Book Review 3: Faro’s Daughter, Georgette Heyer
Short reviews of the books I read in January. Descriptions of the authors with regard to gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and ability/disability is based on their book jacket author bios and Wikipedia. If you have more information about how they self-identify, please comment and let me know, thanks! There are spoilers in these reviews.
Faro’s Daughter, by Georgette Heyer (white, straight, cisgendered, able-bodied, dead), is a Regency romance novel, although it’s so ridiculous and hilarious that it’s more like a parody of the genre. But Heyer established the genre in the first place! Hmm. At any rate, Faro’s Daughter is the usual Regency fare: an impoverished, good-hearted heroine! Mistaken identity! Aristocratic codes of behavior! Hapless first loves! Scathing insights into the conventions of romance novels! Etc.
The good: Deb Grantham, the aforementioned impoverished, good-hearted heroine, is intelligent, humorous, kind, and takes no crap from any man, be he a devoted young swain or a rude, insulting gentleman. Not only does she save a girl from an arranged marriage to a scoundrel and a certain future of marital rape, she also runs gambling tables in her aunt’s gaming house and holds her own in a battle of wits with the rude, insulting gentleman.
The bad: The book is surprisingly decent at avoiding gender stereotypes and showing that such assumptions are flawed. However, there’s an unpleasant scene at the end where Ravenscar, Deb’s antagonist, kisses her against her will, and in the end, she yields to him and enjoys it. Ugh. Also, it is Regency fare, which means it has class issues that are built into the framework of the story but never explored.
On the whole, Faro’s Daughter is an entertaining fluff read about a smart woman dealing with wit and élan with the variously infuriating men in her life: a hapless young swain; his cousin, who is determined to break them apart; and a self-absorbed, profligate brother.
