These Old Shades

Book excerpt: This book acts as a window into 18th-century life in France and England and presents the period extraordinary. The witty dialogues, mixed with a suspenseful story of vengeance, great characters, and the ability to break the genre rules, makes this work stand out. Heyer writes vivid, opinionated characters; although she makes her side characters just as vibrant and delightful as her central ones. Fortune favors Justin Alastair, the shallow, bored and infamous Duke of Avon, casting in his way, during one night in Paris, the means to take revenge from his enemy, the Comte de Saint-Vire. Avon encounters an abused boy, Léon Bonnard, whose red hair, deep blue eyes, and black eyebrows somewhat indicate him to be the child of Comte. But the question about who Léon really is gets answered later in this outstanding novel. The Duke of Avon is portrayed as an unfriendly man who has never truly cared or loved anyone or anything, nor has he ever received love.