The Foundling Book

4.75 stars, just short of being a top favourite!

Dear friends, readers, and fellow Georgette Heyer lovers,

I am really, really surprised at the low popularity of The Foundling amongst the Heyerites. I don't recall anybody ever featuring this wonderful gem of a book in their top favourite Heyer reads. In fact, I barely recall anyone even recommending it! Perhaps y'all need to go read it again.

"'I am glad you think I have countenance, dear Gilly. I want only to be worthy of you.'
'To be worthy of me!' he said, quite thunderstruck. 'But I am the most commonplace creature! Indeed, I do not know how you can look twice in my direction when you have known my handsome cousin!'"

I loved this story to pieces. It was wonderful, fun, different, and just so entertaining. Although very similar in plot to Sprig Muslin and, I believe, Charity Girl (I haven't read that one, so I can't be sure), The Foundling is definitely a unique read, and I suspect, a deeper, more profound story. I remember enjoying Sprig Muslin a lot for the fun screwball comedy it was, but The Foundling is something more. It's above all the coming-of-age story of the young Duke of Sale, and the book is filled with adventures, cat-and-mouse chases and, naturally, hilarious characters and situations.

If you're looking for a romance, you might be disappointed. I know I was a bit, and couldn't help wishing that the heroine should have been involved in the main plot. But she's not, and only makes a few appearances at the start and at the ending of the story.

Buuuuuuuut.....that means we are left with the hero for the entire thing!! :D :D :D The story is his story, and it is one of the few Heyers told almost exclusively through the hero's point of view. And I'm pretty sure it's the only Heyer of its kind.

The hero, at all events, is definitely one-of-a-kind. I typically tend to fall for the rakes and rogues, the tall-dark-and-handsome hero who's been overdone and overdone, but once in a while I get a major crush on a completely different type of hero. And here in The Foundling, I just happened to find my new literary husband. Ladies and gents, the Most Noble Adolphus Gillespie Vernon Ware, Duke of Sale and Marquis of Ormesby; Earl of Sale; Baron Ware of Thame; Baron Ware of Stoven; and Baron Ware of Rufford.

I know right.

The name is definitely an obstacle at first, but he thankfully goes by Gilly, or, as he likes to call himself, "Mr. Dash of Nowhere in Particular". But I promise you, once you can get over the fact that his first name is Adolphus (no easy task thanks to his cousin Gideon who keeps on insisting in calling him that), you will find yourself growing immensely fond of sweet little Gilly Dash of Nowhere in Particular. Shy, quiet and docile, the young Duke has been forever coddled and pampered on account of his being an orphan, and of his sickly constitution. Neither tall nor particularly handsome, nor a Corinthian, a Pink of the Ton, a debauched rake, a mysterious rogue or even a particularly dashing gentleman, Gilly is probably, at first glance, Heyer's plainest hero yet. But his depths and merits are quickly uncovered as we come to know the gentle, dignified soul that lays beneath his unimpressive exterior, and the more we see of him, the more we love him. Or, I do, at least ;)

There was something particularly endearing to me about the plot of a sweet young man setting out to discover whether he was really a man, or only a Duke. The occasion to exert himself and do something dashing comes along when his young cousin Matthew confides that he is about to be sued for breach of promise. Gilly rises to the occasion, declaring that he will find the Mr. Liversedge who is menacing Matthew, make everything right, be done with it, and come safely back to Sale House before his uncle, valet, porter, major-domo, butler, and footmen have had the time to suspect anything.

Of course, this is a Georgette Heyer novel, so naturally nothing goes according to plan. Mr. Liversedge proves to be a most exasperating, if utterly entertaining, villain, his "niece" the beautiful Belinda is a complete goose-cap, the boy Tom whom Gilly kindly takes under his wing keeps getting into shocking scrapes, landlord and landladies are uncooperative, and above all, Gilly's relatives and staff are most definitely not okay with Gilly leaving without a word as to his whereabouts.

This story is filled with laughs, witty repartee, entertaining characters, and lots of sweet little moments. I completely loved it, and would have given it a full five had it not been for the few scenes here and there that were a tad too slow, and that often focused on characters I did not overly care about. I mean, I loved everyone, but I wasn't overly thrilled about having to read about another of Tom's scrapes, or of Belinda's escapades. Were I to re-read this book (which I definitely will at some point!), I know I would skip and skim a lot here and there, so that's usually a sign that I didn't love absolutely everything about it.

Also, I can't help wishing that there had been a bit more romance. I didn't mind so much that the story didn't focus on that, but by the end I want to feel happy and elated for both H/h, I want to feel how in love they are and how much they deserve their happy ending. In this case it's not that they didn't deserve it or anything, but since the heroine wasn't really involved in the story, it felt like they still had a long way before really being in love and having the blissful ending I love my romances to end in.

Nevertheless the last scene is completely hilarious, and perfectly signature-Heyer-brilliance! I couldn't stop laughing!

Such a wonderful and heart-warming tale! Heyer never disappoints. 