Or at least that is the rumour that goes around the neighbourhood. He’s a cad and a bounder and the mere turn of his gaze upon a young lady is enough to damage her reputation for life. She finds herself a friend in Jasper, someone who challenges her but perhaps reflects some of her own dreams. Then she meets Jasper Damerel and those plans are abandoned. Aware she will either have to marry Edward Yardley or remain a spinster aunt to her elder brother’s yet to be conceived children she hopes for a third way out by keeping house with Aubrey. She deals with conflicts between the staff with the manner of a well used mediator and she is content enough in her life in the country. She is aware of her brothers character flaws but geninely adores Aubrey, her younger brother. Kind, considerate of her family and her staff, she is not afraid to show her own mind. Seeing the description of Venetia, and being a Yorkshire resident, I knew this was the one to start with. After seeing so much talk I knew I had to pick up one of her books. I’d seen discussions over which book was best and various suggestions of where to start. I had heard many people over the years say how much they loved Georgette Heyer’s work.

In him Venetia sees the future has possibilities. With a reputation as a ne’er do well and cad, he is rumoured to have squandered his fortune and left a trail of broken hearts, and broken women behind him. And then into her life gallops Jasper Damerel, lord of the nearby Priory. Her father refused to let her come out at Court, she has, since his death and her elder brother’s enrolment in the army, been keeping house with her younger brother and managing the affairs of Undershaw, the family home. Venetia Lanyon has never made it further than York and Harrogate.

Then, in one extraordinary encounter, she meets a neighbour she only knew by reputation – the infamous Jasper Damerel.īefore she realises it, Venetia is encouraging a man whose way of life has scandalised the North Riding for years. Nor has she enjoyed the attentions of any man aside from her two wearisomely persistent suitors. In all her twenty-five years, Venetia Lanyon has never been further than Harrogate.

Venetia heyer novel