The Quiet Gentleman (Heyer novel)
The Quiet Gentleman is a historical novel by Georgette Heyer first published in 1951. It is one of Heyer's signature Regency romances that also includes mystery and suspense. It is estimated to take place in the spring of 1816 after the Battle of Waterloo[1].
Plot summary
This novel combines a romance with suspense and mystery. Estranged from his father since childhood after his mother ran off with another man, the firstborn son of an earl is reared by his maternal grandmother and then spends years fighting in the Napoleonic wars. Upon the father's passing, he inherits the earldom while still away serving in the military.
A year after his father's passing, the quiet-spoken young earl, slim, blond, and beautiful, arrives at the ancient rambling castle from which the earldom is controlled, accompanied by a loyal valet and a groom from his army days. The earl's stepmother and her son, a hot-tempered teenage half-brother, have spent their entire lives at the castle, where they were accustomed to living as rulers-in-waiting, doubting that the firstborn son would survive the bloody war. Also living there is a first cousin who has managed the estate in the earl's absence. The earl takes up residence in the castle, urging his relations to continue on as before, and leaving his cousin in charge of running the estate. The stepmother also has a noble houseguest, an unassuming female who first comes to the earl's attention when she mediates his stepmother's sneaky resistance to small changes in the household. The guest is the well-born daughter of intellectuals, makes no attempts to lure the young Earl, and startles him with her calm air of assurance and knowledge of unexpected things.
The young earl, who has led a charmed life until this point, has a suspicious riding accident, discovers a secret passage leading into his bedroom, and survives being shot, when his life was saved by the female guest. She then assists the earl's valet in nursing the earl back to health. The earl makes a big push to discover which of his cantankerous relations wants him dead. The young lady is alarmed by the earl's absence and has an accident herself. Her parents arrive, planning to take her home. Having discreetly resolved a plot to kill him, the young earl arrives back just in time to reveal his affection for the young lady and persuade her parents to let them marry.
Leading characters
- Male lead: Gervase Frant (Earl of St Erth)
- Female lead: Drusilla Morville (a noble houseguest of the earl's stepmother)
- Martin Frant, Gervase' younger half-brother
- Theo Frant, Gervase' first cousin
Availability
An ebook of this novel can be borrowed via OverDrive[2][3].
Notes
- ↑ Heyer Novel Chronology on georgette-heyer.com, a website which grew out of an earlier Heyer list-serv. This page attempts to use clues from within the novels to determine the year in which the fictional events are set.
- ↑ OverDrive is a service that makes ebooks available to public libraries and to individuals; to use it, a logon account is needed (available through many libraries), or you can make a (free) account there for yourself.
- ↑ The Quiet Gentleman borrowable ebook at OverDrive.
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "Barbosa" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.