Customer Reviews

Fleeting Fancy

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After I bought this book, I noticed that the previous owner had written on the inside of the back cover, in prissy handwriting very suitable for the book, that the characters had poor motivation, the plot was unbelievable, and that the characters were unsympathetic. A warning for those who came across it? Maybe.

After reading the book, of course, I was able to judge for myself. If anything, in judging it, I realized just how late 20th century I am. As a whole, the characters in the book, all members of the aristocracy, seemed to have way too much time on their hands and way too little brains. But that is probably the case with most Regency romances. And again with Regencys, it's all about your reputation: the plot, the unbelievable, plot is how the innocent gullible Miss Primula Greetwell was tricked into a false marriage to a viscount. She thinks it's real, of course, until he dumps her at her parents' doorstep. Naturally, if this was EVER to be known, Primula's Reputation Would Be Utterly Ruined and she would become a prostitute, with no other course to live (the author, of course, never says this outright, but she doesn't have to) But Primula's parents never ask where she was and she doesn't wind up on the streets, but she never marries either. But--and this must be for there to be a book--nine years later she's still in love with the man who treated her so horribly. And then his father comes along and offers her the chance to marry him--for his own reasons, of course.

So Primula and Severn get married.... Then, there's the fact that Primula is so boring. She is just a big nothing--Severn forgets her really fast, though he does get his memory jogged when he sees her at the chapel. Then there's the fact that she's still in love with a man she knew for two weeks nine years before? Her life may be boring and staid, and this may be a romance novel... but please! Even proper women know to hate and forget the scoundrels who do them wrong. Once they're married though, the subplot takes over the book.

That would be the story of poor little Sarah Jane Emwilton, who is connected to Primula's family--Primula's mother is her godmother, or something similar. Again, my reaction to her shows how late 20th century I am: I thought she was an idiot. Not a bad person, but hopelessly sheltered and ignorant, as she would have been as a young woman from the upper classes She's 22, but acts like she's 10, and knows even less than a 10 year old. She becomes a governess when she and her mother are on their own, nearly gets seduced and is thrown out into the street where everyone is horrible--until she is rescued by a lady who isn't a lady but is, in fact, a courtesan. And it seems she's no choice but to become the smae.

I don't need to tell you, dear reader, that she doesn't: that Sarah Jane gets properly married in a church. The life of the characters is shaken, but on the whole, is never really threatened. We know it will work out, and that order will be restored to the world of the ton. Young lovers may make off for Gretna Green, but they won't make it--they'll get married in a church in front of Society. A girl's reputation may be threatened, but she'll get her man, marriage, and it'll all be ok, the way it should be.

The most interesting characters in the book were ones who will never be the heroes/heroines of a romance novel, but perhaps should be. That would be the Earl of Malhythe (spelled wrong, don't remember) and Aspasia, the courtesan who rescues Sarah Jane, is Malhythe's lover, and is always involved behind the scenes, as is the Earl. There are hints about Aspasia's life--that she has been on her own since 15--but I would have liked to know more, about what her life had been like. The Earl, who is a scheming, ruthless, nobleman, though not entirely unsympathetic is much more interesting than the fainting upper class miss Sarah Jane or boring Primula. The book should have been about him. But then, it wouldn't be the same book.

"Fleeting Fancy" is a fine example of a Regency screwball comedy. It's not a true romance in the normal sense at all, as titular heroine Primula Greetwell had been abandoned by her short-term husband, Lord Severn, a few weeks after the wedding nine years before. Severn tricked her; she wasn't really married at all.

When his father, the Earl of Malhythe, finds out, he exiles Severn to India, hoping that will civilize him, or that the Indian people will rid him of the problem.

Flash forward nine years. Primula is now 25, Severn is in his mid-30s, and he wants to come home. So, his father the Earl says to him that he'll allow it if he just married the person his father wants him to marry sight unseen.

And he does, like an obedient (idiot) son. And then, because the Earl is still mad at him, he's instructed Primula not to talk about the past and to pretend she's never seen him before, and he's told his son to make her happy, or else.

Now, anyone reading this summation might be asking, "So, Barb, why do you like this book? Not much plot here." Well, it's a screwball comedy! It reminded me of a Regency as done by Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn when they were feeling particularly cranky, and with lots of the witty byplay that characterized those actors.

The subplots are interesting, but incomplete. The first one deals with the courtesan Aspasia, who is the Earl's mistress. She appears to be almost forty, so she can't marry the Earl; it's just "Not Done" in the Regency period. But she can love him and be with him discreetly, and so she is. She's a high class courtesan, not a mere mistress; she could pick and choose anyone, even at her age; that's made perfectly clear.

Aspasia comes along Primula's relation Sarah Jane, who's lying in the street. When Sarah Jane had been propositioned, she ran and went for help, but the servants and "respectable" people turned her away, despite the fact that she was an upper class woman down on her luck (her father had left her and her mother penniless, so she'd gone to work as a governess). Only Aspasia would help her, and if Aspasia hadn't found her, she would have died.

So, of course, Severn's young nephew gets involved with Sarah Jane while she's staying at Aspasia's, and he's sensible enough not to care -- but "High Society" surely would, and Aspasia knows it. They run off to get married, which causes Aspasia to join forces with Primula. They chase after the nephew and Sarah Jane, hoping to keep them from folly -- which causes Severn to go after Primula, which finally makes Primula see that they're destined for each other. (I know their reconciliation scene was a bit before the "merry chase" scenes, but I view their true marriage starting right there.) After this, there's a Shakespeare-style denouement that explains why the Earl was so nasty (Severn has already apologized to Primula for his earlier bad behavior), then everyone manages to live happily every after -- even the Earl and Aspasia.

Granted, without the comedy, this book wouldn't be any fun. The characters mostly aren't as deep as in most of Ms. Edghill's other books, and the action is frenetic. Yes, there are the stereotypical "gaming hell" and dancing scenes, but they are perfunctory -- which once again proves that this isn't a romance at all, but a screwball comedy.

And if you're looking for other literature that is more a sort of screwball comedy than anything else, look to Shakespeare. "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "All's Well That Ends Well," and "Much Ado About Nothing" all have plots that sound patently ridiculous without the humor -- just as Ms. Edghill's "Fleeting Fancy" does.

The main reason this book deserves four stars and a recommended tag is that I kept laughing uproariously, to the point that my husband had to leave the room because he was getting deafened by my laughter. In addition, "Fleeting Fancy" is a rather nifty prequel to my favorite of Ms. Edghill's four Regencies, "Two of a Kind," and that made me laugh even harder.

So, despite the fact that my review is going completely against the experts, who appear to have missed the point of what this book was about, I recommend this book and hope that, if you can find it, you'll enjoy it, too.

Four stars. Recommended.

Barb Caffrey