Customer Reviews

Friday's Child (Berkley Large-Type Edition)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The opening scene of Sherry trying to propose to the Toast of London is a grabber, and the story goes charging off from there. Scorned and needing a wife to gain control of his finances, Sherry vows to marry the first woman he meets. That turns out to be Hero Wantage, the neglected poor relation of his neighbors who tagged after him as a child and still gives him devoted loyalty. She is thrilled to be a London lady, although she hasn't the least idea how to go about it. Although this looks like a romance, this is really the story of a young man learning to grow up. Sherry is essentially good-hearted but selfish; he doesn't want the responsibility of looking after a wife. This would be fine if he married a woman who was up to snuff, but his Kitten is decidely not. While Sherry's friends (a superb collection of supporting characters) look out for her as best they can, eventually it's time for Sherry to do the job himself. The finale, with various plot threads coming together with screwball abandon, is a triumph.

This is one of Heyer's longer books and it is packed full of wonderful characters as only Heyer can write them. The Heroine is the impetuous Sherry, who when rejected by the 'love' of his life Isabella, vows to marry the first woman he sees. This happens to be his young playmate, Hero Wantage. She is a bit younger than Sherry (who is already rather young himself) and both are rather naive about life in general.

Sherry and Sherry's friends believe they can just carry with their lives as things were even though Sherry is married and Hero is quite happy for that to happen too - only as it turns out London is a lot bigger and a lot less easy for her to navigate in her usual good natured way. She gets fleeced by card sharps and has to be rescued from any number of scrapes by an increasingly worried and agitated and finally angry Sherry.

What makes this such a good read is that the humour running through it - Hero is a great character, and Sherry's friends are also fun - but underneath it is a very good story about growing up - becoming responsible and facing up to your responsibilities. It also has a complex mix of characters who keep stumbling over one anotherand interfering with each other's plans - and Heyer does this so well.

If you like Friday's Child you will probably also enjoy Cotillion and Convenient Marriage also by Heyer.

I read my first "regency romance" from Ms. Heyer at the age of 13, and a few decades later still go back to my favourites. This story is definately one of them.

For anyone who isn't already a fan of Georgette Heyer's largest group of books, this wonderful lady, writing in early and mid 20th-century England, produced a glorious collection of romances set in Regency England,(while all the time despising these best-selling books that took her away from the straight historical books she really wanted to write, but wrote more slowly.) (Oh yes, she also wrote some pretty good murder mysteries too, but this isn't one of them.)
Her many fans are really pleased she did have these economic needs, because we find her romantic novels enjoyable again and again, and don't care about a few (paltry) flaws.
Georgette Heyer's romances stand out from all others, to me anyway, because of the great sense of humour and wit that makes all of the books great fun, the easy to read style that never becomes banal, and plots which, although always happy-ending and sometimes rather similar, are never, ever, boring. If you like romances that are well-written, without taking themselves too seriously, and you're happy to know the right guy will always get the (sometimes wrong, but always feisty, and never insipid) heroine, try her books. You'll likely get hooked, and then be delighted to find there's plenty more (though not always in print).

I probably call this book 'gentle' because the hero isn't apparently hateful, or offensive or caustic, just very likeable and somewhat thoughtless. There is one truly bad guy, whose inner wickedness is revealed gradually, and that anyone familiar with Heyer's books will pleasantly anticipate eventually getting his due, and there's an unpleasant (and very silly) mother-in-law, but this book has much less black/white stereotyping than some of Ms.Heyer's other books.

What keeps me enjoying "Friday's Child" again and again is the broad range of characters included in the tale. With the hero's three friends, all very clearly different, playing their own parts in the twists and turns of the plot and general misunderstandings, plus various relatives contributing their own little cameos, there's plenty of variety in the story. After reading this book I always feel that I've met (or meet again) a nice assortment of different characters, none of them perfect, but most very likeable, with a few wonderfully unlikeable for contrast.

Like all of Georgette Heyer's Regency stories you get a great (and well-researched) trip back into Society life during the Regency period, but this typically-Heyer gem gives you more. There's the wonderful range of characters you are shown, plus more enjoyment of the of the secondary personalities . In this picture of Regency England you learn more than the all-important niceties of "good ton" and "NOT good ton", you are introduced to some varied aspects of society. The nobility you meet include the honest and the phony, the noble-but-nasty and the basically-decent, the thoughtful and impulsive, sensible and silly, and you also glimpse characters from the rest of society, living in a version of England that's very different from that of the main protagonists.

All in all, this is another glorious read from the much loved Georgette Heyer. If you've read her other books, be prepared for some delightful hours, and if this is a more mellow read than some, with a bit less life-and-death drama, the pleasure is no less, with lots of fun and variety, and if you roughly guess the ending (pure Heyer) there's a load of very believable ups-and-downs before you get there. If you are new to this author, (and you don't despise happy endings), you're in for much fun.

You will never be disappointed with a Georgette Heyer novel. The conversations between her characters are brilliant. You discover almost everything by how they address each other! She also has the most uniquely named people in her books.

The way both characters in this book mature and evolve is wonderful. Sherry (Lord Sherington) calls Hero (his wife) "Kitten" and indeed he treats her like a pampered pet. But trouble brews for these newlyweds with gambling and other mischief afoot. Both main characters have a long way to go before becoming proper! The journey will keep you interested beginning to end with all the other characters just as interesting and amusing.

Superb romance with substance.

This book's hero is quite different from the bored, sophisticated older man that Heyer usually casts in that role. Instead, "Sherry" is a gentleman in his early twenties who must marry to take control of his fortune from his unscrupulous uncle. When his current infatuation rejects his proposal, Sherry, miffed, finds a childhood friend in the village (Hero Wantage, "not quite seventeen") and marries her instead. Sherry's close friends all play a major role in the story and are admirably drawn, as are the hero and heroine. There are plenty of comic moments, the romance is quite believably developed, and I found myself laughing aloud more than once at the scrapes Hero keeps getting herself into. This is Ms. Heyer at her very best, and an excellent first-time pick for those Regency readers who wonder what all the fuss is about this grande dame of period romance.

This is a great story. It's light-hearted and full of fun, but has its serious side and some truly touching moments as well.
Sherry (Viscount Sheringham) has just has his proposal of marriage spurned by the Incomparable Isabella. Further put out of temper by his dreadful mother and uncle, he storms back to London, vowing to marry the first woman he sees. That happens to be Hero, a sixteen-year-old orphaned neighbour who has been devoted to him ever since they were children. Both are happy with his plan, Sherry because it will put him in control of his fortune and Hero because it gives her an escape from the tyranny of the cousins she lives with. But Sherry, who is both wild and irresponsible, does not find it as easy to have a wife as he thought it would be, while Hero, who was never trained for the position she now holds, finds herself falling into one disaster after another. She finds her position growing ever more difficult, especially when she comes to realise that she loves Sherry, but he does not seem to love her. When yet another social faux pas seems like the final straw for her and Sherry's marriage, she takes desperate action that might save the day . . . or will it?
Sherry and Hero are great characters, and make a lovely couple. Both are kind-hearted, irresponsible, hedonistic and hot-tempered. I also love this book for Sherry's friends. Gil is the token sensible person, Ferdy is well-mannered but thick, and George is a highly romantic figure, desperately in love with Isabella and forever trying to pick fights. The back-and-forth between Hero, Isabella, and Sherry and his friends is what really makes this book. Heyer displays her talent for comedy and for choosing exactly the right word to perfection.
Does everything turn out well in the end? Of course it does - but not in the way you might expect. Keep an eye out for the pickpocket turned groom.

After years of hearing the praises of author Georgette Heyer, I could no longer resist the temptation and dove in head first on the recommendation of Heyer enthusiast Vic (Ms. Place) of Jane Austen's World, selecting the author's favorite book Friday's Child. Since Heyer published 56 books over 53 years, she had a few to choose from and I was confident that this neophyte would have one of the better novels to begin my indoctrination. I now see what all the fuss is about. Georgette Heyer is a treasure.

Spendthrift Anthony Verelst, Viscount Sheringham doesn't give a fig about his finances until his creditors do. Selfish, impetuous and deeply in debt, he is unable to access his inheritance until he reaches 25 or marries and sets out to acquire a wife proposing to his neighbor and lifelong friend Isabella Milborne, an `Incomparable', whose beauty and elegance are renown. She doesn't think much of the idea or of Lord Sheringham's dissipated lifestyle and rebuffs the offer. Indignant, he swears to marry the next girl he sees who happens to be seventeen year old Hero Wantage, the neighborhood orphan Cinderella living with cousins who want to farm her out to be a governess. By no means a scholar, Hero is miffed by the work plan just wanting to have a bit of fun and enjoy the charms of society in London. Seizing the opportunity, Hero accepts Sherry's proposal and they run away to London to be married. It is here we are introduced to the real heart of the story, Sherry's three male friends: his two cousins steady Gilbert (Gil) Ringwood and the foppish Hon. Ferdinand (Ferdy) Fakenham, and his hot headed friend George, Lord Wrotham who form sort of a bumbling bachelors club of Regency society dandies. Their influence drives the story as they help Hero (nicknamed Kitten) unschooled in the nuances of social etiquette and a bit lacking in common sense out of all sorts of scrapes that threaten her reputation and infuriate her husband who in turn is as equally clueless about his own responsibilities as a newly married man.

Heyer gives us a delightful view of Regency era London with its social outlets for the rich: fashion, dancing, parties, gambling, romantic intrigues, and the gambit of other frivolous extravagances that entertain the high society 'ton' world. Her characters are each distinctive in personality and well drawn out. The three bachelor friends were especially enjoyable as their priceless dialogue humorously captures that uniquely British drawing room chatter of "I dare says" and "dash it alls" that at times from other authors seems trite, but in this case just lifted the colloquial credibility and ambience. Even though this novel was written over sixty years ago, it is surprisingly superior in style and creativity to many being produced today. Friday's Child reads like an expertly paced stage play, and I felt the influence of Heyer's contemporaries in playwrights Noel Coward and George Bernard Shaw in the satirical social commentary and humorous biting dialogues. There were a few holes in the plot such as Sherry's concerns over his uncle's abuse of the trusteeship of his estate not materializing or Hero's continual naïveté among others, but they were very minor and did not spoil my enjoyment. The gradual maturity and transition by both protagonists gave for a rewarding end. It is easy to see why so many Jane Austen fans adore Georgette Heyer as they share in the sisterhood of the `Gentle Reprove Society' of comedic social satire. Friday's Child matched it's namesake from the old nursery rhyme as loving and giving, and critics marginalizing Heyer's works as mere romances take heed. Like Austen's novels, this is so much more than Chicklit.

Laurel Ann, Austenprose

I am 45 years old and have read all of Heyer's books currently in print, several many times. Friday's Child and Devils's Cub - two quite different stories - are Heyer's best. Devil's Cub is traditionally romantic from beginning to end - tall, dark, impetuous hero and wise, grey-eyed heroine. Friday's Child features a young, naive heroine and the clueless young man she adores but who does not value her until the end of the story. The cast of supporting characters is beautifully drawn, the dialogue is wonderful, the action is funny and fast-paced, and this is the only Heyer book that makes me cry every time I read it. I am surprised by my tears every time. Escapist fiction does not get any better.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
I gave this a high rating because very few books make me laugh. The funniest parts are Sherry's guy friends helping Sherry be responsible for Hero's care. When Sherry first travels with Hero, the guys are helping him figure out where she should sleep, how to hire an abigail for her, etc. There's one scene where Hero's former guardian Mrs. Bagshot visits Hero. Sherry walks in with a comment to Hero, but as soon as he sees Mrs. Bagshot, he says "My God" and immediately leaves the room. It had me laughing.

One of my frequent complaints with romance novels is how the author creates conflict to separate the couple. Not so in this book. I was impressed. I could easily understand how Sherry was angry at leaving his hunting fun to fix things with Hero once again. His anger and proposed solution made sense from his point of view.

Toward the end, some events felt contrived and a bit silly, but I accepted them since the rest was so good. One of Heyer's strengths is creating so many different types of characters. I was intrigued and entertained with weird Ferdy. His mind was slow and his thinking odd. During one event, he was reminded of the Greek goddess Nemesis he heard about in school. Then when he wrote a note to Sherry his mind wandered in his note, which was so confusing it was funny. He meant to write a metaphor but made it sound like a Greek fellow was after them. A lot of different things happen in the book. It was a fun read all the way through.

The narrator Eve Matheson was wonderful - as usual.

STORY BRIEF:
Sherry is 24 and will inherit his wealth at age 25 or when he marries. His uncles manage his money and are too restrictive. He suspects one of the uncles is skimming money from estate. He has no desire to marry, but he wants possession of his money. So he asks the local beauty Bella to marry him. She refuses. He decides to head to town and marry the first girl he sees. As he is driving, he sees Hero sitting by the road. Her parents died early and she is being raised by Mrs. Bagshot. She is treated poorly, and Mrs. Bagshot plans to send her away to work as a governess. She is 17. She is crying. Over the years Sherry has been a bit of a bully to her, but he always liked her. When he tells her his plan to marry the first girl he sees, she laughingly says "that would be me." As he thinks about it, he decides she would be a good choice since she would let him continue his current lifestyle of gaming and chasing women. There's no way for her to pack her bags without alerting her guardian, so Sherry takes her as she is, and off they go to London. When he gets there, his friends help him decide where to put her up for the night and where to get clothes, etc.

Hero is like a kitten and that's what Sherry and his friends call her. She is so innocent and trusting of others that she is constantly getting into scrapes. Sherry and his friends repeatedly come to her aid. Although they marry, they don't kiss or sleep together. Sherry treats her like a younger sister. She does everything she can to make Sherry happy. He doesn't know that she loves him.

DATA:
Unabridged audiobook length: 13 hours 46 minutes. Narrator: Eve Matheson. Swearing language: none. Sexual content: none. Setting: 1816 England. Book Published: 1944. Genre: regency romance.

I am a great fan of Georgette Heyer's regency novels, but this one is not a favorite. The premise for the action, that young and immature Lord Sherringham, rebuffed by the lovely Isabella, is so angry that he vows, and actually does, marry the first woman he sees after his rejection, is a novel and promising one. The young lady, even younger and more naive than her new husband, is Hero Wantage (a wonderful and symbolic name!), who has been devoted to "Sherry" all her life--he decides to call her "Kitten" and treats her indeed as a sort of pet. The problem is that the social faux pas which cause Hero so much grief go on for far too long. Unusually for a Heyer novel, Friday's Child seems endless, and the trick becomes a bit tired.
The ending seems unconvincing and incomplete, with only a show of maturation on the part of the newlyweds. (Isabella seems to mature more than Hero!)

Bright spots are the hero's humorous friends, with the exception of the lovelorn George, and Heyer's usual expert evocation of Regency England.

Try Frederica instead!