Sylvester: or the Wicked Uncle – Georgette Heyer

Sylvester, the Duke of Salford, has decided he must marry, and has presented his mother with a rather exacting list of things he needs in this wife. Naturally, this flies out the window when he meets Phoebe Marlow. Pheobe’s the daughter of a dear friend of his mother’s, but she’s not necessarily high society. And to make matters worse, she’s written a novel all about the ton, and made Sylvester the villain.

So this turns into one of Heyer’s a nobleman must rescue a young woman who’s run away from home to escape some “terrible” fate, except, in this case, he’s the fate. This type of tale tends to get pretty mad cap, and this particular one probably takes the cake for mad cap – both Phoebe and Sylvester are quite capable of royally messing up a promising relationship. Throw in a trip to France, and things just get crazier.

I will say, I enjoyed this book – you can’t help but be caught up in the energy, and this runaway story works better than most.