As usual Heyer has done an enormous amount of research but unfortunately, by succumbing to the temptation to include all of it in this book, Heyer has diluted the romance and in this reader’s case, the enjoyment. With 30%romance and 70% historical facts I found myself skipping huge sections of this narration, much as I did when I read it 40yrs ago. Heyer creates some exceptional romantic characters in this book but unfortunately they occupy second place to the recount of the detailed military strategy of Wellington and the bloody cost of war.
If you think you might enjoy a recount in finite detail of the Duke of Wellington’s military engagement at Waterloo, hearing a description of the uniforms and culture of each country’s troops and the roles they played in the war and of Wellington’s every strategic move of the campaign described in minute detail, this book is for you. It was difficult to follow the movements and geography of the battle without a map and I soon gave up, treating it as background to the story. Some of the battlefield descriptions sounded as though influenced by the First World War which must have been within living memory given the time it was written. The narrator has a good range and depth of voices and accents making it easy to distinguish between the various characters in the story (apart from a few mispronunciations in the French) and carries her audience with her. We would use all sorts of labels and modern vocabulary to describe her these days.
For once Georgette Heyer gives us a flawed and complex heroine. The superb narration captured the atmosphere the contrast between the shallow frivolous lives of the aristocracy in Brussels and the horror of the battlefield was brought to life by the slow build up to the action and the detailed descriptions. I appreciated it much more this time round, especially as an audiobook. I read this book as a teenager and skipped through the “boring” bits. Paints a convincing picture of the Battle of Waterloo
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