Customer Reviews

April Lady

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I classify G Heyer's romance novels into three categories: first, fun and witty; second, melodramatic and witty; and third, historic and witty. This falls into the first category. The comical adventures of the young heroine and her brother as they try to outwit her husband and save her marriage are extremely delightful to read especially if your reading time is limited. As with so many of her novels, the secondary characters provide the most amusement. It's good to find a light romance that's not cloying, and the heroine perfect and overly sweet like so many of the novels from Ms. Heyer's imitators.

If you loved Arabella and Sylvester (my favorite) from Ms Heyer, then you'll enjoy this novel.

If you're looking for something a bit heavier from Ms Heyer, try Black Moth and for something a historic, try An Infamous Army.

April Lady features a beautiful very young wife and heroine. She is only 18 years old, about half the age of her husband, and they have been married for a year.

Most of the problems in the relationship come because of her young age and inexperience.

She came from an impoverished noble family, and has no concept of how to manage her money. So she gets into debt, and ends up being less than truthful about it. This leads to all sorts of complications.

What neither of the two spouses knows is that the other is madly in love with him/her, so both have some insecurities about their relationship. This, of course, adds to the difficulties.

This being Heyer, some madcap adventures are included before a sweet resolution of everyone's problems.

Georgette Heyer's books fall into several broad types. While most of her novels end with the engagement of the hero or heroine, a subset deals with the resolution of problems after marriage. Like "A Civil Contract", "April Lady" falls into this subset. It is the story of what is on the surface a mismatch, albeit one made for love, between a very immature and rather foolish young woman and an indulgent man almost twice her age; and how the couple finally learn to communicate with each other and reach an understanding.

Nell Irvine is only seventeen when she marries Earl Cardross, and embarks on a career as a fashionable aristocratic lady. If you have ever wondered how those very young heroines of some of Heyer's other novels cope with the realities of married life, April Lady provides the answer. Nell is beautiful, kind and gentle, but totally inexperienced and not enormously bright; as a result her splendid marriage, made within a couple of months of emerging into adult life, turns out to be a challenge she is ill-equipped to cope with. Though Nell loves her husband, she is both emotionally and sexually reticent (her mother having unhelpfully told her that this is how she should behave), with the result that Cardross has become frustrated and distant. In addition, she is burdened with the chaperonage of an irresponsible sister-in-law roughly the same age as herself, and a brother with a gambling problem who is constantly hitting her for loans. Unfortunately Nell is also unable to manage money, something which has created tension between her and her husband, and her inability to pay a dressmaker's bill for three hundred pounds, and her desperate efforts to keep the debt hidden from her husband become a symbol of the lack of communication in the Cardross marriage. As Nell sinks lower and lower under the burden of deceit, the question becomes one of just how far she will go, and how much she will suffer before she will admit that she needs her husband's help, and understand that Cardross's love for her is real and not conditional.

"April Lady" is probably not one of Georgette Heyer's most famous novels, but it is different to most of the rest, and while the final outcome is inevitably a reconciliation between the partly estranged Earl and Countess, the journey to the resolution is not always so predictable. While Nell is not a particularly lively girl, being a passive blonde similar to Fanny in "Bath Tangle", the author has provided her with a more lively foil in the person of her sister-in-law Letty, and Nell's racketty brother Dysart also injects humour into the storyline. This has always been a favourite of mine among Georgette Heyer's novels, and while there are better places to start reading her work, "April Lady" is still a book that bears repeated re-reading.

Although not the absolute best Heyer novel, this one is still worth reading. I actually rate it one of my favorites If you enjoy Heyer's other regency novels, you might give this a try as well.

This was very similar to The Convenient Marriage- a married couple love each other but each think the other doesn't because of a misunderstanding. Add to that an annoying girl (Letty) and a well-meaning but good for nothing brother character and you get April Lady. Sheesh, why couldn't Nell and Cardross, or Horry and Rule, just talk out their problems? I know there would be no book if that happened but I wasn't a big fan of either book so there would be no complaints from me there. Other characters repeatedly tell Nell in this one that her husband loves her and that she should just tell him the truth. I don't think anyone reassured Horry like that (but I don't remember) so that makes Nell even stupider. Not to mention that they've already been married nearly a year! How dense are these girls? I like her stories that feature more intelligent heroines.

I was delighted to add Georgette Heyer's April Lady to
my collection of her Regency novels - I have now have
the complete set - thirty-four - many of which have been supplied by Amazon. For some quaint reason April Lady
has been out of print far longer than Heyer's other Regencies which have been steadily reissued in trade size
over the last ten years. It's nice to have it and to
again enjoy Amazon's efficient service.

Like A Civil Contract, April Lady revolves around a marriage of convenience. But, while the hero and heroine of A Civil Contract resolve to live in a mutual admiration and respect, the already married hero and heroine of our tale are madly in love with each other.

Viscount Giles Cardross has been in love with Nell ( his now wife) since he first set eyes on her. Made to think that it was a marriage of convenience by her mother, Nell is coached to hide her overflowing affection for her husband lest he find her too clingy.

Somewhat contented to be the tropy-wife, all the while assured that her beloved Giles may, at one point, turn to other female companionship, Nell spends her days with Giles' half-sister Letty, buys extravagant dresses, rides a marvelous carriage `round the fashionable park and wiles her nights away at the most extravagant events of the season.


Giles loves Nell; Nell loves Giles, half-sister Letty loves the poor army- secretary, Jeremy Allandale and Jeremy Allandale loves Letty.

The entire plot is a mixed array of crossed paths, misunderstandings and love very passionate and squelched unknown.

Like the adorable Kitten in Friday's Child, Nell's modest circumstances in her youth have made her a poor fit for the excessive ton. Indeed, she is more often than not in scrapes involving over-expenditures she is sure will awake her husband's wrath.

Desperate to conceal her folly and deeply ashamed at her innocence, Nell and Giles spend most of the book completely unaware of the other's feelings.

The forbidden, cross-class romance of Letty and Jeremy Allandale complements the frustrating maze of Nell and Giles' hidden emotions.


You know when you open a Georgette Heyer novel that you can bask in the certainty that all will end well. It's like a Jane Austen novel, in that respect, it is a guaranteed certainty that all will tie with a neat little bow. But, like the most delicious romances, it is the topsy-turvey paths and cross-purposes leading you to the ultimate gold-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow that propel you onward.

April Lady is chock-full of frustrating "But you love Rhett, not Ashley!" moments and exceptional snapshots of the glorious ton at the height of its gilded Regency brilliance.

Another fabulous read from Georgette Heyer.

APRIL LADY by Georgette Heyer is not on of my favorites from this author. It is a bit too formalistic without the snappy dialogue readers expect from Heyer.
Lady Nell Cardross, despite winning for a husband the catch of the town, has her problems with a wastrel brother and an addiction to gambling. These problems plunge her into desperate circumstances rather than tell her new husband the truth.
Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS.

This book starts off promising. But, once you realize that the main plot of the novel is based on a small quarrel between husband and wife- it's really annoying. The problem can so easily be solved and yet Heyer takes 200 pages of endless reading to do so. Don't get me wrong- I'm a huge Heyer fan.. I loved Sylvester, These Old Shades and the grand sophy. But, this novel was among her few failures.

I don't know if the Taxmen were after Heyer when she wrote this, but this is simply boring tales of a wive who spends too much money and digs in deeper as she refuses to tell her loving husband. Compounded by a brother who borrows for his gambling, these are all unlikeable characters.