Customer Reviews

The Nabob's Widow

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Today is my day for wallowing in the past and checking out a few things I read far too many years ago. I see that a second-hand copy of this book now costs an extortionate amount! Well, mine will stay on the keeper shelf, thank you! I started reading Elsie Lee in high school and think I have every book she wrote carefully packed away. But, without doubt (with a nod to Second Season), this one was my favourite of her regency stories. Her contemporary novels were vaguely "suspense" stories but, in my opinion, she really hit her forte with her regency-set novels.

Elsie Lee will always be remembered by me for witty writing and crisp, clever dialogue. This is the story of a handsome and witty marquess who returns to London to find his uncle's 20 year old widow, siamese cats and various servants ensconced in his townhouse having just returned from India. The action takes place over Christmas (always a favourite time frame for me) and brings in a large and well-drawn extended family.

Faith Baldwin was quoted on the back cover my my copy as saying "an enchanting book ... it has wit, humor, marvelous characterisations and atmosphere". Indeed it does. Would I pay to replace my copy? Yes!

This is one of the best regency novels ever written, on a par with Georgette Heyer's best.

Unusally written from the hero's point of view, from where his uncle's "little dab" of a young widow comes into his life with her ladies companion, hindu servants, talking bird, mongoose and two siamese cats (oh, those cats!), it abounds with wit and humor. The change in this lord's life, from ennui to awareness of his own desires, and the machinations of the Nabob's Widow with his family and friends, are a pure joy to read.

This is a novel that the publisher should re-issue ASAP. It is hands-down one of the most well-written, amusing, and elegant Regencies ever written, as good as Georgette Heyer at her best. It's a stinging rebuke to the many current authors who can only write endless overwrought sex scenes with the same hack characters and tired adjectives. My copy is falling apart, and I would dearly love to have a back-up copy. It is a Regency romance at its very best, witty and charming with vivid, well-defined characters who act like real people, not melodramatic nitwits.

I'll begin by saying I like Jane Austen and I absolutely love Georgette Heyer, but neither of those esteemed ladies wrote my favorite Regency Romance novel. I've literally read thousands of Regency Romance novels over the past 30 years or so, and I even wrote one myself entitled A Very Merry Chase. Some Regency Romances that I read were good, some were great, some were silly, and some were downright horridly boring--but of all of the Regency Romance novels I ever read--including my own Very Merry Chase--Elsie Lee's The Nabob's Widow stands head and shoulders above the crowd as the most entertaining, most delightful, and most memorable of them all.

I first read Elsie Lee's The Nabob's Widow over 30 years ago when I owned a little used bookstore and spent my days happily reading and writing. I fell in love with the book and all its delightful characters then...and made the fatal mistake of loaning my copy to a favorite (quite elderly) customer who never returned it. I spent the next twenty some years searching every used bookstore I entered for a copy. When the Internet came into being and bookstores finally came online I renewed my search and found that others felt the same was as I did about Elsie Lee's The Nabob's Widow and that copies of this ridiculously out-of-print treasure--in any condition--were a precious commodity. I was finally able to locate an affordable, falling apart at the seams--obviously much loved and much read paperback copy which...I literally read to death. So then I went in search of another copy--a hardback copy--and was finally able to purchase a retired Library copy that will hopefully last me for the rest of my life...unless I break down and decide to extravagantly gift myself with one of the few remaining beautiful, first edition copies. The kids are finally out of college...I deserve it, don't I?

Anyway.... Why is Elsie Lee's The Nabob's Widow so memorable and so wonderful that anyone would choose to read it once or even twice a year? For one reason it is completely unique in that it is written from the gentleman's perspective. "The Widow and Company" includes our leading man's beloved uncle's beautiful young widow, wise beyond her years and exotically raised in India; her friend and lifelong companion, a bit older but equally lovely and delightful; 2 imperious Siamese cats, one imposing Indian servant and--playing a delightfully dynamic role all their own--memories of, and instructions from, the deceased Nabob himself. The story takes place as seen through the eyes of our leading man, and you simply cannot help but fall in love with the widow and her wonderful entourage right along with him. The entire cast of characters is a complete delight, even the servants--who loving plot and play matchmaker at the infamous Spotted Dog pub--are so much fun that you want to hang out with them. Our hero's relatives and all of their foibles are hilariously drawn, and his boon companions are each a perfect leading man, so you get three dreamy gentleman for the price of one.

Let me state here, for the record, absolutely do not read one of Elsie Lee's other books, and especially not her Regency Romances and pre-judge The Nabob's Widow as something that couldn't really be that good or worth the effort of acquiring. None of her other books--and especially her Regencies--are even remotely in the same class. It is almost as if The Nabob's Widow was written while she was lost under the spell of some sort of magical once-in-a-lifetime writing enchantment!

Now back to Elsie Lee's masterpiece...The Nabob's Widow. There really are not enough glowing accolades in my vocabulary to possibly convey how wonderful this book is...except to say that if you like Heyer--and especially Heyer's The Grand Sophy...or even if you don't--you will absolutely adore Elsie Lee's The Nabob's Widow. It is and always will be the book I wish I could have written and the most treasured possession in my Regency Romance library.

Smiles,
Teresa Thomas Bohannon
Author of the Regency Romance novel
A Very Merry Chase
A Very Merry Chase