April Lady

A classic madcap farce

An “April lady” is a naive young woman—a spring chicken. Finally bothered to look it up.

Many farces require a Big Misunderstanding. Too many times it is not well-managed by the author, playwright, or screenwriter, and the result is dreadful: I have often wanted to crack the protagonists’ heads together.

Heyer manages the elements to perfection. I remember reading this novel in 1978, being teased by my young man at the time about Cardross’s name.

It’s refreshing to read it now, after way too many examples of poor research or lack of interest in an accurate portrayal of the Regency. While I’ve absorbed much of the slang over more than half a century of reading books from, or set in, this period, there were more obscure words and phrases in this novel than I recall. A few don’t even seem to be in Grose’s 1811 edn of The Vulgar Tongue, such as ‘crying five loaves to a penny’.

While I had a feel for most of the slang of the period, after a handful of Heyer’s Regency novels, much of the time it was contextual only. When the Internet finally gave me access to favorite writers, and references I’d never known existed, I was aux anges!

So here we have two intersecting families, the Irvines/Earldom of Pevensey (Nell and Dysart) and Merions/Earldom of Cardross (Giles and Letty). Naïve, profligrate, head of household, spoiled—in that order.

The stage for the plot is set by a mother telling her affianced daughter not to expect love or special attention from her titled husband-to-be—not knowing it was a love natch on both sides—and to show no notice if he has a mistress.

The Irvines have an Unfortunate Tendency to gambling, thus Dysart is often out-of-pocket. He’s a bundle of thwarted energy, as he’s Army-mad, but his mother made him promise not to buy a commission (become an officer, as opposed to enlisting).

Giles (is he also a Merion?) is nearly 20 years Nell’s elder who fell in love with Nell, and she with him—not that either knew it was mutual— at first glance. As far as the world knew, he was merely “setting up his nursery” when he fell for Helen Irvine. As far as Giles knows, she didn’t marry for love (see motherly advice, above).

Cardross is guardian to his half-sister Letty, 17, who was living with an aunt, by whom she was not given the firm direction a young woman needs. Lady Leticia is a spoilt brat. She has fallen madly in love with a young man of principle, but not of position or well, principal.

Jeremy Allandale is the eldest child of a widow with at least three other children, and as a good son, tries to help his mother’s finances. He can’t afford to marry Letty, nor would he wish to live off her money alone.

Throw finances into a pot with these characters, and of course there’s going to be trouble! The fun is in the twists, turns, and dialogue.

And fun there is!