This was an entertaining and amusing little tale. I listened to the audio version read by Davina Porter who is absolutely amazing at bringing an author's characters to life. If you're looking for a light read set in Victorian England I would definitely recommend this tale. ( )

OK Regency romance but nowhere near as good as Georgette Heyer. I like the idea of the Poor Relations Hotel but there were some things I think were anachronisms (although I am unsure exactly when this is supposed to be set) and others that struck me as plain wrong. Despite these flaws, this was a quick and fun read & I will probably try another in this series.

Here are a few things that bothered me:
·"She had just reached her seventieth year, a great age in the days of the Regency, when very few managed to achieve the biblical figure of three score years and ten." --- Not so!!! The life expectancy was low (~40 years) but a large part of that was the huge infant mortality (40% or higher); for people who reach adulthood (even in the lower classes), the typical length of life was over 70 years.

·Lord Darkwood's loud and repeated insistence that a lady of quality waiting on tables was worse than being a member of the demi-monde. This might be true in fact but was scarcely the sort of sentiment a gentleman of this time period would voice to his wife.

·"He threw down his napkin -- a newfangled sophistry which puzzled some of the diners..." -- enough said!

·a few minor formatting problems. ( )

This Regency romance stars some unlikely heroes and heroines. It is all about a group of poor relations who get together to open a fashionable hotel in London.

Lady Fortescue is a widow fallen on hard times despite being related to the wealthy Dule of Rowcester. She gets so desperate for food and heat that she steals a couple of candlesticks on one of her visits. Found out and kicked out, she doesn't know what to do.

While spending time in a park, she comes across an elderly Colonel who faints at her feet. He's used up his allowance and has no funds when an expected invitation to a relative doesn't appear. They decide to band together in Lady Fortescue's large but nearly empty house. They also decide to look for some other poor relations to become part of their household.

They invite a widow with bill collectors at her door after her husband's death left her deeply in debt. And also bring home Miss Tonks who is given a very inadequate allowance by her wealthy sister. And Miss Harriet James who is living in a rented room after the death of her parents.

Their final invitation goes to Sir Philip who is something of a shady character. He's used to dropping in on the most distant of relatives and helping himself to small, expensive baubles and the contents of pantries when his visit is over.

While they are all better off by pooling their resources and they aren't lonely anymore with so many others of like degree, they need to do something else to secure their futures. The Colonel suggests that they open a hotel for members of the ton who don't want the expense of hiring lodgings while attending the events of the Season. But they need a stake to help them fund the conversion of the mansion into a hotel.

Sir Philip has a very tenuous connection to the Duke of Rowcester and steals small stuff on his first visit while casing the joint for something larger that he can steal to fund the renovations. He goes to one of his illicit connections and has a paste necklace made to replace one that belongs to the Duke. He doesn't mention where he got the funds, and the renovations go on.

Once the Duke learns that the hotel is open, he rushes to London to convince his aunt that it is demeaning to be seen to be in trade. He doesn't expect to learn that the new cook is the same Miss Harriet James he once danced with at a ball and fell in love with. Their romance hits all sorts of snags from jealous lovers to popular opinion and Harriet's past as a cook and waitress. It doesn't help that his first proposal to Miss James is that she become his mistress!

I liked this romance because it doesn't sugar coat actual conditions in Regency England. It includes such things as hangings as social events and the grinding poverty amid all the splendors. The narrator did a nice job making each voice distinct. ( )

4/208/22

Poor Relations in Regency England
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (2012) of the 1992 original

It is a melancholy truth that even great men have their poor relations - Charles Dickens

O world, how apt the poor are to be proud! - Olivia in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Act 3 Scene 1.

Lady Fortescue Steps Out is the 1st of 6 books in Marion Chesney's Poor Relation series. It introduces the several members of the main cast who continue throughout, esp. Lady Fortescue and Colonel Sandhurst who join together in creating a hotel called the Poor Relation in order to make a go of it in "trade" when their richer relatives won't otherwise support them. They gradually gain further allies in their cause and although the original hope is that they will be bought out, they discover that they enjoy the business and the independence that it brings. The set up allows for a romantic angle to be the main plot in each book, with the occasional caper of theft from relatives being required to finance hotel improvements.

I've completed my pandemic reading splurge of cozy mysteries by M.C. Beaton, the penname used by Marion Chesney (1936-2019) for her popular Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin series. Chesney first became a writer with various historical romances from 1977 onwards, before branching out into the crime genre with her first Hamish Macbeth in 1985 and first Agatha Raisin in 1992. Other series such as Edwardian Murder Mysteries and the Poor Relation are period historical fiction with light social commentary.

The narration by veteran Davina Porter (approx. 230 book narrations to her credit) was excellent throughout. Porter is especially good with her range of voices that is able to effectively mimic male as well as female tones.

The entire Poor Relation series is available free to Audible Plus members. ( )