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Zebra, June 2003
Reviewed by Joy Calderwood
Charles Kirk returns from the Peninsular War with permanent scars to body
and soul. Once an indulged junior member of the aristocracy, Charles
became a well-trained army officer, and then rear guard to a long,
casualty-filled retreat. Haunted by memories, he longs for the peace of
not feeling.
Charles accepts the suggestion of his brother Geoffrey, Viscount
Sherbourne, to manage Geoffrey’s country estate of Oakhurst. Instead, he
rescues society’s reigning debutante, Lady Serena Fairchild, who has been
missing for several days. Serena has been abducted and held captive – at
Oakhurst, of all places. Her captors are pursuing her, and one of them
turns out to be Quigley Garnett, an old enemy of Charles. With Serena and
Charles both now in deadly danger, they dash from place to place looking
for a way around the obstacles Garnett has placed between them and
Serena’s father in London.
Whenever they have time to breathe, Charles offers Serena the protection
of his hand in marriage. To his surprise, this is not just because she has
been compromised beyond repair. Without her courage and spirit, they could
not be making this escape; without the sense of comradeship they have
built, the adventure wouldn’t be so stimulating. While not physically
hurt, Serena’s experiences with brutality and terror give her a rare
understanding of Charles’s state of mind. Because of this closeness, it is
even more surprising that she keeps refusing him.
In THE RELUCTANT HERO, traditional Regency meets the contemporary chase
movie. Garnett and his mysterious employer seem to be extraordinarily
lucky at predicting what Charles and Serena will do next, and our heroes
must continually elude, in the nick of time, the traps that are cleverly
set for them. For me it happened a few too many times – it felt
repetitive, as if the author were using these adventures to fill out a
required word count. What did work for me, and work well, is the nicely
paced exploration of each other’s characters, as Charles and Serena learn
why their experiences are affecting each of them so deeply.
As in so many Regency stories, history is not the primary objective.
Author Mary Kingsley only wants to borrow the Regency atmosphere. She soon
departs from the traditional setting, and here is where her research comes
into play. She tells in her Note about the many hours she spent on maps of
the period. We can be sure that when her characters go from one small town
to the next, they are moving in the right direction, and not tripping over
another small town that should have been a hundred miles away.
I read Regency for the comedy of manners: THE RELUCTANT HERO has no comedy
and precious little room for manners. Charles and Serena are cast into a
situation where social behavior would endanger them further. Indeed, the
rules of society will now make them outcasts for life no matter how
innocently and honorably they have behaved. Mary Kingsley is to be praised
for her attempt to adapt the Regency form to psychological drama, though I
am doubtful how well it works in combination with the chase adventure. I
think it would be worth the effort to try again, this time discarding the
light Regency style.
July 2003 Review Originally Published by WOR
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