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I loved this book! And loving a book by Georgette Heyer usually means a little intellectual blather in the review, about the dead-on history or the period language. But Friday’s Child is entirely of the heart, and that’s where it hits you. It’s also quite possibly the funniest book she ever wrote, and I think this one-two punch explains why Friday’s Child always comes up high on the list of fan favorites.

Anthony, Lord Sheringham, needs a wife to come into his inheritance. He’s very young, barely out of his twenties, good-looking and utterly self-centered. The story opens with the hapless Sherry proposing to a girl he grew up with and always assumed he’d marry, Miss Isabella Milborne, nicknamed the Incomparable. To his astonishment she turns him down flat, and that’s when the fun begins.

Miss Hero Wantage is an orphan, a poor relation thrust on some cousins to raise. She, too, grew up with Sherry, although, unlike the Incomparable, she was always his stooge. Driving back to London, way too fast, Sherry stumbles on Hero, who’s crying. She’s seventeen and about to be tossed out on her ear, to a school in Bath that will train her to become a governess. Hero doesn’t mind telling him everything, because she’s always adored Sherry. And Sherry, of course, likes being adored. By a girl who’s actually rather pretty. And who has nowhere to go.

Why not? After all, she’s so green, so sweet, she won’t be any trouble. Or, as he tells his friends, “If I must marry someone, I’d as lief marry Hero as anyone else. Poor little soul.” You can almost smell the comeuppance brewing.

Sherry believes he’s rescuing her, but Hero isn’t content merely to marry a viscount. It may look like an adolescent case of hero worship, but Hero’s love for Sherry is the touching constant in the story, unchanging. It sounds corny, but she’s pure of heart. She’s a bit like Leonie in These Old Shades, but unlike Leonie, Hero is an innocent, dangerously so. She never questions that what Sherry does is right, that what he wants is what is best, leading to several Regency-style domestic disasters.

Most of the laughs come from Sherry’s three close friends, his London cronies – his cousin Ferdy Fakenham, Gil Ringwood, and the wildly Byronic George Wrotham. Lord Wrotham also happens to be madly in love with the Incomparable. Once more, as in Cotillion, an array of sharply-drawn characters, including daffy grandmothers and pickpocket postillions, tangle into great situations punctuated with hysterical dialogue, particularly from the unforgettable dim-bulb Ferdy. It’s straight out of Wodehouse’s Drone’s Club, though really, all of them do some growing up in the course of the book. Hero not only doesn’t resent Sherry’s friends, she makes them her own, and they come to adore her. To Sherry’s jealous irritation.

And the end? Magic. She skillfully weaves another of her Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum chase-and-mix-up endings, as fine as The Grand Sophy. As for romance, growing up with Sherry as he comes to understand how much he loves his wife makes this one of her most touching love stories. Truly a winner.

I must have read this about 20 or 30 years ago, but at the time it didn't make a big impression on me. When I decided to read it again, frankly, it was being sold for less than most Georgette Heyer ebooks currently are. My mother, who introduced me to Georgette Heyer, liked it a lot, but I didn't remember much about it. I thought I would trust her judgment and take advantage of the bargain price.

It turns out that this book is a gem. Part of what makes a Georgette Heyer novel good is her irrepressible sense of humor combined with her intelligence and ability to sketch memorable and endearing characters. She does often tweak her characters and use them again in other books; she was particularly fond of the dashing, romantic, and slightly dangerous Bad Boy, and although he is not the main character in this book, this book's version was very charming: someone who is so good at dueling, and so likely to issue a challenge, that anyone who knows him edges away rather than giving him an opportunity to fight with them because they know he will win and because they like him and don't want to fight with him anyway. She has done more cynical versions where the Bad Boy is the villain; she has also done more serious versions where the Bad Boy is the love interest who straightens up because of his love for someone; but this particular character was wonderful because she also understood what makes him a little ridiculous. He is not a main character, but he is one of her more endearing side characters, and she shares the fact that he is really funny, harmless, and delightful with whoever is reading her story.

The two main characters for this particular novel are also charming. A young man who mistakenly thinks beauty alone makes for a happy marriage ends up marrying someone who is not as beautiful but who has always loved him and (more to the point) gotten along well with him his whole life. As a result, their marriage is based fundamentally on friendship as well as love. His journey to discovering that he loves her just as much as she loves him is well-done. There are no surprises here about where the book is going, but nobody does romance with the assurance and skill of Georgette Heyer at her best, and she certainly was at the height of her powers when she wrote this. I guess I wasn't old enough to appreciate it when I first read it, but it is so good, I will certainly read it again multiple times.

Friday's Child had lots of cute elements and overall was a fun Heyer-style romp through the London season.
Hero was an adorable heroine- sweet tempered and loyal, nearly to a fault. I usually prefer a bit more outgoing heroine, but for this story 'Kitten' was perfect.
Lord Sheringhams friends were hilariously entertaining! The Charming Trio, containing all the personality quirks that keep things interesting; George is the dashing gentleman, romantic and willing to challenge any and all to a duel at the drop of a hat. Ferdy is a peace loving fellow- an irreproachable literalist. And last, but most assuredly not least, Gil: bachelor, mastermind, and brains of all three.
With Sherry himself I was not impressed with above half. Selfish, prone to throw temper tantrums, and neglectful to the point of driving me mad(!!!), I could not like him until well over halfway through the book, when -in true Georgette Heyer fashion- he is made aware of what an idiot he's been (thanks to the above-mentioned trio) and proceeds to begin making amends.
Lots of other lovable as well as not so lovable characters and many laughable situations make for an interesting and entertaining story that I enjoyed (minus the bit of language).
Not my favorite Heyer, but not a waste of time, either. ;)