Jack was not happy to find that the grandfather who had disowned his father, had now named him as his heir. When said grandfather passes away, Jack is taken from his career as a seaman and thrown into the restrictive expectations of the ton. To help him in the transition, Jack's grandmother's dear friend recruits her own granddaughter, Ivy Carlisle to teach the uncultured and reluctant Jack all he needs to know to smooth his and his mother and sister's way into London society. Jack has no desire to be a gentleman "man of leisure" but as he begins etiquette lessons with Ivy, he is fascinated by the way she meets all society's requirements for politeness, while at the same time putting down those who would disparage Jack and his family. Ivy bears the burden of a family scandal so had long since resigned herself to spinsterhood, but her unconventional student lights a new hope that, perhaps, she might one day marry for love.
This is, as the title suggests, a gender swapped version of the Bernard Shaw play, Pygmalion, (better known in its Broadway form, as My Fair Lady). It only follows that earlier play in the most basic sense. Allen makes no attempt to recreate any of the iconic scenes of the original, only the basic premise of transforming someone from a lower class to an upper class behavior. The characterization and dialog are as good as you might expect, and it was neither much better or much worse than all the other historical romances that I have read. I enjoyed it as light entertainment after reading the much heavier story of the CIA Book Club. I am fond of the story of My Fair Lady (especially in the original Pygmalion form) and found it an amusing adaptation. (2016, 256p.)
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