The Grand Sophy
Encyclopedia
The Grand Sophy is a Regency romance
novel by Georgette Heyer
. It was first published in 1950 by Heinemann
in the UK and Putnam
in the U.S. The story is set in 1816.
raged on. Now that the Battle of Waterloo
is over and Napoleon has once again been exiled, her father receives a temporary post in South America
. Instead of taking his daughter along, he asks his sister Lady Ombersley to watch over his "little Sophy" and help find her a husband. However, "little Sophy" is nothing like anyone expected. 5'9" in her stockings, she is outgoing, chic, and quite independent, taking the town by storm with her unconventional manner.
Though most of her cousins take to her on sight, her autocratic cousin Charles Rivenhall, forced by his father's debt to shoulder the family finances, resents the disruption of what has become, in all but name, his household by his lively and confident cousin. Which Charles encouraged in domestic tyranny by his spiteful fiancee, Miss Eugenia Wraxton, Sophy and Charles begin a battle of wills. Soon after her arrival, Sophy realizes that all is not well in the Rivenhall household and proceeds to solve the various problems of the family with her trademark flair, saving her cousin Hubert from a moneylender, and arranging through an involved and hilarious scheme her cousin Cecilia's extraction from her infatuation with (and later engagement to) a poet and marrying to Charlesbury, the man she loves.
Slowly, much to the consternation of them both, she and Charles find themselves falling in love, with Sophy's devilry lightening his dictatorial tendencies. In the end, at the successful conclusion of her incredibly audacious scheme to unite Cecilia and Charlesbury and free Rivenhall from his obligations to his fiancee, Rivenhall proposes, with Sophy accepting.
Regency romance
Regency romances are a subgenre of romance novels set during the period of the British Regency or early 19th century. Rather than simply being versions of contemporary romance stories transported to a historical setting, Regency romances are a distinct genre with their own plot and stylistic...
novel by Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer was a British historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother into the novel The Black Moth. In 1925 Heyer married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer...
. It was first published in 1950 by Heinemann
Heinemann (book publisher)
Heinemann is a UK publishing house founded by William Heinemann in Covent Garden, London in 1890. On William Heinemann's death in 1920 a majority stake was purchased by U.S. publisher Doubleday. It was later acquired by commemorate Thomas Tilling in 1961...
in the UK and Putnam
G. P. Putnam's Sons
G. P. Putnam's Sons was a major United States book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group.-History:...
in the U.S. The story is set in 1816.
Plot summary
For the past several years Sophia Stanton-Lacy (known as Sophy to everyone) has lived away from England, following her diplomat father Sir Horace around Europe while the Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
raged on. Now that the Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
is over and Napoleon has once again been exiled, her father receives a temporary post in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Instead of taking his daughter along, he asks his sister Lady Ombersley to watch over his "little Sophy" and help find her a husband. However, "little Sophy" is nothing like anyone expected. 5'9" in her stockings, she is outgoing, chic, and quite independent, taking the town by storm with her unconventional manner.
Though most of her cousins take to her on sight, her autocratic cousin Charles Rivenhall, forced by his father's debt to shoulder the family finances, resents the disruption of what has become, in all but name, his household by his lively and confident cousin. Which Charles encouraged in domestic tyranny by his spiteful fiancee, Miss Eugenia Wraxton, Sophy and Charles begin a battle of wills. Soon after her arrival, Sophy realizes that all is not well in the Rivenhall household and proceeds to solve the various problems of the family with her trademark flair, saving her cousin Hubert from a moneylender, and arranging through an involved and hilarious scheme her cousin Cecilia's extraction from her infatuation with (and later engagement to) a poet and marrying to Charlesbury, the man she loves.
Slowly, much to the consternation of them both, she and Charles find themselves falling in love, with Sophy's devilry lightening his dictatorial tendencies. In the end, at the successful conclusion of her incredibly audacious scheme to unite Cecilia and Charlesbury and free Rivenhall from his obligations to his fiancee, Rivenhall proposes, with Sophy accepting.