His At Night by Sherry Thomas

Narrated by Kate Reading

I admit I’m a little behind on my Sherry Thomas reading. There are at least three of her books on the TBR of Doom. Nevertheless, I’m still going to say His at Night is my very favourite Sherry Thomas book. When I found out it was being released on audio, my squee could not be contained. That Kate Reading was the narrator was the sparkly icing on a delicious cake. Ms. Reading gave marvelous voice to Lord of Scoundrels earlier this year and my hopes were high for this book. I was not disappointed.

The Marquis of Vere is an “amiable idiot”. At least, that’s how he comes across to almost the entire world. In reality, it is a ruse a la The Scarlet Pimpernel – Vere works for the Crown to solve crimes and his guise as a harmless fool allows him a ready explanation if he’s caught somewhere he ought not to be. He regularly goes to the wrong room when he’s out – so finding him unexpectedly in a study, for example, is not suspicious. He has been doing this work for 13 years and it has taken a toll. Only the people who work closely with him for the Crown know the truth; he has kept the secret even from his only relative, his beloved brother, Freddie.

Ellisande Edgerton was raised by her Aunt Rachel and Uncle Edmund after the death of her rather scandalous parents. Things appear tranquil on the surface and she is all smiles around her uncle. But the smiles hide an ugly truth. He is an abuser who keeps a tight leash on his family. Aunt Rachel is bedridden and, thanks to Edmund, addicted to laudanum. Edmund’s cruelty to Rachel keeps Ellisande in line and traps her as completely as if she were locked in a cell.

The Crown suspects Edmund Douglas of fraud and theft and wishes to infiltrate his household to go through his papers. Rachel Douglas is well known to be an invalid who sees no-one and her niece, Ellisande, makes no calls. Vere and Lady Kingsley (another agent for the Crown) hatch a plan involving rats (long story) – which means that Lady Kingsley and her house party of nine other guests turn up on Ellisande’s doorstep begging for lodging. Edmund is away, due to return in three days. Reluctantly realising she cannot turn away the Kingsley party, Ellisande also realises that perhaps this unexpected turn may provide a means for her escape. If she can inveigle someone to marry her and take her and Aunt Rachel away, they could be safe from her uncle’s vengeance. Ellisande’s actions are bad but she is desperate. As much as when she first lays eyes on Vere she is deeply and strongly attracted (and vice versa), his apparent lack of intelligence leads her to set her cap for Freddie instead. She doubts Vere would be any useful help protecting her and her aunt against her uncle. Wise to her game, Vere ends up being the one caught, and he and Ellisande are forced to marry.

There were some things I had forgotten about the story from when I first read it. For some reason I thought there was more sex in the book than there actually is. (This probably says something about me.) I had forgotten just how angry Vere was at being tricked into marriage and how long that anger burns. But I did remember that Vere was a deeply lonely man. When he first sees Ellisande he thinks she could be the woman of his dreams (literally: he has dreamed of a woman, a kind and generous companion, for many long years). It quickly becomes clear that Ellisande is hiding things and this cuts at something within him and it takes him a long time to forgive. Vere was so very tired of pretending to be stupid all the time and of not being “known”. I think the effect Ellisande had on him and his own weariness collided, so that his disguise “slips” with her occasionally. Given his vast success for the previous 13 years, he must surely have been better at hiding his true intelligence than he displays with Ellisande when they are alone.

Vere and Ellisande must work out the tangle of emotions and betrayals that resulted from the manner of their marriage and all the while this is happening, Edmund Douglas remains a significant threat.

I have come to realise that I have a distinct weakness for characters who hide for reasons of (genuine) nobility or because of vulnerability. The hero or heroine who longs to belong, who yearns to be seen and known resonates with me powerfully. (It is probably why I love the films The Man in the Iron Mask – Richard Chamberlain version of course – and the Anthony Andrews version of The Scarlet Pimpernel. The themes are similar.) I really think Vere let down his guard a bit (albeit unconsciously) because he wanted Ellisande to know the true man behind the mask.

Kate Reading had something of a challenge in her portrayal of Vere. She had to give him two voices and, pretty much, two personalities. They had to be similar enough to be believably the same person but different enough that the listener knew when Vere was acting dim and when he was being himself. In an ideal world, I’d have liked just a titch more difference between the two personas and I’d have liked for Vere’s voice to be a little deeper. For the most part, it was clear, which Vere was speaking – it only very occasionally became a little blurry to my ears.

There is some funny slapstick humour when Vere is being the fool and variously drops, spills and forgets things and generally blunders about. When he first meets Ellisande he expects her to react to his stupidity. When she doesn’t, he realises she is wearing a mask too. The interplay between Vere and Ellisande, as he turns the stupid up to 11 just to get a reaction and as she continues to smile adoringly and flatter him, is superb. Ms. Reading’s portrayal of these scenes was pretty much how I’d pictured it when I read the book.

A warning: There is some violence to Ellisande in the book – not by Vere, fear not. When it comes, it is sudden and chilling. I think Ms. Reading did well not to overplay it and let the text speak for itself. It had more power that way.

To keep herself sane while trapped in the house with her invalid aunt and her evil uncle, Ellisande imagined she would one day escape to the isle of Capri. She has memorised travelogues about the vistas and it has become an escape for her. Ms. Reading depicted the longing and subtext of those sections of the book very well.

All of the characters were cleanly differentiated and the story was a delight to listen to. I had a few quibbles – as I mentioned above – but basically, I just loved it.

Note: There was a production error at Chapter 11 & 12;  the very end of Chapter 11 was interposed into the first paragraph of Chapter 12. This production error was not considered in the final grading. 

Kaetrin

Narration: A-

Book Content: A

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence: Fighting and some domestic abuse (not the hero)

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Tantor Audio

 His at Night was provided to AudioGals by Tantor Media for review.