Venetia: Gossip, scandal and an unforgettable Regency romance

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She, Venetia (ugly name and how is it pronounced?), has seen his kindness in action when her younger brother, Aubrey, who has a lame leg, is injured horse riding near the gentleman's estate and Damerel takes him home to recover. While there, Aubrey is handled beautifully by Damerel who instinctively realizes that the boy hates pity and truly despises being treated like an invalid. The character of Aubrey is wonderful and I soon grew to love him just as much as his sister does. Aubrey is a brilliant scholar and also has a rapier wit like Venetia and although quite acerbic and self-involved, truly loves his sister and wants her to be happy.

Then, in one extraordinary encounter, she meets a neighbour she only knew by reputation - the infamous Jasper Damerel. My dear!’ gasped her ladyship, who had come to the Manor prepared to clasp the orphans to her sentimental bosom. ‘You are overwrought!’ Wonderful and lovely and perfect! Venetia is one of the most charming characters EVER."—Once Upon a Bookshelf Oh, oh—! My reputation, Iago, my reputation!” he exclaimed, laughing again. “Fair Fatality, you are the most unusual female I have encountered in all my thirty-eight years!” Yon can’t think how deeply flattered I am!” she assured him. “I daresay my head would be quite turned if I didn’t suspect that amongst so many a dozen or so may have slipped from your memory.”

When Venetia's older brother's wife and mother-in-law, about whom he had failed to inform the family, descend on the Lanyons, Venetia's domestic situation becomes intolerable and she is invited to stay for a London season with her aunt and uncle as a way to escape the awkwardness and also to find a husband. During this time, she discovers through a chance encounter that the mother she had been led to believe was dead is actually very much alive and had simply left her father for another man when the children were very young. Venetia realises that this is the cause of her relatives' over-protectiveness - they are concerned that she might follow in her mother's footsteps. I loved Venetia too. She is so refreshingly honest without being too naive or stupid. A couple of times I wanted her to be more rude (some people more than deserved it), but she never allowed those situations to go too far. The one time I needed her to speak up and put the horrible people where they belong, she did just that.

Her eyes twinkled at him. ‘But I promise you I do! Yes, and sympathise with her, besides wishing I had her resolution! Though I think I should rather have buried your remains tidily in the garden, my dear!’

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y]our quotations don’t make your advances a whit more acceptable to me – and they don’t deceive me into thinking you anything but a pestilent complete knave!'"

WARNING! Spoilers, gushing, swooning, quoting and rose-petal strewing ahead! ;) (no orgies though, I promise -- read on safely :P)* Oh sweet mercy, the heavenly narration <3 Richard Armitage is one of my favorite actors and narrators! He has such a beautiful voice, it's just a delight to listen to. No matter how long the book, he always finds a unique voice for each character that helps you identify who is speaking at every moment without a clue from the text. Even his female characters sounds believable! It's just tremendous fun to listen to him bring a book to live! If you don't believe me, see Becca's review below: he managed to get a complete audiobook hater to admit that this is perfection! At this point I have actually listened to this book more often than I have read it, and trust me, if you hear the man's voice, you'll understand why...You call me your friend, but I never called you mine, and never shall! You remained, and always will, a beautiful, desirable creature!’” No Venetia and Heyer, there are plenty of women out there who are prettier and smarter and funnier and more interesting. That’s not the point of faithfulness in the relationship. And no, men are able to control themselves. Heyer obviously thinks men ain’t shit, just juvenile slaves to passion. What this meant to a young girl “of quality” (in other words, from the leisured money, landed classes – not the daughter of a shopkeeper or industrialist, however rich) – and her parents was: “How will we find a husband?” The number of young men of eligible (i.e. noble and landed) families was limited. To keep it limited, the upper classes had developed what is now known as the marriage mart. A young girl of birth at the age of seventeen or eighteen would be presented to the king and queen at court. Once “out” in this way she would enjoy a season or two of balls in which to meet and catch a husband. The richest girls (those whose fathers offered the largest dowry) were snapped up first, followed by the prettiest. The rest were left on the shelf to live as old maids, companions, aunts and spinster hangers-on. For, it must be remembered, women’s money was not theirs to spend: it came from their fathers and would be spent and controlled by their husbands. So any woman who was unmarried was also, by definition, penurious or at least dependent. Damerel: There won't be a honeymoon, because there won't be a wedding, because there hasn't been a proposal yet, BECAUSE YOU KEEP INTERRUPTING!!

Enter Damerel: an older man who's a confirmed rake and pretty much doesn't care about anything any longer. Or at least he thinks he doesn't, but underneath there's an intelligent, kind man that his growing friendship with Venetia brings out of hiding. He starts out intending to seduce her--hey, she's a lovely girl and he's bored--but his growing friendship with and respect for her and her brother soon make him realize that he can't do that. Which leads to a moral conundrum for Damerel: his life has been so reprehensible that he's no longer accepted in society, and marrying a sweet younger lady like Venetia would make people despise him even more, and shun them both. "[I'm] something worse than a fool. Would that she could make of me a saint, or I of her a sinner-- For the first part it's too late, old friend, too late! And for the second--it was precisely my intention, and a rare moment this is to discover that if I could I would not!"What to do? The resolution isn't as simple as you might expect. Some of Heyer’s fans are upset that there have been so few, if any, really successful adaptations of her works; they were saddened that the Bridgerton books of Julia Quinn were chosen, for example, over Heyer’s works for a big-budget Netflix serialisation. He had risen, and walked over the window with his awkward, dragging step. ‘It’s too hot to go out at all, I think, but I will – Oh, I most certainly will, and at once! M’dear, both your suitors are come to pay us a morning-visit!’ Venetia had been born with a zest for life ... and a high courage that enabled her to look hazards in the face and not shrink from encountering them.An illustration of Venetia and Lord Damerel from the Folio Society’s new edition of Venetia Photograph: Sally Dunne/The Folio Society Single women—Fiction. 2. Country life—Fiction. 3. Family secrets—Fiction. 4. England—Fiction. I. Title.