In The Reluctant Widow, Elinor Rochdale, a young woman of good birth but straitened circumstances, sets out to accept a position as a governess and ends up plunged into a tangle of foreign intrigue instead.
Elinor’s adventure begins when she inadvertently mistakes the carriage waiting at the coach stop for one sent by her prospective employer, Mrs. Macclesfield. She finds herself carried to the estate of one Ned Carlyon, who Elinor mistakes for Mr. Macclesfield. Carlyon, meanwhile, believes Elinor to be the young woman he hired to marry his dying cousin, Eustace Cheviot, in order to avoid inheriting Cheviot’s estate himself. Somehow, Elinor is talked into marrying Eustace on his deathbed and thus becomes a widow almost as soon as the ring is on her finger. What starts out as a simple business arrangement soon becomes much more complicated as housebreakers, uninvited guests, a shocking murder, missing government papers, and a dog named Bouncer all contribute to this lively, frequently hilarious tale of mistaken identities, foreign espionage, and unexpected love set during the Napoleonic Wars.
In one of the original marriage of convenience Reg Roms, we are greeted with a whirlwind where a case of mistaken identity results in a quicky marriage, followed by quicky death. The Reluctant Widow features a would-be governess who gets mistaken for an advertising responding would-be fiancé to a deathbed landed gentleman. His cousin, the typical Heyer hero (older, Corinthian type with a biting wit), is pulling the strings because he wants to absolutely avoid inheriting.
Elinor, completely thrown for a big loop, ends up trying to suddenly play lady of the manor among a cast of very strange characters…including the Corinthian.
There are some interesting turns in this otherwise rompish plot, where it sometimes veers a bit in to Cousin Kate territory with some gothic esque spy intrigue. Some readers will be turned off by this cross genre mash up, but I enjoyed it…because I love the sensibility of Northanger Abbey that is prevalent here. I also adore Heyer’s stock H/h, such as they are a bit of a Darcy/Elizabeth tribute, and found them no less satisfying here.
In general, I adore Heyer, because not only is she the Queen of the modern Reg Rom, but also because she gets how to be funny while still remaining true to how people really are. I also like that there is always enough diversity in her supporting characters to surprise me.
4 out of 6 Funny, in parts silly, with lots plot action and a slow growing romance.
| Content Rating/Heat Index | |
|---|---|
| Mature Content |   |
| Some suggestive content | |
| Intimacy | |
| Not really. | |
| Violence | |
| A bit of nefarious goings on. | |
| Overall |  |
|---|---|
| A bit of mature subtext and violence, but otherwise a classic traditional Reg Rom. | |
