Beauvallet: Gossip, scandal and an unforgettable Regency romance

Product Information

Light reading cover corner creases, some edge wear with tiny splits at spine extremities, paper starting to edge tone, pencil ticks against other titles by author inside, light water staining to bottom fore corner of some later leaves. Nicholas Beauvallet is one of Heyer’s vivid characters, whose many impossible feats become believable because the writing is so good. Great major and minor characters, an improbable plot (but entertaining nonetheless) and a good pace set against the backdrop of Spain and the specter of the Inquisition. Her first novel, The Black Moth, published in 1921, was written at the age of seventeen to amuse her convalescent brother; her last was My Lord John. I have 39 of her romances (she also wrote about eight detective books with the help of her detective husband, but I've not read any of them); there are about three or four I don't have, though I've read almost all of them.

Of all of her books, this is the one that most relies on action (rather than witty dialogue) to propel the story.We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Curious if her other historicals follow a similar trend, and am now interested in hunting down one of her thrillers to sample its prose! But then he captures a Spanish galleon with the lovely and spirited Dona Dominica de Rada y Sylva on board. She must have enjoyed writing Beauvallet for her pleasure is evident in the detailed and humorous family tree which she devised for the first edition of Beauvallet and which she headed: ‘Pedigree of the House of Beauvallet for those readers who are Interested in the Fortunes of the Descendants of Simon the Coldheart’.

The plot, however, was based on the improvised dramas, devised by Georgette for her brothers and friends when they were children. Though written well before Errol Flynn made The Sea Hawk, I dare you to read this and >not< picture Flynn as dashing Nick Beauvallet. The dashing reckless privateer Nicholas Beauvallet has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth the First for his daring adventures for England! I can also imagine a film making the most of the wonderful tudor costumes, English country mansions, Spanish mountains and castles, and ball scenes. Dubbed "Mad Nick", he is a dashing figure, tall and dark with a "neat" head of curly black hair, bright, mocking blue eyes and a pointy beard as was the fashion, friend of Sir Francis Drake and pet of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth.Beauvallet laughs at danger at every turn, while the intrepid (now orphaned) Dominica attempts to defend herself from a forced marriage being pushed upon her by relatives who need her money, while she worries that her love won't come in time. The scene where she defies the villain at the hunting lodge, she fairly crackles with dignity and courage. She is in a pitiable position: having grown up in the relative freedom of Santiago's more relaxed social customs, her independent spirit will find no welcome in Spain where stifling rules and etiquette prevail for women.

It takes place sometime along Elizabeth I reign (1558-1603 for those, like myself, needing a quick refresher); the time of the great discovers is not that far away and that of the major English privateers preying on gold-ladden gallions of the Spanish Empire is at its peak. More than romantic they are witty, elegant, stylish and the best comedies of manners since Jane Austen. He swears he will deliver her and her father back home to Spain but that he will soon come for her to marry her. Beauvallet is sailing from the West Indies when he is attacked by a Spanish ship; he defeats them and when he and his men board the Spanish ship, they find a lady, Dona Dominica de Rada y Sylva, and her father, Don Manuel, who is very ill with a fever.The hero, Sir Nicholas Beauvallet, is an English seaman who has sailed with Drake and others; he has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth.