Customer Reviews

A Matter of Class

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is the story of Lady Annabelle Ashton, the only child of the most austere Earl of Havercroft and Reginald Mason, the son of a crass social climbing merchant. When the book opens Reginald is being schooled by his father. During the last year Reginald has become a profligate dandy. His father seeks to put an end to his extravagance. Reginald counters that he is a young up-and-comer who, at the age of twenty five years, is only aping the behavior of his gentlemen companions. These are the activities and interests of the idle gentry class. And, oh by the way, his is not the worst transgression in the neighborhood, has his father heard about the Earl's diamond of a daughter? No? Well, she has utterly and completely ruined herself in a failed attempt at elopement with her father's handsome footman. Reginald's father gleefully smiles and rubs his palms together. Here is an opportunity, for advancement and revenge. His old enemy, the Earl, is in dire straits, he needs the money his daughter was to marry into. No one of his class will have the chit now. He, the one the Earl looks down his long nose at, will save the family from ruin and in doing so elevate his son.

Proud Annabelle has been locked in a barren room with only her bible for companionship. She is to be sent to a distant estate to live out her days as a spinster. How far she has fallen. Even her mother's companionship is to be denied to her. How could her plans have gone so horribly awry? Annabelle is no ones damsel in distress, but if ever she needed a knight it is now. Someone to fight by her side. Her father enters her cell, the family has been saved. Saved by that odious merchant and his limp noodle of a son.

So begins Reginald and Annabelle's story. It is a lighthearted tale. With Ms. Balogh's trademarks of sweet humor, strong characters and engaging plot. From the beginning we know that all is not exactly as it seems and it is fun work figuring out exactly what these two characters have been up to.

One quibble: at 190 widely spaced pages this book is almost unforgivably short. It probably should have been a short story selection in an anthology. That said, for this reader a taste of Ms. Balogh's storytelling is better than a full dish of most anything else.

Five stars for engaging story. Three stars for brevity of book. Four stars overall.

What happens when a noble, recently impoverished Earl meets his neighbor, a wealthy North country coal "baron," in church on Sunday mornings? Nothing. The Earl demands that his family coldy ignore the upstarts--and the warmer, friendlier family keeps a dignified distance. The two men despise each other, but they arrange a marriage between their only children: The Earl's daughter has brought herself to ruin through a failed elopement with a coachman and the Earl is in desperate need of money; the neighbor wants his son to marry into a titled family and to give up his recent forays into fashion and gambling.

The book is, indeed, very short. A reader can polish off the book in an evening between finishing dinner and going to bed. The plot twist can be ascertained within the first few pages. That doesn't make the book any less entertaining. Balogh is a careful wordsmith and the reader cannot help but chuckle and admire the way she never tells a lie in her narrative, but leads the reader down the wrong path.

Unlike many of Balogh's books, this one does not use pathos to bring readers to tears. The writing is good-natured, with gentle humor. There are no villains. The greatest suffering occurs when Anna is sent to her room for two days with no reading material except her Bible. In addition, there are no improbable, unbelievable situations.

Balogh is playing with style here, rather than with substance. She does explore the theme of "guilt" (one of her favorites), but the guilt experienced by all the major characters only underscores their basic decency.

The book is fun for an evening's entertainment, but it is not one I will keep to read over and over. As others have said, don't purchase this one expecting a novel. It is, instead, a breezy, well-written short story with a hard cover.

I think that Mary Balogh is probably the best current writer of Regency romances. She manages to combine characterisation, interesting plots and at least a worthy attempt at historical accuracy. She is also particularly good at writing short stories (get hold of her story 'The Wassail Bowl' as an excellent example).

What may not be instantly apparent, if ordering 'A Matter Of Class' online, is that it's in no way a full-length novel. My reviewer's copy was 190 pages in length but these pages are printed with large text and wide spacing. In a normal book's printing that's probably under 100 pages. I found the book rather more of a lengthy short story than a book on its own, as much as I enjoyed it.

This book revolves around a clever plot device that isn't revealed until the end of the book (and which I shan't give away here). It was very well done, however, and I found myself turning back to the start of the book again once I'd finished it to see if I could pick up the clues. We follow the story of Reginald Mason, a man whose father has made his money in trade and who is trying to establish Reginald as a gentleman. This is somewhat difficult when Reginald is gaming to excess and generally behaving like a wild son.

When Lady Annabelle Ashton, daughter of the Earl of Havercroft, is caught eloping it seems that she won't find anyone to marry her. However, the daughter of an Earl is a worthy candidate to help elevate Reginald to more lofty circles and his father is for the match. Annabelle's father, too, sees Reginald as her only possible salvation from ruination. But can these two make something out of such an awkward start. And is there any significance to their previous meetings as young children?

This was a good read, as always from Mary Balogh, but it is short and in some ways that was a disappointment. It's definitely still worth buying, however.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2009

This was an okay read. But I expect more from Mary Balogh. Yes it was too short as others have mentioned. More than that however, it just lacks the depth, fire and pathos that helped her become my favorite author years ago. I did guess the twist almost from the first. I think more could have been done with the idea, which I did find interesting, if it had been more of a one sided twist. I'm trying not to give it away for people who haven't read it yet. The characters are not developed in depth and in order to keep the twist going the author is basically unable to delve into what everyone is thinking. I did enjoy reading about their childhoods, though that also could have been stronger if there had been more character development. I was left feeling like I was reading through a veil at a certain distance from the story.

The last 8 or 10 of her books have left me wanting something stronger and deeper like her earlier books. This was another disappointing one. Without the twist it would have been 'a man meets a woman and they fall in love and live happily ever after'. Not a lot of drama there. I'm glad I read it. It was a pleasant story but it could have been much more. I won't be rereading it like I do her earlier works though.

I want to have my heart strings tugged when I read a Mary Balogh and this one just doesn't do that.

I know that a some readers did not like this book but I thought this was a tremendous effort from a well-loved and much-admired author. Rather than see this work as a short novel that did not last long enough or was not romantic enough or, indeed, was not like previous work, it seemed to me an allegorical work that got across a two level message effortlessly. We learn about social change and how it affects the changes in a very personal relationship.

I am a student of the 18th and early 19th centuries and read widely about this period, focusing particularly on social and political history. The Regency period in particular is of interest because it is the very cusp of our modern world. So many things coalesced during that short period of time that sometimes I feel we think we know it so well through regency-set fiction that we make some really silly judgements about it and do not fully understand it at all.

The English Civil War, the bloodless Revolution, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the American Revolution and, finally, the rise of Napoleon through huge social dislocation in France finally began to settle down into the modern world in the early 19th century. To my mind, the British prime minister, William Pitt was the first truly modern government leader in the UK and he was in power in the late 18th and very earliest years of the 19th centuries. Social evolution was flying forward, old money was giving way to new, literacy was becoming wide spread, class differences still existed but lines were blurring and many old customary practices giving way to new. Romantic love, for example was a new concept and marrying for it not quite so unusual.

In this short novel, we see a clash of classes, the traditional upper class view of marriage versus a newer form of marriage for love, north versus south (in the UK this has its own meaning), old money versus new, revenue from the land versus income from industrialisation. How this is worked out is clever and pointed. This is not a comic novel though there is much humour. For example, I noted where Balogh used the italic: this often was a point of emphasis that was clever and was a spotlight on a matter of principle.

I read this with relish and it was a mark of passage, I think, for Mary Balogh, perhaps from romantic novelist to novelist. She has often made use of the social mores of her milieu but never, IMO, as well as in this book. Recommended for a serious and seriously entertaining allegorical study of social structures and social strictures on the change.

I liked this story very much. I got right into the characters and was not at all disappointed with the shortness of the text. It reminded me of the regency categories she used to write. I've always preferred them over her longer novels (though everything she does is pretty exceptional).
As for the pathos, yuk, I don't miss it. For me this story was short and sweet and well worth the money I spent on it.

From the Inside Flap -
Reginald Mason is wealthy, refined, and, by all accounts, a gentleman. However, he is not a gentleman by title, a factor that pains him and his father within the Regency society that upholds station over all else. That is, until an opportunity for social advancement arises, namely, Lady Annabelle Ashton. Daughter of the Earl of Havercroft, a neighbor and enemy of the Mason family, Annabelle finds herself disgraced by a scandal, one that has left her branded as damaged goods. Besmirched by shame, the earl is only too happy to marry Annabelle off to anyone willing to have her.

Though Reginald Mason, Senior, wishes to use Annabelle to propel his family up the social ladder, his son does not wish to marry her, preferring instead to live the wild, single life he is accustomed to. With this, Reginald Senior serves his son an ultimatum: marry Annabelle, or make do without family funds. Having no choice, Reginald consents, and enters into a hostile engagement in which the prospective bride and groom are openly antagonistic, each one resenting the other for their current state of affairs while their respective fathers revel in their suffering.

This Reader's Opinion -
Call me a die-hard romantic, but what a pleasant way to spend a winter day! Mary Balogh did a really fine job with A MATTER OF CLASS. This novella is short, sweet, and very well done and I couldn't ask for more. I found myself entertained from start to finish!

A MATTER OF CLASS's release is in expensive hardcover format (around $15.00 Canadian and probably will become part of some future anthology!) . . . still if you can't wait . . . know that Mary Balogh does not disappoint with this gem.

Grade: A (a lovely story)
Sensuality: warm
MaryGrace Meloche.

As usual, Mary Balogh delivers in this short novel with a perfectly paced and perfectly crafted story. The characterization is flawless, the plot and delivery is original and non-formulaic (hard to accomplish in the sometimes overworked Regency market).

Since the book is short, any synopsis or hint almost gives the book away and I don't want to do that--I want you to enjoy the development of the characters and the story as much as I did.

However, I do want to comment on the unusual length of the story. It is too long to be a contribution to an anthology and too short to be a full-length book. Before purchasing it, I wondered why she hadn't gone in one direction or the other. Now that I've read it, I know the answer and I also know that this is the perfect length. Had it been any shorter or any longer, the story would have suffered. As it is, this compact little book is just perfect and leaves you smiling and content, like the perfect serving of a luscious dessert.

It is definitely a keeper and I look forward to reading it again sometime.

One of the most well-written stories I've come across recently. The plot is fresh and the humor keeps the story moving. It is a bit short, but I would choose quality over quantity any day. An entertaining read overall.

Reginald Mason is, by all accounts, a gentleman - he is well-educated, courteous, handsome and very wealthy. However, the ton doesn't see it that way, much to his and his father's dismay. For Reginald Senior was not born a gentleman. He worked hard for this station even if it is said that their money is tarnished by coal. When the opportunity for social advancement arises, namely, Lady Annabelle Ashton, daughter of the Earl of Havercroft, a neighbor and enemy of the Mason family, he finds the opportunity too hard to resist.

Lady Annabelle is in quite the predicament. She tried to elope with her father's footman and now finds herself disgraced by scandal, even thought of as damaged goods. Her father, the Earl, is none too happy with her and will gladly marry her off to anyone willing to have her.

Reginald Senior sees this as the moment he's been waiting for to move his family up the social ladder. But young Reggie does not see it as ideal, for he enjoys single life too much. When his father gives him an ultimatum: marry Annabelle or be cut-off from the family funds - he has no choice but to consent to the marriage. But no one said either one of them had to be happy about their new predicament.

This was such a sweet story. It was rather short, but nonetheless, it was delightful. I am a fan of Regency England, but even more than that, the way the story is written was brilliant. For starters it is very tame. There aren't any blush worthy moments - which gave it a timeless feel. The romance was light but as the relationship between Annabelle and Reggie grew, it steadily became more and more... sigh worthy.

I really must give kudos to Ms. Balogh for keeping me in the dark for most of the story as to the "twist" (everyone keeps mentioning). I didn't peak and I tried not to think too much of it and I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. It was very witty of her and by far what made this short story so pleasurable. I highly recommend to anyone looking for a feel-good love story.