Abigail Bok's Reviews > Charity Girl

Charity Girl is one of Heyer's last novels, and one of the ones with a more mature hero and heroine--which means the romance is so subdued as to be invisible to some readers. But it's quite to my liking, being about friendship and trust, compatibility and companionship.

Ashley Carrington, Lord Desford, has been on the town nearly a decade and has avoided parson's mousetrap. His parents tried to arrange a marriage for him in his youth, to his childhood friend Lady Henrietta Silverdale, but they were just that--friends--and the plan came to nothing. Now in their late twenties, they both seem content with their single state, though alert readers may question why Henrietta is refusing so many suitors when she lives with such a tiresome mother, and why Desford doesn't like any of her suitors!

On a visit to relatives, Desford meets a young girl, Charity (Cherry) Steane, who is the oppressed poor relation of a harpy who's giving a country ball to begin the process of introducing her beautiful daughter into society. Instead of falling for the beautiful daughter, Desford would rather spend time chatting with the sweet-but-pathetic Cherry. On his way back to London the next day, he encounters Cherry trudging along the road, having run away from the cruelties of her aunt's household.

Readers of Heyer will realize at this point that Cherry is destined to play a pivotal role in Desford's future. After realizing she can't be persuaded to return to her aunt's household, he agrees to convey her to London so she can throw herself on the mercy of her grandfather, whom she has never met. Of course, this plan goes awry, and Desford can think of nothing better to do than to leave her in the care of his old friend Hetta while he scours the countryside for the errant grandfather.

This pursuit takes up much of the story, and both Desford's family and Hetta's get dragged into the mess. Along the way we meet several of Heyer's delightfully outrageous characters, both above- and below-stairs and somewhere in between, and our hero gets a chance to learn something about himself. There are elements that echo earlier Heyer novels, but the pieces are shaken up into new patterns so it didn't feel repetitive to me. I enjoyed the self-possession of the protagonists as they sought to unravel the tangle they found themselves in. The romance won't get you all hot and bothered, but I enjoyed the challenges and resolution.