Black Sheep

by Georgette Heyer

Abigail Wendover is adept at managing her silly sister, her lively niece, and a host of admirers, but with the arrival at Bath of Miles Caverleigh, an outrageous cynic with a scandalous past, she has less success at managing her own unruly heart. "From the Trade Paperback edition."

• ISBN10: 0370006143
• ISBN13: 9780370006147
• Publish Date: 1 January 1966
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 10 August 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Vintage Publishing
• Imprint: The Bodley Head Ltd
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 255
• Language: English

Reviews

[jamiereadthis]

Another Georgette Heyer that I’m glad I did via audio. Barbara Leigh-Hunt (that’s Lady Catherine de Bourgh for those of you who like a Colin Firth) did it justice. There wasn’t a surprise for me at the end, but that’s just because Miles is so great I knew exactly what he was up to with his nephew. Never underestimate how much I love a socially-undesirable oddball hero. Miles FTW.

Current Heyer rankings:
1. Sylvester
2. Sprig Muslin
3. Faro’s Daughter
4. Arabella
5. Black Sheep
6. The Grand Sophy
7. A Quiet Gentleman

[MurderByDeath]

Abigail Wendover, on the shelf at 28, is kept busy when her niece falls head over heels in love with a handsome fortune hunter and Abbie is forced into a confrontation with his scandalous uncle. Miles Calvery is the black sheep of his family- enormously rich from a long sojourn in India, disconcertingly blunt and brash. But he turns out to be Abbie's most important ally in keeping her niece out of trouble. But how can he possibly be considered eligible when she has worked so hard to rebuff his own nephew's suit for her niece? And how can she possibly detach from an ailing sister who needs her? This is a heroine who has to be, literally, swept off her feet . . 

Much better than Sprig Muslin, but still not as good as The Grand Sophy.  Saying that, the plot is much more in line with Venetia, featuring a romantic anti-hero in the form of Miles Calverleigh; though not as bad as Lord Damerel, his redemptive qualities are in the eye of the beholder, or reader, as it were.

Heyer balances her insipid characters and her likeable ones really well in this one; I was able to read about the wet rags or old biddies with only a mild thought of what it would be like to smack them.  The writing was a trifle long-winded, but the book in general held my attention and entertained me throughout.  Other than an odd ending that happened mid-scene, I really had no complaints.