royal escape [Hardcover]

georgette heyer (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Doubleday Doran; BkClubEd edition (1939)
• ASIN: B000JJMCYY
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Author of over fifty books, Georgette Heyer is the best-known and best-loved of all historical novelists, making the Regency period her own. Her first novel, "The Black Moth," published in 1921, was written at the age of fifteen to amuse her convalescent brother; her last was My Lord John. Although most famous for her historical novels, she also wrote eleven detective stories. Georgette Heyer died in 1974 at the age of seventy-one.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Heyer's best, but not that bad, June 3, 2005

By 

History Buff - See all my reviews

This review is from: Royal Escape (Paperback)

If you love Heyer's light-hearted romances, or her mysteries, this may not be for you. It is more history than romance, and as the former reviewer stated, it's a little hard sometimes to distinquish the "good guys." Nevertheless, it is reasonably true to the period and the events. There were then, as now, Puritans and Puritans. Not all were exactly blameless - the "Roundhead" forces were guilty of as many atrocities as the other side. Incidents such as the one the former reviewer finds so objectionable did happen. To the Puritans, these people were Satan's tools as well as traitors. Many of the Catholics felt the same way about the Puritans, and Heyer does favor that side.

As for the Stuart immorality - none of the royal houses of Europe of that period (or any?) were known for their blameless lives where the opposite sex was involved.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well-done history but no romance, February 9, 2006

By 

C. Robinson (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Royal Escape (Paperback)

Those who pick up this book because of the author's name and the romance-novel cover will probably give up on it after the first few chapters. There's no romance, though a couple of the young women involved in helping the embattled king to get from hiding place to hiding place have strong affection for him, and he'll flirt with any woman who gives him a smile. The history, I'm sure, is authentic, and quite interesting, for someone like me who knows little about the period apart from the fact that Charles II does eventually take the throne. As for a previous reviewer's comment about the king's Catholicism, I didn't see that at all; he was willing to listen thoughtfully to Catholics and was embittered--with good reason--by Puritan attitudes, but unlike so many of his predecessors, he wasn't into taking passionate sides and persecution of the Others.

It's not your usual Heyer, but it's worth a read if you're interested in English history.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Good, August 22, 2009

By 

V. Muratore (Tulsa, OK United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Royal Escape: In which a dare-devil King with a price on his head fools his enemies and terrifies his friends (Paperback)

Heyer's historical novels are typically not my favorites, but this one--possibly because it's so accurate and well-paced--was fascinating and fun. Even had I no knowledge of the events, it would be a great read. But Heyer's able to flesh out the facts of the well-known story. Since, as her husband boasted, her research is thorough and flawless, I never had to wonder (as one must with so many authors of this ilk), "Did it really happen like that?" That's one of the things that makes Heyer such a comfortable author: she's trust-worthy.