Sylvester the audiobook

This is my first RA purchase from envy. After several hollow North and South conversion attempts, I started to think no one in real life would understand. Suddenly my friend Ally exclaimed she has a copy of Sylvester. WHAT?! My obsession is bigger than yours. Quick, douse those jealous flames with emergency retail therapy and free shipping. Richard Armitage I thought it was over, but we were just on a break. 

Mugshots. That's NOT Sylvester on the cover.

What delayed my Sylvester fulfillment was a distrust of anything abridged, and the fruitless search for the library book. I'm a purist; unless a novel is very thick, very bad, or by Robert Jordan, I want the director's cut. As compensation I've read a few other Georgette Heyer novels: Bath Tangle, A Civil Contract, Arabella all in large print, the book equivalent of first row cinema seats.

 

Methinks there be sexual tension in her gaze, wouldn't you agree Duke Mr Beaumaris? 

28 year old Sylvester thinks he can objectively choose a female to complete him based on this formula: breeding, money, and beauty. As a duke his greatest vice is pride, his greatest weapon the snub. Most ladies of society bore him, and rightly so, for he's left out all human measures like humour, intelligence and kindness.

Phoebe however, is too genuine to hide her dislike of him for long. She reflects privately with Sylvester at what is ridiculous at their social gatherings, and more publicly at what is offensive beneath his faultless manners. A scene at the Blue Boar inn demonstrates how a duke measures up against that universal currency, the turkey: "Dukes is more important than a gobblecock, even if he is a prime young'un" which sends his love interest into a fit of giggling.

Sylvester meets the family - Mr Thornton has been lent out on conversion

This audiobook is one of my favourite Heyers so far, but all her aristocratic heroes are starting to blend. There's only so many ways a proud rich man can get knocked down a few notches and then married. It's too late though, I'm hooked. Hero in a Heyer world, how do I love thee? Listen up:

1. Do not rescue damsels in distress unless you wish to marry one
2. Beware the feisty lady who does not care a fig for your money
3. To impress said feisty lady, adopt a mangy dog or child like you mean it
4. Then pay her family's debts like you care
5. Ignore your mother/grandmother's words at your peril

Did anyone else do a mental casting call as they listened to Richard Armitage? RA, Mark Strong or Toby Stephens for satyrical Sylvester, Rachel McAdams for Phoebe - maybe she's too pretty. My favourite scene: when the wicked uncle is reunited with his scrumptious nephew, and Phoebe laughs. In another life, I'd adapt Sylvester for the big or little screen; it's so Austenish I'm sure most plebeians like me could be fooled.

Sylvester moves in

I can't help comparing this reading to Lords of the North though they're such different stories. Despite being the far better audiobook, LOTN is too brutal to revisit often, whereas I could play Sylvester every day. How did RA keep the pacing and voices so consistent throughout all the hours? I gave it a go myself and couldn't maintain more than 3 voices at a time, and that was in just 3 pages.

Still miffed about the deleted scenes in Sylvester, I'm waiting to get the book for more detail (unresolved chemistry) at Green Street and the Channel. The last 2 CDs suffered the most cuts, it's obvious whenever the story lurched forward and several characters all but disappear from the reading. Next up, Venetia, abridged again. Drat!