These Old Shades

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These Old Shades

By: Georgette Heyer

Narrated by: Alexander Vlahos

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

These Old Shades is read by Alexander Vlahos, star of Versailles.

Leonie Bonnard is being drawn into a twenty-year-old feud.

Justin Alastair, the Duke of Avon, is a reprehensible rake with an axe to grind. Decades ago the Comte de Saint-Vire did something unforgivable and ever since Justin has been lying in wait to settle the score.

When Justin meets Leon, a street urchin with a striking resemblance to his nemesis, he aims to use him as a pawn in his plans for revenge on the Comte. Except Leon is in fact Leonie, a beautiful young ingénue who may just steal Justin's heart.

Can Leonie win the Duke's affection, or will his need for revenge overcome them both?

Historical

Historical Fiction

Romance

Heartfelt

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Critic reviews

"One of my perennial comfort authors. Heyer's books are as incisively witty and quietly subversive as any of Jane Austen's." (Joanne Harris)

"Absolutely delicious tales of Regency heroes.... Utter, immersive escapism." (Sophie Kinsella)

"Léonie, hot-tempered and very much her own woman, is one of Heyer's best female leads[...]The novel remains a witty, vivid page turner." (Melanie Reid)

Most relevant

This is one of my favourite Georgette Heyer novels. It is a rollicking read with plenty of action, marvelous characters, and sparkling wit. That does not change.
I resisted buying the previously available audio book version from audible because I could not tolerate the narrator. I found the voice of this narrator easier on the ear. However, overall he failed to live up to my expectations. In the opening scene we have the word “ beribboned” pronounced “ berib - boned”. There were similar errors else where. Much of the humour was missed because there were pauses at inappropriate places in sentences. The French pronunciation was dire. Even the name of Saint Vire changed after the first few mentions, but never matched the way I expected it to sound. I suppose I understand the use of regional accents to distinguish characters, so I can cope with Davenant having a Scottish accent, but why a French housekeeper has one too, or why the French valet has a Welsh accent, are mysteries. It would have helped had the narrator read ahead and marked up the text in some way because at times a speech started with one voice before morphing into the correct one. Justin is suave and usually drawls, but that did not come across.
I decided to keep this audio version in spite of its shortcomings because the story and characters are delightful. However, I do wish it could have been read by a narrator with a genuine feel for the cut and thrust of Heyer’s sparklingly witty dialogue.