Book Review - The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer

This is my friend, Georgette Heyer.  Well, she's not really my friend, but I wish she was!  She's written many of my favorite books.  Great hat, Georgette.

Out of the many books I have read by Georgette Heyer, this is my favorite.  The top of the pile.  And it's a big, big pile of books to be on the very top.  The Grand Sophy is the marvelous tale of Sophy Stanton-Lacy, who has spent her entire life following her father, the diplomat, around Europe.  Her father has decided to send Sophy for an extended visit to her Aunt, Lady Ombersley, and her large family of cousins.  The de facto head of the family is Sophy's cousin, Charles Rivenhall, since Lady Ombersley's husband is a gambler and a party animal, who has put the family fortune at great risk.  Charles is sober, strict, and since he has an independence and a mind for business, is trying to improve the family finances.  Charles and his fiancee have pretty much made the lives of the Ombersley family miserable, as they are very severe. 

Enter Sophy, fresh from the continent, full of grand ideas to save the family.  She turns everything upside down in her efforts to fix the affairs of the family, in a series of adventures and misadventures that leaves your head spinning.  Everything is tied up nice and neat at the end.  As usual, Georgette Heyer excels in writing characters that are both absurd and believable, and setting up situations that are wholly entertaining.  She has a command of the history of the Regency period which is to be greatly admired, and her grasp of the slang used at that time is amazing.  However, where she really shines is in her witty dialogue.  The Grand Sophy is definitely on my desert island pile of books.