Masquerade

I have been reading a lot lately and finishing books in a few days or less. So I have a backlog of books to talk about! Which is good because this is my next read:

However, I recently finished two quick reads: The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer and Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh. Today I will talk about The Masqueraders and talk about the Ngaio Marsh next time.

As with most of Heyer’s works, The Masqueraders was a quick and entertaining read. While her books are not challenging intellectually, they are charming and fun to read. Heyer writes great stories and engaging characters. She makes you want to keep reading until you have finished the book. I think her reads would be good for a car trip – you’d be caught up in the story until you arrived at your destination.

The Masqueraders is the story of a brother and sister on the run in Georgian England. Having participated in the Jacobite rebellion, they are perceived as traitors to their country and risk imprisonment or death. Their father, an adventurer, rogue, and master of intricate plots indicates that the siblings should meet him in London. So, in order to limit the risk of arrest, the pair don disguises and switch sexes in order to meet their father in London incognito. Prudence, the sister, dresses up as a young man, Peter Merriot, and her brother, Robin, dresses up as a young lady, Kate Merriot. The two make their way to the house of a close friend in London to await further developments from their father. The pair and their father have led a highly irregular life so disguise and deception are a way of life for the family.

However, the pairs’ efforts to keep a low profile in London are nearly immediately thwarted when the pair prevent an elopement from occurring as the siblings are journeying to London. They make an enemy of the prospective groom, Mr. Markham, while Robin falls in love with the prospective bride, Letitia Grayson. Prudence, meanwhile, falls in love with Sir Anthony Fanshawe, a friend of the Grayson family and Letty’s other potential suitor.

The siblings must work to maintain their false identities and act in the manner expected of a lady or gentleman of the time while concealing their true identities from Sir Anthony and Leticia. Eventually their father appears on the scene in a most unexpected manner, and the siblings must follow their father’s plan to clear their names before their true identities can be revealed.

All in all, The Masqueraders was an entertaining and enjoyable read. It is set in an earlier time period than most of Heyer’s works, but she brings her same close attention to detail in clothing, slang, and manners that she does to her Regency work. At times this is almost annoying, given “Kate’s” propensity to call everyone “child”. One assumes that was usual address for a young woman at the time, but it grates on the reader a little bit. I also saw the twist at the end coming well before I got to the end of the novel, but you're not really reading this type of book for the surprise.

I think I prefer Heyer’s Regency work and storylines, but this novel is just as entertaining of a read as any of Heyer’s Regency romances. I am more interested in the romantic storylines and fashionable society of the Regency period, but The Masqueraders is still an enjoyable way to pass the time with a book.