The Corinthian

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Farcical and bizarre - Rated
This was my tenth GH novel and it has been my least favourite, I'm afraid. It was also my second attempt at it, after giving up the first time after Sir Richard and Pen disappear from London.

I went back to it after thinking it was a shame to miss out on a spot of Georgette and so I had another go. On re-reading I began to think I might have been too hasty when I gave it up the first time, as things fairly rattle along (literally) while they are in the stage coach and then at the inn where they re-encounter the shady character from the coach (not to give anything away). But then the book degenerates into farce not long after they arrive in the village near where Piers lives and I almost wished I'd not bothered picking the thing back up again.

I found the triangle of Piers, Pen and the other girl hugely irritating, characters are dispensed with casually and the whole thing is preposterous, even for Georgette! It was the biggest piece of fluff I've ever read!

Wonderful! - Rated
I've read quite a few Georgette Heyer books and I have to say this is one of the best.

Sir Richard Wyndham and Pen are both about to be forced into loveless marriages when fate throws them together. Pen - an heiress travelling as a boy in disguise - and Sir Richard head off across country together where they encounter several adventures neither of them ever expected!

The Corinthian is funny, engaging and charming. A wonderful piece of escapism and I would highly recommend it!

Love it - Rated
This was the first Georgette Heyer I ever read and I have now read and re-read every single one of her Regency books. The Corinthian is one of the most charming. The hero is delightful, Pen is lovely and the story is so well put together. The details in GH's books are the best bits, the language, the sense of period, the descriptions of the inns, the Bow Street Runner, the costumes - everything is so well researched and authentic - you get a real feel for the time in which it was set but it all fits very naturally around the story.

Two people set out to escape from their respective relations - Rated
Pen jumps out of a window into Sir Richard Wyndham's arms, who being rather disguised at the time agrees to help her escape from marriage to a fish-faced cousin. Their travels embroil them in many adventures from which it is Sir Wyndham's privelege to extract them which he does with great adroitness. But as they near their destination they both begin to realise that they need each other for more reasons than to escape the role in society their loving relations have decreed for them...

Not recommended as a first Georgette Heyer, but those of you who have grown to love her characters will enjoy meeting Pen, Richard and their friends.