Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer

  Abigail Wendover and her older sister, Selina, are the guardians of their niece, Fanny, who is in her teens and the heir to a considerable fortune. Fanny has become infatuated with a young dandy with a good family name but a much decreased fortune. Abigail believes Mr Caverleigh is nothing more than a fortune hunter and is looking for a way to separate him from her niece.  She finds a reluctant ally in Mr. Caverliegh's uncle, Miles.  He has been living in India for 15 years after being forced by his family to flee England after a scandal with a young woman.  Now he is back and is having none of British ton manners, fashion and fixation on family connections.  Abigail finds him both frustrating and refreshing. As she tries to help Fanny, she finds herself heading for a relation almost as scandalous as the one she is trying to help her niece avoid. 

This was the other Georgette Heyer I read on an aiplane this month.  This one was also a lot of fun.  Many of Heyer's leading men eschew the high fashion and overly particular manners of the ton, but none does as much as Miles Caverleigh.  He really is a refreshing Heyer character, and I found the ending of the book particularly delightful.  One caveat to this book for younger readers is that Miles Caverleigh really does have a checkered past, and Abigail knows it and doesn't seem bothered by it at all.  So if you are someone who wants their main characters to be moral paragons, this isn't probably the best choice.  There is no impropriety that happens during the timeframe of the book, it is all in the distant past of the story, so it didn't really bother me. I enjoyed the book immensely. I will be sad when the day comes that there are no new Georgette Heyer books to read on airplanes. (1966, 255 p)