Last Sunday was the changeover to Daylight Saving Time, and after running some errands in the morning, I wanted nothing so much as to sleep. But as that would have been a terrible idea, I picked up Georgette Heyer’s The Foundling as something undemanding, and it worked very well indeed to keep me awake and amused for the afternoon.
I’m going to be extremely lazy and refer you to Trent’s post for a description, because I’m behind on booklogging and I couldn’t improve on his description. I didn’t like it quite as well as Trent; part of the romance element rubbed me the wrong way (this has romance in it, but isn’t a romance novel, unlike the other Heyer I’ve read), and I had the feeling, looking back on it, that the frothy lightness was precariously balanced and could have popped at any moment. However, it served its purpose very well, so I shouldn’t be too critical of it.
I decided a long time ago that Heyer was just too easy to be really critical of if one were in the mood, and so I was just going to enjoy it for what it is and only touch on something if it strikes me as really egregious.
As for this one, I blush to confess that even after reading my post on it, I can’t really remember the romantic element in it–is it just the two young kids? The details have faded, alas.
The one Heyer I think stands up to a critical eye is Civil Contract, because I have a weakness for the character-driven. (On the romance front, however, it falls short for lots of readers because nobody considers being settled for their romantic ideal.) I read The Foundling for Gilly; if I want to read the same story with a better romance, I’ll pick up Sprig Muslin.
No, he gets engaged early on to a longtime friend that everyone expects him to offer for, and eventually they realize there’s actual affection there, but the bit I didn’t like (rot-13): fur nterrf gung fur’f tbvat gb qb rirelguvat ur fnlf.
I only recommend this piece of Foundling slash because I found it utterly charming.