Set after the execution of Charles I, this book tells the story of Charles II after his forces lose the Battle of Worcester[1] and he is forced to try and escape the country and go into hiding in France. To be honest there isn’t much of a plot to this book. Okay, so we have the would-be king riding about the English countryside, or sometimes walking, trying to escape. But we all know that he does, escape that is, I mean we have all heard of the Restoration[2] right? So the book is more of a character study of Charles II
And though well written and entertaining, to be honest I can’t say that I really liked our hero. Though that may be my dislike of English kings coming through. Possibly not though, because, well, he is certainly the lesser of two evils when the other is Cromwell.
Still, despite his kingly flaws, Charles is entertaining enough. He may give his advisers headaches and scare them almost to death with his seeming disregard for his own safety, but there is nothing to really dislike about him. And Heyer does her usual good job of keeping the reader entertained.
Also as usual for her, the use of language is fantastic. Full of the slang and conventions of the day, it is still readable and entertaining. That being said it isn’t the best of books.
What I did like was that although the female roles in the book are usually quite stereotypical every know and then Heyer seems to draw attention to this fact. And of course the fact that women weren’t really all that listened to back then. Especially not by 21 year old young kings. Good for looking at, some of them, but not for talking to.
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