mtbat's Full Review: Georgette Heyer - The Toll-Gate
The Toll-Gate by Georgette Heyer is a light mystery / romance. It's a story more about a man named Captain John Staple and the trouble he finds himself in when one dark and stormy night, he takes a wrong turn and ends up at a toll-gate in the middle of nowhere. It's a romance, a classic Regency style romance, written by the woman who is credited with creating what we now consider- "Regency" style romances. A regency romance takes place in the 1800's. Typically set in England this style of romance involves the "Ton"-the higher up's of society. There are apparently a lot of rules, about what they can say, what they can wear etc... not an easy genre to research-or write.
The story beings with John, bored by a family gathering and seeking to avoid the matchmaking inclinations of his sister and mother he takes off into the "wilds" of the English country side. Somewhere along the line he takes a wrong turn and then finds himself at a Toll-Gate.
The Toll- gate in question, is being watched by an 11 year old named Ben, who's father is the gate keeper. Ben's father told his son to watch the gate, that he'd be back in an hour or so-that was several days prior. Ben is terrified of someone who comes to the gate in the night-really and truly terrified. John decides that he can't just leave this child to man the gate, so he decides, having nothing really pressing or better to occupy his time, to take over the watching of the gate-until he can find out what happened to Brean-the gatekeeper, Ben's missing father.There is something fishy at the toll-gate, John doesn't know what-but he is bound and determined to find out what is going on. Whether or not anyone wants him to find out. He pretends to be Ben's father's cousin. A story not quite believed by everyone he meets-his looks, his manner, his dress mark him as someone who is not meant to watch toll-gates in the middle of the country side.
After shocking Ben by demanding the cleaning lady come daily vs. weekly(Ben declares that his father has promised the cleaning woman a piglet for each time she cleans-John tells him to go buy a litter of pigs) and that Ben himself needs to bathe a bit more regularly-No, it won't kill Ben to wash off outside under the tap, John starts nosing around.
In short order he finds himself falling in love with a Miss Nell Stornaway.Nell is very tall, and failed miserably at her one season "out"(where woman of money and quality try to find a husband). John is a big man and finds himself intrigued both by Nell's height and by her manner and intelligence.
Nell's uncle is the local Squire, landowner. Unfortunately the uncle has had a stroke, while leaving him mentally able it has robbed him of most of the use of his body. Nell's questionable cousin has shown up-with an even more questionable companion a man named Coate, and Coate's sinister "servant" in tow. By the laws of the country at that time, Henry the questionable cousin is heir to the Squire's estate-like it or not and Nell cannot simply tell her cousin Henry to leave. One-he wouldn't go even if she told him to and Two-he's obviously there for other reasons, whatever those reasons being something that John must find out.
John smells something rotten in the Debyshire countryside, and before long he finds himself embroiled in a mystery that involves a stagecoach robbery, several murders an undercover agent from London and a quirky highway man who is trying to earn enough money to buy a farm, turn respectable and marry the woman he loves. John served in the Napoleonic wars, he made a name for himself as "Crazy Jack"-he's seen a lot and he quickly realizes that in order to create a happy ending for himself he has to get to the bottom of the mystery, save the girl, keep her cousin's name out of the scandal and help the law. Not to mention help the highwayman find a respectable path to his dream-farm.
The Toll-Gate is delightfully written, entertaining and amusing. It won't appeal to everyone, originally published in 1954, it is not-by any means, what one would typically consider a romance novel by today's standards. Heyer made every attempt to write her stories with as much accuracy as possible, something that creates interesting dialog between the characters-dialog that can be a bit mind-boggling to the reader. phrases like-"Flash-Cove",. words like "Quixotry" pepper the text with regularity. But once the story gets rolling, the oddness of the language simply adds to the book.
The romance part consists of John falling in love with Nell, and trying to figure out a way to end up married to her. There are no heaving bosoms, no throbbing manhoods, the best you'll get in this book is a few chaste kisses and fluttering hearts. S-E-X is all but non-existent in this novel, because it's not needed. This isn't a book about lust, it's about LOVE. There's a world of difference between the two-something modern day novelists have forgotten, or put aside in order to make sure their books SELL SELL SELL
The characters in this book are unique. I've read very few romances that feature a man as the lead character than actually work. This one does, maybe because of when it was written, perhaps because of who wrote it. Georgette Heyer is one of the greats of romance. Her books are hard to find, this particular copy-it's forward written by Christina Dodd-one of today's great romance writers, was a gift from my mother. I've purchased another Heyer Regency Romance-The Black Moth-off of Amazon.com for .01 plus shipping and handling. Most of the others available used range from a few dollars to upward of $20! This is a book worth finding, either on a shelf or via the Internet. And from what I'm told, so are the other books, mystery and romance alike.
the best bet for finding a copy of this, or any other Heyer novel is to look on line at Amazon or EBay. You may be able to find it on the shelf at a bookstore, but not all brick and mortar stores are going to carry these. I would recommend reading this book, but only if you enjoy a well written novel vs. a trashy romance :) there's a time and a place for both but if you are looking for trashy look elsewhere.
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