Friday, January 8, 2010

Book Review of The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer

 The Masqueraders


 Published in 1928 and one of Georgette Heyer's earlier novels, The Masqueraders introduces us to the incomparable brother and sister pair known as Prudence and Robin Merriot.

The book opens late one evening, with Prudence and Robin escaping the weather at an inn in the middle of nowhere. They overhear a young girl pleading with an aggressive suitor. It quickly becomes apparent while the young heiress may have willingly chosen to run off with the young man, Letty Grayson has had a change of heart. The suitor is enamored of her beautiful looks and large fortune and does not intend to let her go. Prudence and Robin quickly devise and execute a daring rescue plan. When Miss Grayson's rescuer Sir Tony Fanshawe arrives on the scene shortly thereafter, Prudence and Robin have the situation well in hand.

Letty Grayson considers Tony to be the man her father would choose for her and dismisses him as staid and respectable. But the astute Prudence sees something special in Sir Tony Fanshawe. And Letty Grayson finds a mysterious hero in Robin. While Robin and Prudence decide to spend some time in London with their new friends, they are constrained by their past adventures. As their father's mistakes and their escapades threaten to expose them, Prudence and Tony are aware that this time the stakes are painfully high and they are both in danger of losing their hearts.

With Prudence dressing as a young boy and Robin dressing as a young girl, the many costume changes, the small deceptions, the abductions, and the threat of exposure, this is a fun escape. Georgette Heyer's The Masqueraders is the sort of lighthearted comedy that I thoroughly enjoy.

ISBN-10: 1402219504
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca; Reprint edition (December 1, 2009), 336 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.

Thank you so much to Danielle and SourceBooks for this review opportunity!

2 comments:

  1. I have always loved this book. It is laugh-out-loud funny and entertaining.

    AF Heart
    http://mysterysuspence.blogspot.com/

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  2. This sounds like a lot of fun. I only just recently heard of Heyer but I'm definitely going to be looking for her books when I next hit the library.

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