All Regencies are published under the pen name, Fiona Hill
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The Country Gentleman St. Martin's Press, 1987 / Fawcett Crest, 1987
In the battle of the sexes waged in this lively Regency romance, the contestants are overtaken by circumstances. Bluestocking Ann Guilfoyle, still single at 29, is a liberated woman happily ensconced in a 10-year platonic relationship with worldly Lord Ensley, whose perilous fiscal conditions prohibits a sanctioned union. Their idyll is shattered by Ensley's arranged marriage to an heiress and aby a sudden reversal of Anne's fortunes, which causes her to leave the London salon circuit and retire to an inherited farm-estate. Ann adjusts uneasily to the slow pace, applying her rapier wit to lampoons of the natives, which appear in the London Times. As a result, her Oxford-educated, silently admiring bachelor neighbor, Mr. Highet, has little trouble identifying himself as the parodied "Mr. Mutton Slowtop, the idiot sheep farmer." In due course, the country gentleman's manly forbearance wins out over the London beau. The victory is detailed with wit and verve, qualities of Hill's earlier novels, which include The Stanbroke Girls and The Love Child. --Publishers Weekly, October 30 1987 Spunky 28-year-old Anne Guilfoyle begrudgingly accepts her deceased great-uncle's willed country estate before entering into a marriage of convenience with next-door neighbor Henry Highet, in a lighthearted Regency romance. --Booklist, December 15, 1987 BUY THIS BOOK from abebooks.com |
The Autumn Rose G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1978 / Berkley, 1979
Headstrong,
outspoken, sparkling Lady Caro Wythe, being 23 years old and dying on
the vine, is sent to Georgian London to catch a husband, though she
has no desire for one. Her marriage consultant, dowager Lady Beatrice,
says that with her looks (skinny) and advanced age, she had best cultivate
a reputation for eccentricity. So Caro dutifully smokes cigars, wears
only the color rose, and gives her naturally sharp tongue free rein.
All this--plus her rash temper--gets her involved in a brouhaha with
caddish Lord Mockabee, who sinks so far as to lampoon her in the public
press. But this is nothing to what Mockabee plans for Caro's housemate
and companion, silly and malicious Amy Meredith, who is a trial to her
guardian, handsome Lord Seabury, in whose home the two girls will have
their "come-out." Caro finds Seabury gorgeous but glacial,
and, worse, he seems to be engaged to the most boring woman in England.
Add to this crew an elderly compulsive gambler and two comic chaperones
(one of whom unpicks the other's embroidery after-hours) and you have
the ideal dramatis personae for a Georgette Heyerish bit of flummery--with
considerably more wit and pizazz than the legendary Georgette herself.
BUY THIS BOOK from abebooks.com |
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The Stanbroke Girls St. Martin's Press, 1981/ Bantam 1983
Kind
reader, please have patience because this paragraph is extremely difficult
for your worldly and cynical reviewer to compose. I have just finished
The Stanbroke Girls, by Fiona Hill, the first Regency romance
that I have ever had occasion to open, and much to my surprise--nay,
my astonishment--I have found that I rather liked it, that it was witty
and fun. BUY THIS BOOK from abebooks.com |
The Love Child G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1977 / Berkley, 1977
The appealing conventions of the 18th-century novel decorate this light-fingered historical romance. Outspoken, beautiful Lotta Chilton is parentless and poor. Hiring out as companion to the haughty old Duchess of Karr, she wins the heart of the young heir but has scruples because of their difference in station. At the Duchess' annual house party, Lotta watches while Jessica Cawley, scribbler of roman à clef Gothics, twirls (via a mysterious gypsy and a stage-managed ghost) into the arms of the man she once satirized and now loves. And fellow guests Lord and Lady Stanton are being blackmailed to the ground by ruthless adventuress Countess di Tremini, who knows that Lady Stanton either had a child out of wedlock in Italy or else is bigamously married now. If it could only work out that Lotta were the misplaced baby, she could marry her blueblooded Karr. Fear not--all's for the best in a world where every gypsy is a true lover in disguise and all the pumpkins are secretly coaches. -- Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 1977 BUY THIS BOOK from abebooks.com |
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Sweet's Folly Berkley / Putnam, 1977
Here's
a new ploy in a Regency novel: a hero who is so innocent (or absentminded)
that he neglects to consummate his marriage to his demure bride. Honoria
Newcombe has married Alex Blackwood for convenience, so she won't be
a financial burden to her dotty old aunts. When she discovers that she
loves her unresponsive husband, a variety of misunderstandings keep
them apart. The title, by the way, refers to the Blackwood estate in
Sussex; from there Honoria and Alex and Alex's sister Emily (a bidding
artist) journey to London for the "season," where Honoria
is pursued by a former suitor and Alex almost falls into the clutches
of a courtesan. Readers who enjoy this genre will welcome the intrigues
that strew the path to the happy ending. A
cheerfully connived entertainment "in prime twig" for the
Heyer audience that was, although it's far less reliant on all those
period social conventions and uses a new set of givens. Honor, living
with two aunts who really need their tuppences for a whole collection
of stray dogs and cats, decides to relieve them of her support by marrying
Alexander, her friend Emily's brother. Emily arranges this--she's emancipated
and has hopes of winning an art prize (she does, but it's forfeited
when her sex is discovered). Alexander, a distrait geometrician, is
remote beyond reach so that the marriage is not very intact, only Honor
is. Lively and likable--honor bright. BUY THIS BOOK from abebooks.com |
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The Trellised Lane Berkley, 1975 Edgely Hall was a lovely estate indeed, but Julia felt like a bird with clipped wings. Life was so full of adventure, she wanted to fly away and see the world for herself! And so she induced her brother Fitz to accompany her on an extended visit to the great city of London, where she might discover her heart's destiny. But romance turns out to be such a complicated matter, as Julia finds herself the center of a circle of suitors, duelists, and intrigue! BUY THIS BOOK from abebooks.com |
The Wedding Portrait Berkley, 1975 The wedding festivities were about to begin at Harkness Abbey. Lady Laura had consented to give her hand to Thaddeus Grey, whom she had known all of her life and whom she found very dear indeed. Perhaps there was some great romantic ingredient missing from their relationship, but one need not pay any heed: Thad was an attractive man and a boon companion. The wedding gifts were pouring in, and from Baron Nathaniel Lowland, an old friend of Laura's father, came the most surprising gift of all--his son Ashley! Ashley, a painter of exquisite talent, had been sent to paint Lady Laura's portrait. It could hardly have been expected that he would come to capture her heart as well! BUY THIS BOOK from abebooks.com |
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The Practical Heart Berkley, 1975 Miss Gillian Spencer was faced with quite a challenge. Impossible was the word she gave it, but her ever-hopeful employer, the Viscount Sherbourne, would hear none of that. The facts were that the Viscount hand's a farthing at his command, and his London house was a ruin. If his two charming and beautiful daughters were to rescue the family's standing by marrying wealth--"making advantageous connexions," the doggedly euphemistic Viscount would have it--Miss Spencer's work was certainly cut out for her. At the advanced age of 27, Gillian herself had dismissed the possibility of marriage for herself, of course--but who can predict where her talent for romantic intrigue on others' behalf might lead her? BUY THIS BOOK from abebooks.com |
Love in a Major Key Berkley, 1976 When Daphne left her family's country estate at Verchamp Park for the season in London, it was certainly with no anticipation of romance. She soon found, however, that she had no difficulty in finding suitors--only in choosing among them. All were quite acceptable with the sole exception of Christian Livingston, the handsome and sensuous pianofortist employed by Lady Brede. Surely, little good could come of any attachment she might form for him. And yet, could propriety stand in Daphne's way once her heart was captured? Before she can honestly answer that question, Daphne finds herself at the center of a truly delicious intrigue! BUY THIS BOOK from abebooks.com |
In the Grasp of Romance: My Life as Fiona Hill from The New York Times Book Review, April 30, 1989, Sunday
For more information on Regency romances and the English Regency period, please click here.
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