(no subject)

[pensnest]

Do you have a favourite Georgette Heyer hero?

I think mine is Freddie Standon from Cotillion.



Freddie starts off as one of GH's silly buggers, the sidekick type whose eyes start from his head at any statement with which he takes issue. He's conned into a Cunning Scheme by our heroine. He is a perfect clothes horse, detests the manly sport of boxing, and is frequently invited to advise society ladies on their décor. He is a superb dancer and an escort to whom no husband could possibly object.

Hmm.

By contrast there is Jack, the ideal romantic hero, tall, dashing, blue eyed and cynical, who engages in every manly sport including that of teasing the unfortunate heroine.

And by the end of the book, Kitty has recognised that Jack is basically a pig in human form, and Freddie is kind, sweet, perceptive and competent—and adorable. I love it.



Who is your favourite, and why?

Comments

[sperrywink]

I don't know if I have a favorite (I don't remember then enough), but Freddie is definitely up there. He is so adorable, you are right!

[pensnest]

I love the way he is presented initially as out of the running for Romantic Lead, and gradually grows into the role! It's nice to see the dashing, hyper-masculine guy get his comeuppance once in a while.

[fleurrochard]

I looooooooooooove him!

[pensnest]

Freddie rocks!

[dine]

I adore many of her characters, but think my absolute fave hero has to be Hugo Darracott (The Unknown Ajax) - there's something so wonderful about his willingness to play along with his grandfather's low expectations (until he steps up and capably fixes everyone's problems)

[pensnest]

Ah, now I was listening to The Unknown Ajax a few days ago, and I do agree that Hugo is awesome. His sense of humour never fails, does it? The only thing that troubles me about him is that he is willing to shield Richmond at Ottershaw's expense, and though it's the obvious thing for him to do, I'm not sure that it's the *right* thing. I don't suppose GH would agree. But Hugo is a lot of fun (and secretly, looks a lot like my Dad).

[carolyn_claire]

Freddie is a good one, yes; I'm also partial to Avon in TOS, in large part because of his relationship with Leonie, I think, and Robin in Masqueraders, because he's a dashing little thing who looks lovely in a dress. And I adore Ferdie in Friday's Child, though he's a sidekick--he has the best lines. :)

[pensnest]

Avon is the absolute epitome of his particular 'type', isn't he? I loved These Old Shades so much when I first read it, not quite so devoted to it now. Robin is certainly unusual and intrepid! I can't remember details from Friday's Child for the moment, but I do recall that Sherry has better friends than he realises. And I think the sidekick action in, hmm, April Lady is terrific, too.

I fell in love with Georgette Heyer at an impressionable age, and have always been inclined to polysyllables as a result.

[carolyn_claire]

Yeah, I also see a lot of things in Avon now that really aren't so awesome, having first read it really young, too, but I enjoy the way Leonie gets to him and pretty much wraps him around her finger. He was so awful, but then he got better, pretty much against his will and all because of her--it's such a trope, but GH did it so well. Robin I really enjoyed imagining in drag; I thought Pen's guy was kind of a bore, but Robin seemed like fun (and hot--I'm very much into pretty young men in drag). Ferdie is a riot--I had him confused with Freddie, for a while, but figured it out while discussing Cotillion with someone else recently (it's been decades since I read some of them and I've forgotten a lot). Ferdie is the one who was concerned about that Nemesis guy, always creeping up on a fellow, and thinking he was someone a friend of his knew or something. And he commiserated with them on the caterwauling from the choir next door, beastly noise that it was, etc. He was awesome. :)

[pensnest]

Oh yes, the Nemesis fellow, *excellent*.

[topaz119]

I do adore Freddie, but I think my favorite is Beaumaris from Arabella, because he's always in control and he thinks he's got everything covered and then Arabella looks at him and he ends up with a scruffy mutt and an ex-apprentice chimney sweep to take care of. (Plus, then he's *Beaumaris*, so he makes the ton think that scruffy dogs are all the rage, of course.)

[pensnest]

I must have a re-read of Arabella, which sadly I do not have on tape. I do like the 'perfect gent' who gets messed up a bit by the heroine, certainly. Really, any of the stories in which the hero is not the epitome of The Romantic Hero. Sylvester is quite fun, because as the book goes on you see him getting more and more cross and out of his milieu, and that works, too.

[lissasays.livejournal.com]

I'm rather partial to Hugo Darracott from The Unknown Ajax, who poses as a slow-witted buffoon but swoops in to save the day. Actually, all the men in The Unknown Ajax appeal to me, from Lord Darracott who's trying to bend his own iron will to do right by his deceased favorite son, Vincent, who's a bit of a scoundrel but quick to admit his own faults, Claude, who stays affable despite everyone else belittling him, and young Granville, the classic young rebel with a heart of gold.

Re:

[pensnest]

I listened to 'The Unknown Ajax' just before I listened to 'Cotillion', and I'm also very fond of Hugo—it's his sense of humour and his vast willingness to tolerate all kinds of nonsense, together with his *size*, somehow, that I find loveable. He's a very splendid fellow. I think I prefer, overall, the Heyer books which don't quite follow the plan for a 'normal' romance, and this is definitely one of them.

Re:

[lissasays.livejournal.com]

Have you read "The Masqueraders" yet? One of the characters, Sir Anthony, is another affable man of considerable size (the heroine's brother describes him as "The Mountain"). Add in cross-dressing, swash-buckling siblings as the protagonists, and their ridiculously OTT puppet master absentee father, the love interests who take said cross-dressing in stride, and duels galore.

[pensnest]

That one is also a lot of fun - haven't read it in ages, and sadly I don't have it on tape. (I'm spending quite a bit of time painting and listening to stories on tape at the moment.) Robin is almost a romantic lead, except for spending quite so much of his time in a dress being more feminine than his sister!