Cotillion, by Georgette Heyer
I received tarigwaemir's list and decided to read Georgette Heyer's Cotillion. It is set during the Regency era.
The premise is simple. Kitty Charing is the ward of Uncle Matthew. She is not related to him by blood and has no money of her own, but he has always provided for her. One day, Uncle Matthew decides that Kitty will be his sole benafactor, provided she marries one of his nephews. To faciliate this, he invites all of his nephews to his home to give all of them an equal chance at obtaining her hand.
After the bombshell is dropped, Lord Dolphinton (Dolph), proposes to Kitty, but admits that he is forced to by his mother. Reverend Hugh then proposes, saying that he pities her. Horrified and embarassed, Kitty explodes in anger at all of them and retires to her room.
Not all of Uncle Matthew's nephews came. Jack, the nephew whom Kitty has openly liked since young, did not appear, and this worsens Kitty's mood, although she pretends not to care.
Kitty tries to run away from home. However, along the way, she meets 'Freddy', another nephew, who was unaware of Uncle Matthew's intentions. She persuades him take part in a sham engagement for a month and to take her to London, which she has wanted to visit for a long time. Freddy acquises but wonders what Kitty's real intention is. Actually, Kitty wants to make Jack jealous when he sees her in London with Freddy.
Once in London, Freddy's sister Meg takes Kitty under her wing - introducing her to various people, teaching her how to dance and buying dresses for her. A rather hilarious scene here is where Kitty learns how to dance.
Among the people whom Kitty meets are her cousin, Jack (who suspects that Kitty and Freddy's engagement is fake), Kitty's real cousin, the Chevalier d'Evron (whose background is somewhat shady) and Olivia Broughty (a slightly naive girl whose 'rank' in life is inferior to Kitty's own, causing Meg to exclaim because Kitty is associating with people 'below her'.)
An interesting subplot is that of Dolph and a 'common' girl, Hannah. Dolph and Hannah want to marry, as it will be convenient to both of them. Hannah, who is poor, will be able to move up in society, and she is willing to take care of Dolph, although she does not love him. Dolph, who is controlled and sometimes bullied by his mother, will be able to lead an independent life in the country, breeding horses, instead of staying in the town, which he clearly does not like. However, Dolph doesn't dare to tell his mother and Hannah's family opposes the match. Kitty pities them and tries to help them.
To me, that subplot is interesting, because it shows how both Dolph and Hannah are 'trapped' by their social conventions - they belong to different 'castes', so to speak, and they are not allowed to mingle, no matter how compatible they are. And Kitty, who has lived in the country all her life, hasn't learnt all these social 'rules', and doesn't see why people should be bound by them. For example, she makes friends with Olivia despite Olivia being inferior to her in rank. The unconcious division of society struck me as somewhat discriminatory, and the way that people then had to 'know' a somebody or marry well to ascend in rank reminded me of how some people network incessantly nowadays in order to improve their job chances or reputation. The act of pretending to like someone just to curry favour from them has not changed through the years.
Back to the characters. Both Freddy and Jack were interesting - similar social rank, but different personalities. Freddy is sensible whereas Jack is wild.
I've never read Heyer before, but all the details that she put into the novel were fascinating, and I wish that I knew more about the Regency period to fully appreciate them. Fashion, social life, vocabulary and even London landmarks were all covered. Still, I managed to find a fairly useful site which gives a basic overview of 1876 England. And for the first time, I found out what a 'ton' and 'pink' mean in the Regency context.
I've left out a lot about Freddy, Jack and the Chevalier, but somehow, Dolph's subplot interests me more, although he is a rather commonplace character. Another ongoing subplot is that of certain characters coming to London to catch a wealthy spouse by design.
Oh, and the theme! Depending on the couple that one refers to, the obstacles that were in place were social conventions, a crush on another person, ensuring that secret plans are undetected and possible embarassment resulting from the improper conduct of a nearby relation.
Certain things about this novel reminded me of Jane Austen's 'Mansfield Park', such as the young naive girl coming to town and dashing characters who have a darker side to them.
The second last scene brings together most of the main characters in the novel, and their true colours are revealed.
By the last few chapters, the ending was completely predictable, which was rather disappointing - I was hoping for that ending, but with a twist or two. Sadly, that twist did not appear..
Still, with a steady and brisk pace, by turns comic and serious, the book was interesting and enjoyable. It's the first book that I just bought without even bothering to read the summary - Tari's rec had interested me enough, and I don't regret it. (I even managed to persuade my mother to read it!)
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P.S. Thanks for organising this round! And I'm sorry that this is so late - procrastination got the better of me.
The premise is simple. Kitty Charing is the ward of Uncle Matthew. She is not related to him by blood and has no money of her own, but he has always provided for her. One day, Uncle Matthew decides that Kitty will be his sole benafactor, provided she marries one of his nephews. To faciliate this, he invites all of his nephews to his home to give all of them an equal chance at obtaining her hand.
After the bombshell is dropped, Lord Dolphinton (Dolph), proposes to Kitty, but admits that he is forced to by his mother. Reverend Hugh then proposes, saying that he pities her. Horrified and embarassed, Kitty explodes in anger at all of them and retires to her room.
Not all of Uncle Matthew's nephews came. Jack, the nephew whom Kitty has openly liked since young, did not appear, and this worsens Kitty's mood, although she pretends not to care.
Kitty tries to run away from home. However, along the way, she meets 'Freddy', another nephew, who was unaware of Uncle Matthew's intentions. She persuades him take part in a sham engagement for a month and to take her to London, which she has wanted to visit for a long time. Freddy acquises but wonders what Kitty's real intention is. Actually, Kitty wants to make Jack jealous when he sees her in London with Freddy.
Once in London, Freddy's sister Meg takes Kitty under her wing - introducing her to various people, teaching her how to dance and buying dresses for her. A rather hilarious scene here is where Kitty learns how to dance.
Among the people whom Kitty meets are her cousin, Jack (who suspects that Kitty and Freddy's engagement is fake), Kitty's real cousin, the Chevalier d'Evron (whose background is somewhat shady) and Olivia Broughty (a slightly naive girl whose 'rank' in life is inferior to Kitty's own, causing Meg to exclaim because Kitty is associating with people 'below her'.)
An interesting subplot is that of Dolph and a 'common' girl, Hannah. Dolph and Hannah want to marry, as it will be convenient to both of them. Hannah, who is poor, will be able to move up in society, and she is willing to take care of Dolph, although she does not love him. Dolph, who is controlled and sometimes bullied by his mother, will be able to lead an independent life in the country, breeding horses, instead of staying in the town, which he clearly does not like. However, Dolph doesn't dare to tell his mother and Hannah's family opposes the match. Kitty pities them and tries to help them.
To me, that subplot is interesting, because it shows how both Dolph and Hannah are 'trapped' by their social conventions - they belong to different 'castes', so to speak, and they are not allowed to mingle, no matter how compatible they are. And Kitty, who has lived in the country all her life, hasn't learnt all these social 'rules', and doesn't see why people should be bound by them. For example, she makes friends with Olivia despite Olivia being inferior to her in rank. The unconcious division of society struck me as somewhat discriminatory, and the way that people then had to 'know' a somebody or marry well to ascend in rank reminded me of how some people network incessantly nowadays in order to improve their job chances or reputation. The act of pretending to like someone just to curry favour from them has not changed through the years.
Back to the characters. Both Freddy and Jack were interesting - similar social rank, but different personalities. Freddy is sensible whereas Jack is wild.
I've never read Heyer before, but all the details that she put into the novel were fascinating, and I wish that I knew more about the Regency period to fully appreciate them. Fashion, social life, vocabulary and even London landmarks were all covered. Still, I managed to find a fairly useful site which gives a basic overview of 1876 England. And for the first time, I found out what a 'ton' and 'pink' mean in the Regency context.
I've left out a lot about Freddy, Jack and the Chevalier, but somehow, Dolph's subplot interests me more, although he is a rather commonplace character. Another ongoing subplot is that of certain characters coming to London to catch a wealthy spouse by design.
Oh, and the theme! Depending on the couple that one refers to, the obstacles that were in place were social conventions, a crush on another person, ensuring that secret plans are undetected and possible embarassment resulting from the improper conduct of a nearby relation.
Certain things about this novel reminded me of Jane Austen's 'Mansfield Park', such as the young naive girl coming to town and dashing characters who have a darker side to them.
The second last scene brings together most of the main characters in the novel, and their true colours are revealed.
By the last few chapters, the ending was completely predictable, which was rather disappointing - I was hoping for that ending, but with a twist or two. Sadly, that twist did not appear..
Still, with a steady and brisk pace, by turns comic and serious, the book was interesting and enjoyable. It's the first book that I just bought without even bothering to read the summary - Tari's rec had interested me enough, and I don't regret it. (I even managed to persuade my mother to read it!)
==
P.S. Thanks for organising this round! And I'm sorry that this is so late - procrastination got the better of me.