The Scoundrel and the Debutante by Julia London

Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

The Scoundrel and the Debutante is the third in the series of books about the four Cabot sisters that began in The Trouble With Honor. The first two books saw the eldest two sisters, Honor and Grace, find love and happiness, albeit in rather unconventional ways – Honor proposed to her lover in front of a crowd at a gaming den, and Grace set out to trap a man into marriage and trapped the wrong one! But society being what it is, even four years later, the scandal surrounding her sisters continues to taint the reputation of Prudence, a conventional young woman who has always done what has been expected of her but who faces the prospect of spinsterhood at twenty-two, simply because of the damage done by her sisters.

Prudence is, naturally, more than a little put out by this, and the relationship between her and her older sisters is very strained as a result. She doesn’t like the increasingly bitter woman she is becoming, but being daily witness to the happiness of one or other of her sisters is only fuelling her frustration, and she jumps at the prospect of getting away for a short time – even if it is to visit a friend who has just had a baby and will be yet another reminder of the happiness it seems Prudence is to be denied.

The arrangements are made and Prudence travels to the nearest town where she is to be met and transported to her friend’s home. While waiting, she encounters an irascible, large and very handsome man whose accent is unfamiliar to her and who seems to have been mis-directed onto the wrong coach. Prudence is immediately smitten, and makes an impulsive decision – something she’s never done in her life before – deciding to accompany him on his journey instead of going to her friend’s as planned. After all, the poor man is lost, so making sure he gets safely to his destination is the right thing to do. Isn’t it?

Roan Matheson has travelled to England from New York in order to retrieve his younger sister and take her home. She had been staying with relatives in England, but instead of coming back with them, had elected to stay in England with some newly-made friends. Roan is alternately worried about and furious with her – not just because she has failed to stick to her original plans without a thought for how that might affect anyone else, but also because she has a fiancé waiting at home, a young man who is key to cementing the alliance between his father’s building company and the Matheson’s successful lumber business. Inaccurate directions have delayed Roan, and this only adds to his impatience to find Aurora so he can go back home to his business and, possibly, make an advantageous match of his own.

What follows is a road-trip story in which a series of mishaps leads to the pair being left behind, attacked by thieves and having to make their way to Roan’s destination on foot. Over the course of a couple of days, they get to know each other and grow closer together; and their relationship does progress quite quickly, especially when Prudence decides to throw caution to the wind and not live up to her name for once. When I read the book a few months ago, I will admit to not having been convinced by it, but it is much more believable in audio simply because of the emotional intensity Rosalyn Landor brings to both dialogue and narrative. She brings the characters’ feelings to life in a way I didn’t experience in print, which is why I’ve actually given the book a higher content grade here than I did when I read it.

The reasons why Roan and Prudence can’t be together are a little harder to believe in, however, in either version. I can certainly understand why the prospect of moving thousands of miles away from her family and the life she had known would have been a very daunting one – it’s daunting to think of today when travel is a familiar concept, so for a young woman in the 1820s, I’m sure it would have been almost unimaginable. But given the strength of the feelings between the couple, it’s difficult to understand that Prudence, who has, after all, spent quite some time bemoaning her prospective spinsterhood, would be prepared to turn her back on marriage to the man she loves so deeply.

There’s also a subplot which appears in the last part of the book which feels rather contrived and as though it’s been added to pad out the story somewhat, but fortunately, it isn’t allowed to go on for too long before everything is neatly wrapped up.

As I’ve already said, this is a book I found myself enjoying more in audio than I did in print. That’s one of the reasons I like to listen to books I’ve read; a good performance can usually bring out aspects of the story or characterisations I may have missed and contribute to a greater understanding and enjoyment of a book, and that is definitely the case here. Ms Landor’s beautiful voice and her amazing versatility are used to excellent effect, especially in the way she is able to give a depth to the romance which I just didn’t feel in the print version. Both characters are essentially decent people with no major hang-ups or emotional baggage, but they are saved from blandness by the performance, which highlights the humour in their dialogue and rounds them out as people.

Ms Landor excels in her portrayal of the secondary characters, too. An honourable mention must go to her performance in the scenes at Howston Hall; the interactions between Lord and Lady Penfors are hilarious, and her portrayals of Mrs Bowers, a sexually predatory widow who sets her sights on Roan, and the rather smarmy Lord Stanhope are equally good. She is also exceptionally good at differentiating between the four Cabot sisters in the scenes in which they appear together, and when they appear individually, her interpretations remain consistent. (By which I mean she never uses the “wrong” voice for one sister when the others are not present.) Roan is American, and while I don’t claim to be an expert on American accents, the one Ms Landor adopts certainly sounds accurate enough to my ears, and is consistent throughout.

The Scoundrel and the Debutante is definitely a book I’d recommend listening to instead of (or as well as) reading. Even though I am a huge fan of Ms Landor’s I almost didn’t pick up this audiobook because I didn’t love the story in print – but her name on the cover is such a draw that I did ask for it, and I’m pleased I did.

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Caz

AUDIOBOOK INFORMATION

TITLE: The Scoundrel and the Debutante

AUTHOR: Julia London

NARRATED BY: Rosalyn Landor

GENRE: Historical Romance

STEAM FACTOR: Glad I had my earbuds in

REVIEWER: Caz [button type=’link’ link=’http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UVW4L9I/?tag=audiogalsnet-20′ size=’btn-lg’ variation=’btn-default’ target=’blank’]Buy The Scoundrel and the Debutante by Julia London on Amazon[/button]