Customer Reviews

Cousin Kate

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

.................................... Her writing style is always exquisite, and her ear for dialogue is parallelled by none. Even in a book where she was not at her utmost greatest, she is still very readable; and Cousin Kate is one of those books. It is not Heyer at her best, however. The characters are just a shade under-developed, veering dangerously towards the two-dimensional, which is very unusual for Heyer, and the story is not as elegantly plotted as we expect from Heyer. Having said this, it remains to be said that "Cousin Kate" shows Heyer at the last height of her talent. Her last historical romances after "Cousin Kate" were "Charity Girl" and "Lady of Quality", both proving a sad disappointment on the whole. So "Cousin Kate" is Heyer's last wholly successful and well-written novel. This gives the book a pathos to the Heyer fan, as does the fact that it was written during a serious illness on Heyer's part. If you read the book, you can sense the author's illness-induced depression underneath the surface comedy, and more obviously, in the dark twists and turns of the Gothic plot. However, Cousin Kate remains a classic Heyer study of character and Regency attitudes, and boasts a wonderfully warm and generous heroine who it is impossible not to dislike, and one of Heyer's most pleasant and agreeable heroes. (If you're expecting the bared teeth and masterful machoism of a Regency Buck, you will be disappointed, but if you like a man who you can talk to, who is warm and considerate and dependant, here is a book that will satisfy you as regards romance) It was written in response to the popularity of the Gothic romance as exemplified in Victoria Holt, so inevitably, such a departure from the "Heyer mould" of gentle and pleasant romance with a strongly realistic and sensible basis could disappoint some fans. But having said all this, I highly recommend the book "Cousin Kate." to anyone who wants to see how competently Heyer handled what is an essentially different type of historical novel.

This is a superior Georgette Heyer work; a bit darker and more serious than most of her other books, but as always there is the fast wit, and a happy ending.

Kate Malvern is the orphaned daughter of a goodhearted, gambling-prone father and a beautiful but poor mother. Her father's death leaves her alone and impoverished in the world, and she comes to stay with her old nurse, Sarah, while looking for a new job. An aunt comes along and kindly and affectionately invites her to stay in her husband's family estate. Kate agrees, reluctantly-- because none of her relatives have never acknowledged her existence before. Staplewood, the estate, is beautiful and cold, and there she meets her cousin Torquil (a young man with the face of an angel), her sickly uncle Sir Timothy, and Sir Timothy's nephew Phillip. At first, everything seems too good to be true, and slowly, Kate unravels the deep secret that haunts the family.

Kate is a very charming and appealing heroine. She is mature yet innocent, is very witty and charming without being obnoxious, and is spirited without being willful or heedless. The hero, kind-hearted Phillip, is neither a dandy nor a cynical Corinthian, which is quite refreshing. Although still a Cinderella story of sorts, the romance between them is much more satisfying and believable than those in most other Heyer works.

Overall, a very interesting and different book from Georgette Heyer, and one of her best.

No one can compare to Georgette Heyer. Many try to emulate her style,
but practically no one has mastered it. And in spite of her
troublesome tendency to marry off naive young girls barely out of the
schoolroom to older sophisticated men of the world; and her frequent
portrayal of the middle and merchant classes as uncultured, uncouth
and grasping, perpetually trying to curry favour with the upper
classes; she is still one of my favourite authours.

With this novel,
Heyer abandons somewhat the comedy of manners that she is so well
known for and enters the darker realm of the gothic novel. The heroine
of the piece is Kate Malvern, a penniless orphan, who has just lost
her latest job as a governess and her home. An aunt that she knows
little of offers her a home at Staplewood Manor. Her aunt, Minerva
Broome, wants Kate to act as a companion and friend to her young
cousin, Torquil, who happens to be a charming and clever young man but
who is troubled by frequent mood swings and bouts of depression. All
too soon Kate discovers that all is not well at Staplewood
Manor. There is an atmosphere of secrecy and deception. And Kate soon
finds that she doesn't know whom to trust or what to do.

In Kate
Malvern, Heyer has created a witty, courageous and gallant heroine
that engages the reader. The avid Georgette Heyer fan may miss the
lively light hearted romps she is most famous for, but I can recommend
this book as a wonderful read, especially for its gallant heroine.

When Kate Malvern finds herself unable to obtain another post as a governess, her future looks bleak.As a penniless, orphaned daughter of an army officer of good family, her chances of a good marriage are negligible.Unexpectedly,she is visited by an aunt whom she has never met before and whisked off to the country.Aunt Minerva plies her with gifts and clothes,but, to her horror, realises that she's been chosen as a bride for her mad cousin Torquil.She then meets Philip, a nephew and possible heir of Sir Timothy, Torquils father, and they fall madly in love. Terrible tragedy befalls the family before the obligatory happy ending.It's a likeable quick read and quite a bit darker than Miss Heyers usual tales.

"Cousin Kate" is a dark, gothic novel, different from most of Georgette Heyer's other works. I have nothing against dark or gothic, but there is a lack of originality in this predictable plot and the characters lack the usual "Heyer spark." I believe that the author wrote this novel while she was ill. This is apparent as her delightful verve is very much missing here.

Kate Malvern, 24, orphaned and penniless, has been fired from her job as a governess through no fault of her own. She is surprised by an invitation to stay with her father's half sister, (whom she has never met), at the sumptuous estate Staplewood. There she meets the elderly lord of the manor, her aunt's husband Sir Timothy, their strange and ailing son, Torquil, and a cast of characters right out of the Addam's Family scrapbook. Why has this distant relation made Kate an honored guest and gifted her with beautiful clothing, jewelry and almost cloying kindness? Kate thinks she has the answers....but...?

I would say that to discover the secrets behind this strange tale you will have to read the book. However, as a major Georgette Heyer fan, I don't mind reading her most mediocre novels...and there aren't many. You, on the other hand, may want to save yourself the time. There isn't very much to surprise, enlighten or horrify here. This one is not a keeper.
JANA

A very different type of book than Georgette Heyer usually wrote, "Cousin Kate" takes us to a more "Gothic" style of romance and leads us through the dangerous paths of madness.

Kate Malvern is a likeable heroine, yet one who is strangely nieve for all her worldly experience. One starts of not knowing which characters to trust, and this book definately keeps one enthralled to the end.

A book that is not universally liked by Georgette Heyer fans, it is one that you really must read to make your own decisions about it.

Kate Malvern is in desperate straights. She has no family left in the world to take her in, she believes, and so stays with her old nursery maid while considering a job in the working class as a governess, companion or abigail. At her old nurse's urging a letter is sent to some distant relations in the neighborhood, to everyone's surprise the relations respond and soon Cousin Kate finds herself settling in at a place called Staplewood with her aunt and uncle and cousin Torquil. The family is strange though, her cousin lives off in one wing, while her uncle lives in another. No one is responding to the letters she sends, and bizarre events begin to unfold. Her aunt's unexpected generosity may have come at a steep price.

This novel is quite different from a lot of Georgette Heyer's other pieces. It's very dark first off, more of a gothic novel than any thing else with many spooky events and unsettling discoveries not to mention the impending sense of doom.

One of the things I like so much about Heyer's novels is her deep character studies and Cousin Kate is no different. In fact in this novel she takes it a step further and addresses the very real concerns about how mental illness was treated and the attitude towards it during the regency. Very spooky, no wonder the gothic genre even arose in the first place. No doubt it was from households like these.

Of course, you can't have a Georgette Heyer without the romance. Cousin Phillip is yet another cousin of the establishment that comes to visit at this awkward time and good thing too! He at first believes her to be after the family money but soon realizes something far more sinister is afoot, and Kate is the target of it. Really, I found the misunderstandings these two continually went through to be surprisingly endearing. Normally I can't stand for characters to make a muddle of things. But, with everything else going on around them I could hardly blame them.

I've been seeing Heyer novels brought up on several blogs as her books are being re-released again. I wasn't sure which one to start with but Aarti of Booklust gave me a few recommendations. I wanted to read Cousin Kate as it is a gothic novel, which I love, though Heyer is more known for Regency romances.

Kate Malvern is twenty-four, an orphan, and has just been fired from her position as a governess. She moves in with her former nurse, Sarah and her family. Kate is determinded to find a new position but Sarah thinks that someone in Kate's family should take her in. She writes to Kate's aunt, whom Kate has never met. Minerva Broome shows up to invite Kate back to her estate, Staplewood, which Kate accepts.

At first Kate is thrilled, her aunt is generous and kind, her uncle, though ill is warm and welcoming. Torquil is her cousin, aged nineteen and though he has his moods and delicate constitution, Kate is fond of him.

But then some strange things happen. Kate hears screaming one night but can't investigate as she is locked in her room. Torquil becomes more difficult to handle and uncle's nephew, Philip insinuates that Kate should leave Staplewood. Kate is unsure what to do or where she would go as she has not heard from Sarah since she moved to Staplewood.

my review: I enjoyed this novel quite a bit; Kate is fearless and spunky, Torquil is creepy, and her aunt is mysterious. A perfect setting for a gothic novel. Of course I love this time period and British novels, so that helped. But I did have some trouble with the language. I thought I was almost fluent in British but I encountered many a word or phrase I was unfamiliar with; farrafiddles, skimble-skamble, jarvey,and nab the rust were a few of my favorites.

It did not detract from the story however. The beginning felt a little slow but it picked up and then went quite fast at the end.
I'm not sure I am a Heyer convert but I think I will read one of the books that was more strongly recommended by Aarti, The Talisman's Ring. Also, I'm not a fan of my library's copies as these are books from decades ago, but it seems that many of the Heyer books are now available as ebooks, so I will try that.

my rating 3.5/5

I've just started reading Georgette Heyer and of the 8 books I have read, I've loved them all until I got to this one. The heroine is annoying and because I could not sympathize with the characters, I found the plot boring and tedious. I'm jealously guarding all my Georgette Heyers for re-reading, but with this book, I could not toss it quickly enough.

The Georgette Heyer novel, Cousin Kate, did not improve for me with the passage of years. I read this book first many years ago and only recently found it on my bookshelf and decided to give it another try. I must admit that I much prefer the Heyer mysteries to her romances, but I usually like just about anything she wrote. This book is probably one of the exceptions to that statement.

Katherine Malvern is a 24 year old spinster who grew up "following the drum". Her father was an active duty Army officer and so Kate, her mother, and her nurse Sarah traveled with him wherever he was posted. During times of war, they were as close to him as it was safe to be. Kate's mother died first, then her father, leaving her a virtual orphan since neither side of her parents families acknowleged them after their marriage. Kate has just been fired from her position of governess because an unmarried man within the household began making romantic advances toward her. This was definitely not her fault but she suffered the consequences anyway. Her only alternative was to travel to London where her old nurse Sarah was living with her husband and his family. Because Sarah felt it was unfair that none of Kate's relations knew of her plight she wrote a letter, without Kate's knowlege, to Lady Minerva Broome of Staplewood, an estate some fifty miles from London. Instead of answering the letter, Lady Minerva came in person to pursuade Kate to come to Staplewood for a visit while she got her life back on track. If Kate should so desire, Lady Minerva would provide a new position for Kate to go to after her visit was over.

On her arrival at Staplewood, Kate finds a household divided into two distinct camps. Those loyal to Sir Timothy Broome, and those loyal to Lady Minerva. There are quite a few characters in this novel but the principal players are Torquil Broome, the nineteen year old son and heir, Dr. Delabole, who resides permanently within the home to care for both Sir Timothy and Torquil, and Philip Broome, Sir Timothy's nephew from his first marriage.

This will never be my favorite Georgette Heyer novel. It is quite dark, very Gothic in its feel, and the principal characters were not very likeable for me. Perhaps that is too harsh. I liked Kate most of the time but often felt that she was too good to be true and really couldn't see the forest for the trees. She hung on to her doubts about what was happening within the household much too long for believability. Sir Timothy was not brought to life for me. I always wanted to find out more about him, to get to know him somehow. Lady Minerva was very well fleshed out by Ms Heyer but was very much a classic villainess and so I couldn't have any sympathy for her. Toward the end of the book I thoroughly disliked her (proving that Heyer had done a wonderful job with this character, at least). I liked the character of Philip very much. He was kind, understanding, and very quickly became enchanted with Kate and yet I wanted him to DO something. Basically, that is my problem with this entire book. I wanted it to DO something, GO somewhere. It is almost 400 pages long and great long portions of it are given over to repeating thoughts and ideas and wonderings which have all been gone into before. I found it, in a word, boring.

Georgette Heyer is a fabulous writer. I will not let my reaction to this particular book keep me from re-reading all the other Heyers on my bookshelf. I will probably read one of her mysteries first, though, before I delve once again into the romance side of this authors collection.