Georgette Heyer

The Foundling

The hero of this novel, the Most Noble Adolphus Gillespie Vernon Ware, Duke of Sale and Marquis of Ormesby; Earl of Sale; Baron Ware of Thame; Baron Ware of Stoven; and Baron Ware of Rufford, a sickly orphan, was raised by a host of well-meaning relatives and old family retainers. He's been coddled and cosseted his whole life but now that he's on the verge of coming of full age, his uncle Lionel encourages him to make his own decisions, yet every time Gilly makes a move, he's told he should listen to his olders and betters, including the issue of marriage and Gilly is tired of it all. After doing his duty and proposing marriage to his shy neighbor, Gilly takes himself off to London to mope and complain to his big cousin Gideon. Gideon is sympathetic and encourages Gilly to "shake his leash" yet Gilly is afraid of hurting anyone's feelings and much too timid to break out on his own. When his younger cousin Matthew gets into a scrape, Gilly decides it's time to act like a man and disappears from London without telling anyone where he's going or what he's doing. When Gilly heads to the countryside to rout out the villain who is blackmailing his cousin, he finds an adventure he never dreamed of involving runaway schoolboys, a beautiful empty-headed foundling, kidnappers, blackmailers, would-be murderers and various other people Gilly has never encountered before. Meanwhile, rumors about Gilly's disappearance swirl around London and Gideon is considered the prime suspect! Refusing to divulge his cousin's secrets, yet discovering Gilly is in danger, Gideon races off to rescue his little cousin and learns that Gilly is more than capable of handling anything that comes his way. Gilly learns to stand up for himself and his friends and finally becomes a man.

The plot of this book is a departure from Heyer's usual formula. It's a screwball comedy/coming-of-age story rather than a romance. It also features a hero who is neither a Corinthian or a Buck or a Beau and the hero's closest relatives do not desire his title! The story also centers solely around Gilly and doesn't enter into the mind of a heroine. The plot starts off slow and Gilly seems like an unappealing hero. He is rather boring and acquiesces to the wishes of his uncle far too easily. At first, Gideon seems like a better hero because he's tall and dashing with a crooked smile, but he's relegated to the background and this is only Gilly's story. There are some red herrings in the plot that depart from convention as well. I had a hard time getting into the story until about 3/4 of the way through when the adventure really began. Then I found myself engaged in the story, dying to find out what happened next and laughing out loud at Gilly's young protegee Tom and his destruction of Gilly's reputation. It seems like Heyer was poking fun at conventions and romance novels and created the antihero, anti-romance novel. It's not necessarily bad but I miss the charm and witty dialogue that is the hallmark of her romance novels. If you're looking for something different and well-written, give this a try, but don't expect convention.