Lady of Quality is a truly delightful read. He’s blunt, sardonic and unheeding of society’s rules, but he’s also honest about his flaws, makes her laugh and is never, ever boring. Rakish Oliver Carleton is the rudest man Annis has ever met and sparks fly from their first meeting. Annis enjoys introducing her protégé to Bath society and things go smoothly until Lucilla’s uncle and guardian arrive. Much to the jealous Miss Farlow’s dismay, Annis invites Lucilla to stay until her affairs can be sorted. Ninian’s parents and Lucilla’s aunt have been urging them to marry, but it’s a match that neither wants. She alights from her carriage to investigate and discovers orphan and heiress Lucilla Carleton is running away from home in the company of her childhood friend Ninian Elmore. Unsurprisingly, then, when Annis encounters a young couple arguing beside an overturned gig, her curiosity is aroused. Her future holds no promise of excitement and the well-meaning but prosy Maria only adds to her gloom. In spite of her comfortable lifestyle and independence, Annis is bored. The book opens with Annis traveling home with Miss Farlow after a visit to her brother and hisįamily.

She lives in Bath with an impoverished cousin, Miss Maria Farlow, as her chaperone. She’s intelligent, rich, beautiful, elegant and charming, with a sense of humour and an independent spirit. Annis is twenty-nine and unmarried (an old maid in Regency terms), but she’s no dowdy spinster.

The heroine is Annis Wychwood and the title sums her up nicely. Lady of Quality was published in October – an amazing achievement and a tribute to Georgette Heyer’s talent and dedication to her craft. Despite this, she began work on another book and by April had sent the outline to her agent. She suffered chronic ill-health in her later years and fractured her leg in a fall in January 1972. Lady of Quality was Georgette Heyer’s last book before her death in July 1974.

Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer