Customer Reviews

Charity girl

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Viscount Ashley Desford meets Charity(aka Cherry) Steane at a gathering while visiting his aunt. The next day as he returns to his London home, he encounters her walking on a lonely road and seeing the peril that she could fall into, takes her to his best friend Henrietta(Hetta) Silverdale's house. So begins a comedy of errors and misunderstandings as Desford tries to find Cherry's grandfather and avoid scandal.

All the main characters were very likable and even the baddies give the reader a chuckle. One of the biggest problems with this book is that I believe that the novel may have benefited from being shorter because there were parts of it that I was not bored with but certainly not interested in. A prime example of this is when Desford sets off to find Cherry's grandfather. The long descriptions of the journey there and back were somewhat tedious and I was impatient to hear more about the main characters not about road travels, broken wheels and horses going lame. Another part of the story that was not as well handled was the romance between the two lovers(sorry I will not tell who these are, you will have to find that out yourself). Not enough time was spent developing that story line and the reader is left to fill in their back story. By the time they get together, you are happy for them but its hard to feel very invested because you are not given the opportunity.

It wasn't all that I thought it was going to be but it was not bad at all. Something tells me that this book is not Georgette Heyer at her best. All in all an entertaining read.

While I'm a fan of almost everything Heyer writes, this one was vastly amusing. It's filled with busy plot where the hero attempts to be just that: a hero to laud, all without compromising Charity or himself in the meantime. And of course, we cannot forget about prior romantic connections, the expected behavior of a gentleman, or the comedic lenghths at which the hero must travel to honor his word. The conflicts and characters all add up to great entertainment.

When Viscount Desford comes upon a young lady walking to London, he stops to ask her where she is going. Charity says she is running away to her Grandfather, so the Viscount vows to help her find her eccentric relative and ends up travelling all over England looking for them. The rather funny antics of Charity and the Viscounts difficult search make a funny story. The outcome is filled with fate, but it all ends well. It is all Georgette Heyer!

This is one of the author's later Regency romances (her next-to-last one, in fact) and while it's not nearly her best, it's not bad at all. It could also practically be titled "Regency Road Trip." Charity Steane (but who prefers to be called "Cherry") has the misfortune to be the daughter of a con man and wastrel who essentially abandoned her to a private school when she was small -- and neglected to pay the bills. Charity was eventually packed off to the country home of her aunt, who saw her as a source of free household labor and treated her abominably. Having taken all she can stand, Charity packs her old portmanteau and sets out on foot for London, to seek assistance from her grandfather, who had cut all ties with her father. However, though she's nineteen, Charity looks and acts much younger and has almost no experience at all of the world. Cut to young Viscount Desford who has been visiting his parents and is also on his way back to London. He sees Cherry trudging along the road and, being both a gentleman and a Good Person, picks her up for her own safety, promising to escort her where she's going. When Granddad (who wasn't expecting company) is discovered to have gone off to the country himself, Des is stuck with the bewildered and panicky girl, for whom he now considers himself responsible. What is he to do with her while he tries to locate the old man? He can't take her to his own home -- people would talk. So he conveys her quickly to the home, not far from his parents' place, of his very old friend, Henrietta Silverdale. Nearly ten years before, Des and Hetta had been the subjects of a parental conspiracy to get them married off, which they had successfully resisted, but they've remained very close and have frequently come to each other's rescue. So Hetta will look after young Charity while Des pursues his quest for her relief.

That's the set-up, somewhat reminiscent of a Hollywood-style romantic comedy, and it works very well. The supporting characters are equally well drawn and the action is more pall-mall than usual in Heyer's work, as Desford, playing the gallant knight errant, hares off to Harrowgate and Bath, interviewing reluctant servants and dealing with rebellion on the part of his own butler and groom, whose sense of the social niceties are more rigid than his own. The pattern you would expect, from experience in reading Heyer's books would be for Des and Charity to discover their feelings for each other in the last chapter, but -- well, I won't give the ending away. But it's an enjoyable weekend's read.

I'll admit it openly and unashamedly: I am a Georgette Heyer fangirl. Anyone who knows me, knows that I simply don't read romances or chick lit, so this admission is a rather earth shattering.

I have been a Heyer fan, since that day in the library when, ever searching for something to recommend to a precocious early teens reader, our local librarian Jill turned to the other librarian Mary and said, "How about Georgette Heyer?". Mary, the Heyer reader, decreed that was an excellent idea, and lead me through the stacks to the H's, showed me the row of Heyer's novels and recommended one. It was love at first read. Since, I've tried other "Regency" authors, but my addiction is to Ms. Heyer, not to the genre of Regency Romance.

Ms. Heyer was excruciatingly historically accurate (to the annoyance of her critics) and filled her books with as much of the language and flavor of Regency England as she possibly could (another sore spot with critics). For a teenager with Asperger's, a predilection toward British history and a love of words, Ms. Heyer's Regency novels, full of such detailed depictions of high society life during this time, were gifts from heaven. I still read them anytime I want a lighter read, to escape completely and totally into another time.

Charity Girl has long been one of my favorites, since that first reading when I found myself surprised (due to slowness to pick up on social cues, even in books) with the ending couples. In this delightful novel, the Viscount Desford (quite the eligible bachelor), meets young (beneath her years) Charity Steane in the role of poor relation in her aunt's house. The next day, he literally runs across her as he is returning to London; she has run away from her unkind (though not cruel, but certainly not loving) aunt and is attempting to walk to London.

Desford knows that she is unsuspecting prey for any blackguard that drives by and does what any decent gentleman would do: he reluctantly becomes involved. His attempts to help Charity find a safe place send him from one shire to the next watering hole, looking for her grandfather. In the meantime, he has placed Charity in the charge of his best friend, Hetta, much to Hetta's chagrin. They've been friends since nursery days, though, and Hetta is persuaded to help him out this scrape, though she worries about the outcome.

Charity Girl is witty and intelligent, with a satisfying romantic conclusion. Her characters are lively and their dialogue is a joy to read. For light reading (though meatier than most light reading), one can't go wrong with this one.

First let me say that is book isnt your typical love story where the main characters fall in love at first sight. There isnt very much interaction between the hero and heroine.

At the age of twenty-nine Viscount Ashley Desford is lectured by his father, the Earl of Wroxton that he should now consider settling down and producing an heir.

Viscount Desford attends a country ball and accidently meets Charity Steane, a nineteen year old girl living almost as a maid in her aunt's home.

He brings it upon himself to help this unfortunate creature from a sad life of servintude and tries to track down her grandfather since her father is considered dead. He has Miss Steane stay with his dearest childhood friend Miss Henrietta Silverdale and her mother Lady Silverdale's countyhome. In the process of running throughout the country, Ashley realizes his own heart. Clean romance, characters are well developed and it is a story I would read again.

While this book may start off slow and shaky, by the end Heyer has her footing again and the plot and characters sparkle. In Charity Girl a Viscount named Desford meets a young woman named Charity, "Cherry" for short, hiding away upstairs at a ball. She was foisted off on these relatives by an absent father and is treated more like glorified help then a poor relation in need. Naturally she ends up running away to London in a search for her grandfather. Desford finds her on the road to London and, after hearing her story, decides she would be better off with her grandfather and so gives her a lift. Unfortunately they arrive in London just to discover that her grandfather is out in the country and no one knows where or when he will be back.

Now things look really bad. Desford is now in a position where he has an unattended young girl who has run away in his carriage and no family for her to go to. That's when he hits upon the idea of taking her to his best friend Henrietta out in the country to have her watch the girl in respectability while he tries to track down her grandfather. That's when the story really takes off and all sorts of twists and turns follow as Charity settles in caring for Henrietta's shrewish mother and Desford sets off going from town to town searching for the missing grandfather.

I thought the beginning of this novel started off a little shakily. I guess I'm picky in my romances, I like to know who the couple is that I'm rooting for up front, but that turned out to be impossible as you don't know for sure until about half way through the book. Once that is cleared up the story picks up nicely from there. There are all of Heyer's hallmarks, last minute plot twists, snappy and amusing dialog, sparkling female characters, and trouble makers that make your blood boil.

After a beginning that has Charity sparkling about half way through the author suddenly reduces her to a silly chit with more beauty than sense. Along with that she is portrayed as loving, wait for it, regency romance novels. The moment that was revealed was the moment that the plot started to turn and I thought it was half hilarious, half outrageous. Charity chatters on with Henrietta's mother, and anyone that will listen, about the plot twisty romance novels that she loves to read and makes herself ridiculous by so doing. A writer of regency romance makes fun of a reader of regency romance in a regency romance? I think only Heyer could pull that off. I heard before that she never thought much of the readers that enjoyed her work and after reading scenes like that I do start to wonder!

The book still finishes wonderfully even after all of that. I loved the wit shown by the Desford and Henrietta. I liked the barbs and jokes that were scattered throughout, even the ones pointed squarely at me. But, most of all, I really did like Charity even if she ended up being reduced to a silly girl by the end. I still loved her character from the opening pages. If you don't mind unexpected pairings and a surprising romance that twists and turns, or being considered a silly wigeon for enjoying such, then you will love Charity Girl.

CHARIETY GIRL by Georgette Heyer is not an outstanding addition by the Queen of Regency, but it is a light fun read. Henrietta Silverdale is induced to provide shelter for Chariety Steane by her friend, Viscount Desford.
Henrietta's interest in the young Viscount changes and the fun begins as he seeks a way to prevent a return to the life of an unpaid servant that is in store for Charity as her aunt's ward.
Nash Black, author of Indie finalists WRITING AS A SMALL BUSINESS and HAINTS.

I love Georgette Heyer books and I was thrilled when I saw "Charity Girl" which for me was a new Georgette Heyer. It didn't live up to all her other books. The plot was weak and the lead characters barely interacted with each other. Worse the book was all "tell" and barely any show. Still the characterizations were, as usual for a Georgette Heyer book, so well done that Des and Hetta felt like real people.

One definite negative distraction was the typesetting. No one went through and removed the hyphens that were used nearly forty years ago when a word was split in two at the end of a line. The new typesetting has these hyphenated words in the middle of a line. I hope if there is another edition put out in the future they are removed.

Everything is just average (if not boring) in this one. I found no sparks flying between the hero and heroin. I kept waiting and waiting for the story to take an interesting turn, and it never did. Halfway through, I was almost tempted to put this one down, but for sheer obstinacy. I was quite disappointed when I reached the last line, but also relieved because I can finally go on to the next one in my Heyer list.