo either listening to him or reading his dialogue with his family. Lots of action, humor, and a fun romance -- what more could you ask for!

Hugo Darricott is a handsome and charming former military major whose father was disowned by his family when he married a common weaver instead of someone who befitted his station in life. But now Hugo will be welcome to the family because he is the new heir to his grandfather's title and estates. His cousins will train him to behave like a gentleman so that he'd marry Lord Darricott's granddaughter Anthea (they are cousins) just to ensure that he won't marry someone below his rank like his father had done. But his cousins and other family members dislike him, including Anthea. Hugo decides to play along the role of ignorant country bumpkin, and through his act he discovers many secrets, deceit and a possible crime. He also manages to woo the spirited and independent Anthea in the process. There are various twists throughout the novel.

Georgette Heyer is one of the best historical writers I have ever had the pleasure of reading. The Unknown Ajax is more unique than the other books I have read because she adds a suspense subplot here (I know that Heyer jumped to the contemporary romantic suspense bandwagon later on in her career) and that the novel focuses more on the hero than on the romance between the two characters. Anthea is quite an interesting heroine as well. I wasn't thrilled with her conceit at first, but I like the fact that she couldn't help falling for Hugo in spite of thinking that he isn't educated enough for her. The secondary characters are all interesting and they somehow resembled characters in a mystery theater or film noir. But they are also wonderful and colorful and add great humor in the dialogue as well as the narrative. And as always, Georgette does a wonderful job with the historical accuracy. Regency England is seldom written so well by a romance author. A friend of mine tells me that she finds Heyer's writing style "challenging" because she uses a lot of exclamation points and emphasized words in italics. Heyer was an author during the early to mid twentieth century, which may explain her writing style. Jane Austen used lots of semi-colons and emphasized words a lot as well, but I was never put off by her writing style either. It is enjoyable to see how writers from other centuries write, which is better than many of today's popular authors. The Unknown Ajax is another enthralling offering by the gifted Georgette Heyer. As said earlier, this one is kind of different from her other efforts because a touch of romantic suspense is added into the mix and because it focuses more on the hero's point of view than on the heroine, but it is just as wonderful and readable as her other books. I have purchased several more of her novels and I look forward to giving them a whirl. In the meantime, I recommend this gem.

Hugo Darracott, the despised offspring of a second son and a weaver's daughter, is elevated to the position of heir presumptive when his uncle and cousin die in an accident. Unfortunately, his high-handed grandfather fails to mention his existence to anyone until he's hauled to the family estate for remedial training. There poor Hugo finds himself in the midst of a truly dysfunctional family, with aforementioned tyrannical grandfather snapping his head off, Uncle Matthew (the third son) and Cousin Vincent resenting his disruption of their eventual succession, Cousin Anthea balking at her assignment to marry him, and her headstrong, hobbled brother ripe for mischief. It's a good thing Hugo is more than he appears. He handily demonstrates the domestic and romantic value of a good sense of humor. The finale, a charade in which the slightest misstep will bring dishonor down on the family, is a marvel of invention.

The blurb is about as accurate as the Darracot assumptions about the son of their black sheep, Hugo Darracot. The heir, a "weaver's brat," and totally unknown to his noble (and debt-ridden) family, has newly sold out from the army and is ordered to present himself to his tartar of a grandfather for review.
Received by his relations, this "unlettered rustic" decides to see how far he can take their preconceptions.
The romance? Well, how romantic to be ordered by your grandfather to marry your cousin to get both of you off his hands before you can cause any embarrassment.
This one is pure Heyer, funny, witty, great dialogue, and clever twists abound. Her mystery writing skills are prominently displayed as well. A terrific cast of characters rounds out a satisfyingly robust plot.

I just finished re-reading this book, and once again, it was great. This is one of my favourite Georgette Heyer books. I am quite in love with the hero of the story... he's clever, he's modest, he has a great sense of humour, he's charming, and he has a knack of making everything come out right. This story is really more about Hugo Darracott than it is a romance, although of course we do have a heroine, and also some mystery thrown in.

Hugo whose father was banished for marrying a weaver's daughter instead of a proper wife, returns to meet his estranged family when he unexpectedly becomes Lord Darracott's heir. Expecting the worst, they prepare themselves for an unschooled, foolish yokel, and poor Hugo is thrust amidst an argumentative and scornful family. Hilariously, they have no idea who actually has the upper hand.

Look for: Claud, whose manner of speaking is a bit like Freddy from Cotillion, but not as lovable, and more dandyish and clothes-mad. Lady Aurelia who is truly majestic and a prototype Earl's daughter.

Even though I'd read this book before, I still had to stay up all night to finish it!

I got this as a special offer for romances for the Kindle. This seemed like the best choice as many of the others were Harlequin romance novels which are just not my taste. I wasn't expecting much for the price but I was quite pleasantly surprised. The plot was inventive and the characters were very memorable and amusing. After a boating accident kills the heir to his estate, Lord Daracott sends for his estranged grandson so he can "whip him into shape" as he is the new heir. He had thrown off Major Hugo Daracott's father for marrying a "weaver's daughter." The family is expecting Major Daracott to be vulgar and ignorant and he appears to be so when he shows up. Only his cousin Anthea and his aunt Aurelia seem to have figured out that he is more than meets the eye. I really enjoyed the story and the characters but I will admit that Jane Austen is my favorite author so I was probably predisposed to liking a Regency romance novel. The only thing that I disliked was that Major Daracott and his groom both speak with broad Yorkshire accents so their dialog is occasionally difficult to understand. Some of the Regency era slang also takes some getting used to but overall it was an enjoyable book and I will probably be reading more books by Georgette Heyer.