I don’t generally read romance novels (semi-exception: I did have fun with Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate books, though after the first one they didn’t feel that romance-y) and when I started this one I wasn’t sure I was going to be into it. And I do sort of think that if I were to want to find a romance novel I would really really like, my best bet would be something more modern and less straight. But happily, Sprig Muslin isn’t actually that heavy on the romance: it’s more focused on a madcap series of (mis)adventures, with romance as a frame.
Early in the book we meet Sir Gareth Ludlow, who’s 35, rich, handsome, and single: the woman he loved died in a carriage accident seven years earlier, and he’s never loved anyone since. But as a sole surviving son, he feels like it’s his duty to marry and have a family so the Ludlow name/line won’t end with him. He’s therefore decided to propose to an old friend, Lady Hester Theale, who’s smart and kind but rather plain; she’s 29 and her (fairly horrid/overbearing) father, sisters, brother, and sister-in-law are sure she’ll never get any suitable marriage offers now. Gareth is pretty sure Hester will say yes: I mean, she’ll get out of her unpleasant home situation, he’ll provide for her, and they’re friends, right? But (I don’t feel it’s spoilery to say this, because it’s on the back cover) Hester refuses. And meanwhile, there’s Amanda to reckon with.
Gareth meets Amanda in an inn as he’s en route to propose to Hester: she’s arguing with the landlord (who won’t give her a room) and he’s shocked to see a clearly well-off young lady traveling without a chaperon. He doesn’t know what her story might be, but he feels that as a gentleman, it’s his duty to get her back home safely. Except she won’t tell him her last name. She’s sixteen, and she’s run off, she explains, because her grandfather won’t consent to her marrying her love, who’s a 24-year-old soldier named Neil. Neil won’t elope with her, which leaves her at an impasse: she’s decided that running off and being a governess or maid or something will show her grandfather that she can take care of herself, and that he should listen to what she wants. Gareth takes Amanda under his care as he tries to figure out how he can reunite her with her grandfather, but meanwhile she keeps trying to give him the slip because she’s set on seeing her plan of independence through. Hilarity ensues, not least in the interplay between Gareth’s amused and avuncular interactions with Amanda and her indignant /stubborn/scheming attempts to run off. And of course, Hester’s refusal of Gareth’s proposal ends up not being the last we see of her. This was a fun light read, full of entertaining dialogue and pleasing period slang and detail.
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