The Grand Sophy

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I tend to lend a more tolerant ear to attitudes or verbage based on the time period they were written in, but post WWII surely we could expect a more modern take on racial or religious differences.

Our features are original articles from our print magazines (these will say where they were originally published) or original articles commissioned for this site. I wasn’t thrilled with the abrupt happy ending, the sudden turnabout for Charles and the lack of not-fighting scenes for Charles and Sophy. I think this book has too much going on and there are too many situations that make us lose sight of the main plot and couple. And there was plenty of opportunity as her uncle - Lord Ombersley - had gambled away the family fortune while his eldest son Charles tried to curb his father for the sake of the six siblings who resided with the parents.But this is my favorite scene, because Sophy is so hilariously awful about the awful Miss Wraxton, and everyone can see (including the reader) how bad she really is, except for Charles, her fiance.

Lady Ombersley’s beautiful young daughter Cecilia should marry the very eligible and wealthy Lord Charlbury, but prefers instead the handsome poet Augustus Fawnhope whose odds at fame and fortune are slim as his picking a Derby winner. However I am sure that anyone who enjoys a light, historical, innocent romance would like this book too. It might be different if Charles was the sort of person who would help her with her meddling, or be a partner in it. During the period that her father is away in South America, Sophy attracts to herself several would-be suitors: the fortune-hunting Sir Vincent Talgarth, the mollycoddled Lord Bromford and, seemingly, Lord Charlbury himself.From the moment she arrives on her aunt’s doorstep elegantly attired with her entourage of a dog, a horse, a monkey, a parrot, a groom, a maid and a mountain of luggage, they are left with no uncertainty that this is no ordinary young lady. Sophy quickly figures out all of the dysfunctions in the Ombersley family, including a father with a gambling addiction, a passive mother, a daughter who throws over the perfectly nice, eligible lord she's supposed to marry in favor of a swoony, absent-minded poet, and a younger son who's managed to get himself into some deep trouble. Kind of like the ladies I knew at church who were convinced that they could run your life better than you ever could without realizing that it was your life. Mind you, I do love a bit of romance fluff every now and again and this was light and churlish and sometimes even devious, but it is also pure popcorn fiction.

Less enchanted is their older brother Charles, who has taken charge of the family since his father Lord Ombersley has gambled away most of his money. the door was slowly opened to reveal a thin, swarthy individual, with long greasy curls, a semitic nose, and an ingratiating leer…. We at Penguin Random House Australia acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the Traditional Custodians and the first storytellers of the lands on which we live and work. One of Georgette's best loved Regencies it is impossible to read it any other way than as the story is told - breakneck! I also, at the end of the book, found myself wondering what it would be like to have to live with Sophy for a prolonged period of time.

Outspoken and unafraid to stretch the edge of decorum, Miss Stanton-Lacy sizes up the household’s problems and sets about to make them right, much to the chagrin of her cousin Charles and his meddlesome fiancée Miss Wraxton, who thinks she’s a hoyden. She’s unconventionally attractive, memorable, energetic, irrepressible, and for God’s sake she comes with a small dog, a parrot, and a monkey. The Grand Sophy, my first Georgette Heyer, is a very entertaining book about a complete hoyden who turns people's lives upside down. It’s partly because the anti-Semitism doesn’t touch me personally, but I also realized that I focus on Sophy and what the scene is meant to show about her so as not to think too hard about the weak, stereotyped characterization of Goldhanger. I liked some of the characters, I loved the dialogue, I enjoyed the fast-moving yet flimsy structure that pulled everyone together into a suitable finale and the plot manipulations (aka Sophy manipulations) that caused them all to arrive at their suitable ending.