Book Review: A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer

Rating: 10/10

Favorite Character: Jenny

In this book, Heyer shows that, like her female protagonist, Jenny, she prefers sensible, realistic, humorous works like Jane Austen’s to Byron’s fantastical dramatics. This story of a marriage of convenience is humorous, poignant, and realistic, without abandoning its romantic core. This book shines with it’s full portrayals of its complex characters. Not a single person in this book is perfect, yet not a single one is unredeemable. Jenny is practical, considerate, helpful, sensible, and strong. Yet she is also brusque, lacking a certain empathy for more delicate characters as well as some tact, and refuses to ask for help. A very realistic young woman, she is not pretty. In fact, she is often described as stout and plain. As someone who has a preference towards fiction but is not exactly a beauty, it’s a relief for me to have the heroine of a romance novel be entirely unremarkable in terms of her looks. Additionally, in her novel, Heyer makes clear that, as one of her characters says, “one man’s meat is another man’s poison.” Jenny’s romantic rival, the beautiful Julia, is vain, a little self-absorbed, and overdramatic. But though she may have her faults, she also has her virtues. Kind, generous, sociable, charming, and romantic, one can see why so many characters are fond of Julia. With her desperate need to be loved and admired, Julia proves to be just as relatable as Jenny in her own way. This extends to all the characters. Adam, the male protagonist, is steadfast and reliable, with a remarkable capacity for remaining tactful by subduing his temper, yet he often falls prey to his significant pride. Adam’s mother constantly diminishes others while victimizing herself, yet she is also described as charming and doting upon children. Jenny’s father, while a vulgar man with a terrible temper, is also generous and well-intentioned. Lydia, Adam’s sister, might be boisterous and over-enthusiastic, but her good nature makes her impossible to dislike. Frankly, I fell in love with this book. Realistic yet sweet, this is my ideal romance novel.