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Six Sisters – Book II
M C Beaton
Robinson (Constable and
Robinson)
15 March 2012 / ISBN 9781849014861
Regency Romance / 1811, London and environs
Amazon
US
- UK
Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
The impecunious but numerous Armitages have managed to get their
eldest daughter betrothed, but there are five others. Of these only
one, Annabelle, is old enough for marrying off and there is indeed
a young man who has taken on interest in her. But she has fallen
head-over-heels in love with Lord Sylvester;what a pity that he
is already betrothed to her sister…
Nobody, not even the late, great Georgette Heyer, does Regency romance
quite like Ms Beaton. She has the right, light hand for it and manages
to combine an impressive knowledge of the period with more than
a dash of genuinely funny humor. This is an excellent portrait of
a young woman in the throes of puppy love, with all the single-mindedness,
selfishness and downright foolishness shown in sharp detail. All
this makes for a very enjoyable story for us to laugh at and shake
our (older and wiser) heads over. Ms Beaton does not do explicitly
sexual Regencies, but you can learn more about the period reading
this than most of those, including the way young women of a certain
class were expected to behave. Readers of the first book can expect
a very different story, as well as more about the series characters
who we will know well by the end of the sextet and plenty of Lady
Goldolphin's malapropisms. Very highly recommended to all true Regency
fans, and at least we won't have to wait long for the rest of the
series.
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