Narrated by Sarah Woodward
I sat down to write this review, fingers poised over the keys … and suddenly realized that this would be my first time to write a review of a story that’s older than I am (!) and, moreover, one which is so well known and such a great favorite with romance readers that it frequently tops any “what’s your favorite Regency Romance?” list.
It’s been more than twenty years since I last read The Grand Sophy and, while there are a fair few of Georgette Heyer’s books available in audio format, this title wasn’t one of them (unless you count the abridged version also recently issued by Naxos). So I was delighted when I saw that there was an unabridged version coming out. I admit, it’s not my favorite Heyer (that’s Venetia
Sophy is a young woman who has been brought up by her father, a diplomat, and has lived most of her life abroad. When Sir Horace Stanton-Lacy asks his sister, Lady Ombersley, to take charge of his “little” Sophy while he is on a trip to Brazil, she forms the impression that Sophie is shy, somewhat gauche, and more than a little drab – and agrees to take the girl under her wing and give her the “town bronze” she will need in order to be brought out.
But when she arrives, Sophy turns out to be far from little, and far from gauche. In fact, the reality of her could not be farther from the type of retiring girl Lady Ormbersely had been expecting for Sophy is tall, Junoesque of stature, and very much “up to snuff” as the saying is, being poised, confident, witty, and deliciously unconventional.
She’s an immediately engaging heroine. Even though she’s unashamedly manipulative, she’s never smug or cruel; actually, she’s rather like a Regency version of Mary Poppins in the way she swoops down upon an unsuspecting and somewhat discontented family and proceeds to put everything right, mending relationships and pulling the strings in a kind of courtship quadrille in which everyone eventually ends up with the right partner.
From the moment Sophy arrives, she’s like a breath of fresh air in the Ormbersley household. She enchants the younger members of the family, endears herself to her beautiful cousin Cecilia by providing a sympathetic ear to the tribulations of the latter’s love-life, and thoroughly charms Lord Ombersley – all of it simply by being her vivacious, unaffected self. Oh – and by making the children a gift of a monkey!
I really love Sophy as a character. She’s brave, she’s clever, she speaks her mind, and she’s devoted to those she cares about. Her natural intuitiveness allows her to discern immediately that the Ormbersley household is not an especially happy one, and she quickly sets about doing what needs to be done in order to rectify the situation. She may be unconventional almost to the point of being thought “fast”, but I admire the way that Ms. Heyer is able to have Sophy be out of the ordinary while continuing to operate within the rigid framework of the society of the time. As heroines go, I still think she’s unequalled in the genre – she’s unconventional, but not beyond the pale; she stands up to the hero without being shrewish, unpleasant, or contrary just for the sake of it; and she’s generous and extremely kind without being too good to be true. I think it’s that last fact that makes her so memorable and likeable. We’re well aware of her faults and fall in love with her despite them.
The only person not to fall under Sophy’s spell is Lord Ombersley’s eldest son and heir, Mr. Charles Rivenhall, who finds her to be too unconventional, too forward, and – in short – too much like trouble. Their relationship is immediately adversarial, as Charles, a very strong-willed and rather austere young man, seems finally to have found someone who will stand up to him and who is quite prepared to laugh at him when he is being too starchy and overbearing.
At first, Charles seems rather harsh and unforgiving, although there are occasional flashes of a less tightly-wound young man underneath. As the story progresses, these flashes become more frequent as Sophy helps him to repair his relationships with his younger brother, Hubert, and with Cecilia. She, in turn, helps them to understand the pressures Charles is under. While his father is still alive, due to a quirk of inheritance and his father’s known profligacy, Charles inherited the family fortune from his uncle and is thus the person controlling the family purse strings. The fact that he has had to assume the responsibility of dealing with his father’s mountainous debts combined with his natural reserve, has led to his family believing him to be somewhat of a tyrant – a tyrant which, to be fair, they seem to have helped to create by acquiescing to his every edict.
One of the other strengths of The Grand Sophy is the way that Ms. Heyer’s incredible eye (and ear) for the ridiculous is on such splendid display. I’ve always loved this author’s talent for exposing the absurd and the way her characterizations are so splendidly observed. Here we have the bluff Sir Horace (who, it must be said, is rather a neglectful parent even though it’s very clear that Sophy can look after herself), the indolent Spanish Marquesa, Augustus Fawnhope – the dreamy poet with whom Cecilia believes herself to be in love, the incredibly stuffy Lord Bromford, and the awfully prim, proper, and priggish Miss Wraxton to whom Charles has unfortunately betrothed himself. All are superbly drawn on the page and just as superbly portrayed by Ms. Woodward in what I thought was a thoroughly engaging and highly skilled performance.
What develops between Charles and Sophy is a grudging yet mutual respect that turns to friendship with just hints of more. This is Heyer, so there are never going to be any overblown professions of undying love (unless it’s between characters she is pillorying!) but I have to say, I do rather love Charles’ proposal when it finally comes.
What works so well in the relationship is that it’s one of equals. Charles needs a woman who is not only strong enough to stand up to him, but who is able to bring out his softer side and help him to shed some of his natural reserve. And Sophy, while a truly delightful young woman, is apt to be headstrong and at times does act without too much forethought so occasionally she needs someone to pull her back from the brink. With two such strong characters, life is bound to be tempestuous, but it’s clear from the closing lines that it’s going to be fun, too.
Sarah Woodward isn’t a narrator with whom I’m familiar, but on the whole, I enjoyed her reading very much. She has a naturally deep voice and reads at a pleasant pace, finding the right note of pomposity for Bromford, a dreaminess for Augustus, and a wonderfully sneering and self-righteous tone for Miss Wraxton. All the secondary characters are excellently characterized and well-differentiated; one of Ms. Heyer’s greatest talents was her gift for observing behavior and poking fun at the ridiculous. I felt Ms. Woodward hit exactly the right notes with her characterizations.
In terms of her portrayal of the two principals, I often thought there could have been a little more differentiation between them. Ms. Woodward’s voice is certainly deep enough to convince as male characters and in fact, she does little to alter her pitch, instead distinguishing the characters by very successfully using tone and accent. But there are times when Charles and Sophy are talking with each other that I had to concentrate on textual indicators to tell me who was speaking.
That said, however, I found the problem receded as I got further into the audio, so it could be that the change in timbre was just very subtle and took me a little while to get used to. It really didn’t impact my enjoyment of the book.
I’d like to add that Ms. Woodward is one of the more mature sounding narrators I’ve heard recently, which is in no way a criticism. In fact, it came as a very pleasant surprise. I know that Sophy is a young woman, but she’s so much more mature and capable than many of the people around her, that Ms. Woodward’s mellow tones worked perfectly in context. If you like your ingénues to sound as though they are mere slips of girls, then this might not be the performance for you, but in my opinion, Ms. Woodward has done A Grand Job!
[section label=’Audiobook Information’ anchor=’Audiobook Information’]
Caz
AUDIOBOOK INFORMATION
TITLE: The Grand Sophy
AUTHOR: Georgette Heyer
NARRATED BY: Sarah Woodward
GENRE: Historical Romance
STEAM FACTOR: You can play it out loud
REVIEWER: Caz [button type=’link’ link=’http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FX6EQTC/?tag=audiogalsnet-20′ size=’btn-lg’ variation=’btn-default’ target=’blank’]Buy The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer on Amazon[/button]
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