From the back cover:
Society believes the worst of Justin Alastair, the notorious Duke of Avon, who is clearly proud of his sobriquet, “Satanas.” It is he who buys Léon body and soul from a scoundrel in a Paris backstreet. The red-headed urchin has strangely familiar looks, and should play a fine part in Justin’s long-overdue schemes to avenge himself on the Comte de St Vire—until, that is, Léon becomes the ravishing beauty Léonie…
Review:
These Old Shades is the supremely entertaining tale of the clever and manipulative Duke of Avon and his spirited page-turned-ward Léon/Léonie. The book has an interesting publishing history, in that it’s a sequel of sorts to Heyer’s first novel (The Black Moth) but with the characters’ names changed since the events of said book did not allow for a direct sequel. It stands alone perfectly well, though, and I experienced no disadvantage from not having read the earlier work.
The basic plot is pretty simple, if slightly improbable. The Duke of Avon has many enemies, and chief among them is the red-haired, black-browed Comte de St Vire. When Avon should happen to run into a youth who bears a striking resemblance to the Comte, he immediately realizes the boy, Léon, must be the result of some indiscretion on St Vire’s part and resolves to use him as a weapon to destroy his foe. Most of the rest of the book consists of flaunting Léon under St Vire’s nose, both as a boy and later as the lovely Léonie, and trying to induce St Vire to admit to what Avon has surmised but has no concrete proof of. It all wraps up tidily at the end, and with a terrific final line, to boot.
The characters are the real charm of These Old Shades. I love characters like the Duke of Avon—seemingly foppish, but really incredibly dangerous. He always speaks languidly and sardonically and kind of reminds me of what Mr. Bennet (of Pride and Prejudice) could’ve been like had he been ruthless instead of indolent. Léonie is irrepressible (yet completely devoted to Avon), and though she (eventually) submits to learning to be a girl, still derives great delight from traditionally boyish pursuits. Supporting them are the Duke’s siblings, friends, and neighbors, who are all charmed by Léonie and make a fun audience for Avon’s schemes.
The one complaint I could make is the eventual direction of Avon and Léonie’s relationship. Avon states at one point that he has only a fatherly affection for Léonie and that he is convinced that she looks upon him as something akin to a grandparent. It would appear he was mistaken about that, but a paternal vibe was planted so firmly in my brain that when the story proceeded to pair them up romantically it was kind of icky.
All in all, though, I really enjoyed These Old Shades. It’s somewhat of a relief, coming after a rather disappointing first attempt at reading Heyer, since I was so convinced I’d like her books that I once bought a whole slew of them on eBay. Happily, the story begun here is continued in three more books, so those will likely be the next of her books that I tackle.
Have you read the Scarlet Pimpernel?
I have, and liked it quite a lot, as I recall. It has a number of sequels, which always tempted me, but I haven’t yet been able to conquer my fear that they might be crappy. 🙂
Yes, I have that same fear. It’s kept me from reading them. Though maybe I will try to do that this year, if I can get hold of them for free or low $.
Maybe we could make a Double Take project out of it. Looks like the next one is called I Will Repay.
That was exactly my thought ^^. These Old Shades, the Scarlet Pimpernel and Scaramouche are very much in one vein and I’m surpirsed these old shades never got a movie made…
The Devil’s Cub will be as fun or even more fun.
An Infamous Army… well… mostly about Wellington defeating Napoleon. If you want that from Heyer and paired with a great (real life) romance, read The Spanish Bride.
If you don’t like large age gaps, don’t read The Convenient Marriage, though it worked for me.
If you like a truly successful rake reformed relationship, read Venetia.
You have so many great books to look forward to.
I plan to read all of Heyer’s stuff eventually, though I appreciate specific recommendations! 🙂
Scaramouche is something I have owned for ages and never gotten around to reading. It was actually first suggested to me by a teenage piano student of mine; he had good taste!
I saw that you didn’t quite like the Masceraders… which I really enjoyed, but oh well.
Another one with a really quiet protagonist that the others constantly underestimate and who saves the bacon of the whole family – in a great show-down with a very virtuous tax officer – is The Unknown Ajax.
I have to admit that I know the Scaramouche movie better than the book. I’ve always adored Stewart Granger in Scaramouche, Prisoner of Zenda and the Quartermain movie.
The Unknown Ajax sounds very fun. 🙂 And Prisoner of Zenda is yet another book I own but haven’t read. I like all those historical adventure kinds of tales.
If you like books in that vein by a contemporary author, you could do worse than Sherwood Smith: A Posse of Princesses, The Trouble with Kings, A Stranger to Command and Crown Duel are spiritual inheritors of these swashbucklers, but with more depth and stronger women characters.
I have Crown Duel and her Inda series but, like so much else, all unread. 🙂
Heh ^^. In that case I’d better stop being your book pusher, as janicu calls me ^^.
I don’t mind it! In fact, I’ve spent the last 30 minutes reading up on Allan Quatermain! 🙂
Heh ^^. But it enables a growing of the TBR pile, or the TBV pile in this case.
Have you ever gotten around to finishing the From Far Away manga?
Nope. If I had, it would’ve been posted here. 🙂
I guess I hit the limit of nested replies, heh.
I hope you find some time for that at some point, too. ^^
So do I! I haven’t forgotten about it.
Actually, I forgot her closest version: Sasharia En Garde
http://www.amazon.com/review/R44L3LO528DUF/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
If you want the review with spoilers, read the Ajousch one, that’s mine ^^.
http://asakiyume.livejournal.com/270140.html
RE: Ajax – and he does it without fighting, just by using his wits!