(no subject)

[skygiants]

The first stop on our trip, after a couple lovely days spent hanging out with various friends in London, was noted Welsh bookstore town Hay-on-Wye.

ME: So I shouldn't bring any physical books with me to start with as I expect we will be stocking up greatly in Hay and we need to save luggage space.
BETH: Makes sense.
ME: Except we're going to have a plane ride and two days in London first, so I need to bring an emergency paperback in case my e-reader dies or runs out of power during that time ...
BETH, KINDLY NOT LAUGHING AT ME: Oh, of course.
ME: But it can be a catch-and-release book! we can get rid of it after we've both read it to save luggage space!

My chosen emergency paperback was Georgette Heyer's The Unknown Ajax, which I had not read since 2008 and had fun memories of but did not fully expect to hold up.

Alas! it did in fact hold up.

The Unknown Ajax is one of Heyer's less romance-shaped romances, focusing on the son of a disinherited aristocrat who ran away to marry a weaver's daughter (gasp!). Because of Complex British Inheritance Systems and a couple of unexpected deaths, Hugo's now just become his autocratic grandfather's heir against both of their wills, and has been summoned to the Big House to Meet the Family.

Hugo is a protagonist in the mode of Sarah Thane from Talisman Ring: fundamentally a kind and competent individual fellow with a deeply reprehensible (laudatory) sense of humor. Immediately recognizes that everyone he's interacting with has fully bought into a rather stupid genre, he decides he might as well have a good time with it. Heyer's classism is often one of her worst traits, but it's a lot more fun here where we're in it with Hugo and the joke is on everyone else. I often can't read too many Heyers in a row before longing to meet someone, anyone, who's got a real job; Hugo is a guy who has in fact had a real job, looking at a house full of desperately bored and trapped idle rich kids, and thinking with irony and pity in his heart "wow! you live like this?"

The rest of the book is largely about cousin bonding: to continue on the Cahoots Theory of Heyer, although Hugo starts out only in cahoots with himself, the actual plot is just Hugo drawing all his new cousins into cahoots with him in spite of themselves. One of the cousins is of course an attractive and spirited young lady, but she does not actually take up any more space in the book than the Restless Teen Cousin, the Amiable Fashion Cousin, or the Haughty Mean Cousin as they collectively navigate a local smuggling situation. (This last subplot did have a profound impact on me as I went around the UK for the next two weeks, exclaiming that various scenic locations would make wonderful smuggler's hideouts.) I had actually completely forgotten that the Mean Cousin, who is broadly hinted all through the early parts of the text to be an outright villain, also gets fully cahooted by the end ... great work, Hugo! A real delight.

Still as it turns out a top-tier Heyer and thus still on my shelf, and RIP to all my sensible plans of making luggage space.

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

excellent points about the cahoots indeed. KJ Charles' latest romance, it was pointed out to me, is a pastiche of this, which totally explains why I liked it so much.

[skygiants]

& that is definitely kicking the latest Charles romance up the list for me!

(it might actually have been you who made this Ajax-specific cahoots point in the last Heyer post I made ....)

[kate_nepveu]

I thought it was anti-cahoots, which is so clearly wrong that I don't know what happened there!

[skygiants]

it's a long arc to the full cahoots!

[goodbyebird]

I've had my eye on Hay-on-Wye the last year, absolutely itching to make it there at some point in the future!

You didn't make luggage space but you did make/refresh some wonderful memories, so overall win? ;)

[skygiants]

Highly recommend, it's a delight! We only managed to hit up three of [SIGNIFICANTLY MORE THAN THREE] bookstores and definitely want to go back in the not too distant future.

and it's true, and we did even successfully manage to fit everything into the luggage anyway ..... more or less.

[venetia_sassy]

Lady Aurelia is superb and I adore Hugo's unfortunate tendency to levity.

[skygiants]

LADY AURELIA IS A GEM. bad parent! fantastic aunt!

[philomytha]

The Unknown Ajax is one of my absolute favourite Heyers and definitely not a discardable one! Hugo is a darling, and the set-piece scene at the end is such a joy to read. I always get the impression this is one of the books that inspired Bujold, in terms of how she structures her plots, it all comes together so perfectly.

[skygiants]

It was my favorite at the time I read it 15 years ago, but I can't trust my taste from fifteen years ago in any way, so I'm so glad to find out that it's still as good as I remember! I love when Heyer puts in a character who's kind and competent and funny, bless Hugo for being really committed to the bit without being an asshole about it. (And you're so right about Bujold -- another chat of mine just pointed out that Richmond really is Tall Miles, too!)

[wychwood]

Such a good mistake to have made, though, right! I love Hugo and the way he is just constantly 100% of the time taking the piss out of everyone. But also Anthea, and her mother, and even Claud, who is just bored and trying to get laid.

[skygiants]

And even Claud! Though it's quite funny to read this one right after reading Cotillion because Claud really is just Freddy But Slightly Worse (and Vincent is just Jack But Ditto.)

[wychwood]

Haha, I feel like that's somewhat unfair to Freddy, who I do think has rather more morals, principles, etc, than Claud shows any sign of (also more sense that he might have responsibilities some day, but then he's the oldest son and Claud isn't). But Jack and Vincent are definitely parallels, you're right.

[skygiants]

lol, yes, I guess maybe what I should say is that Claud is the role that the Freddy archetype plays in any other book besides Cotillion -- Cotillion is what happens when you take a Freddy-type character seriously and give him a hero edit rather than a comedy side character edit, and it's a delight because of it!

[oracne]

Now I want to re-read some Heyer.

[skygiants]

A delightful thing, in moderation!

[jiggit]

This one is actually hands down my favourite Heyer, no contest. I love the smuggling and the cahoots.

[skygiants]

I think Talisman Ring still edges it out a bit for me (which also has smuggling and cahoots! and commitment to the bit!) but it's jostling for competition with Cotillion ....

[jiggit]

It's the smuggling and the atmosphere that puts The Unknown Ajax over the top for me, but I also love those other two very much. In my top five Heyers for sure.

[larryhammer]

I'd toss in The Toll Gate for competition with those.

[sophia_sol]

THE CAHOOTS THEORY OF HEYER. you're so big-brained.

Ajax really does remain top-tier heyer due to Hugo's everything, even if the bit at the end where if you're upper class then you have all your upper class relatives on your side to make sure you're completely above the law, and that's a good thing, makes me very Heyer Your Classism

[skygiants]

lol, yes, Hugo really pulling a "protecting my aristocratic cousin from the law but shaking my head the whole time to make it clear I don't approve of smuggling" .... though at least in this one they bother to make the Excise Agent sympathetic, and make sure to point out that his career won't be too badly scuttled! (And Beth pointed out too that it does make it a bit better that Richmond is mostly worried about making sure the men he's working with get away, because he has a responsibility to them.)

[portico]

reprehensible (laudatory)

[skygiants]

😌

[larryhammer]

A+ will read tUA yet again. In fact, I'll do that today.

ETA: And indeed my copy was on top of the pile on the Heyer shelf. Started during lunch.

[skygiants]

delighted to hear it :D

[larryhammer]

I am once again struck by how likely it might be for Vincent, of all characters, to have several apposite quotes from Troilus and Cressida. I mean, the only Shakespeare play I'm less likely to be able to quote is Pericles. Yet that Corinthian?

[chestnut_pod]

Ah, smuggling and cahoots! I begin to see where KJ Charles got inspiration for her latest smuggler romance. Enjoy the bookstore town! Remember, there is no shame in buying more luggage for books!

[skygiants]

We did manage to get everything on board! did I have to hold my tablet in my hand on the plane because it wouldn't fit in my backpack MAYBE. it's FINE

[annotated_em]

Oh gosh, Unknown Ajax is one of my favorites! Hugo's decision to just lean into all of their assumptions is so much fun, and so are all the shenanigans that ensue. My favorite bit is the rivalry between the valets.

[skygiants]

the commitment to the bit .... unparalleled!

THE VALET RIVALRY. top tier subplot

[annotated_em]

I confess that Frederica holds my heart as my most favorite Heyer, but Unknown Ajax is right up there with it and The Nonesuch. The shenanigans all have the same sort of flavor to them, if not the same shape.

[musesfool]

Oh, this is one I haven't read! I shall bump it up the list posthaste!

[skygiants]

yesss, I hope you enjoy it!

[osprey_archer]

Oh no... have long felt that I should read a Heyer, and this might just be the one that breaks me. A character who has had a real job! ALL the cousins in Cahoots! Smugglers...

How many books did you buy in Hay-on-Wye? Or is the answer "too many to count."

[skygiants]

DO IT DO IT DO IT

okay I need a second to do math. We brought home 15 books ... but two more were released back into their native environment (the UK) instead of coming back with us, so that's 17 ..... but two of them we picked up at a little library sale, and two more we purchased at a bookstore in Stromness ..... so I think that maths out to 13 in Hay? WHICH IS SO RESTRAINED, ACTUALLY.

[osprey_archer]

HEROIC TBH.

[ceitfianna]

I know I read this one, but ages ago, clearly time for a reread especially if it inspired Charles' newest ones which are really good.

[skygiants]

that's what the crowd is saying!

[bookblather]

I do love the cahoots in this book. Especially the very ending.

[skygiants]

It's really just a good time!

[lirazel]

Jealous of you making it to Hay-on-Wye! Someday!

I often can't read too many Heyers in a row before longing to meet someone, anyone, who's got a real job; Hugo is a guy who has in fact had a real job, looking at a house full of desperately bored and trapped idle rich kids, and thinking with irony and pity in his heart "wow! you live like this?"

Plus cousin bonding? Okay, I need to check this one out then! (There's always an Amiable Fashion Cousin in Heyer! But was he ever the romantic lead aside from Cotillion?)

[skygiants]

I think Cotillion was the only time! And on the one hand, the uniqueness is certainly part of its charm, but on the other hand I would happily read a dozen books about Freddy.

[bloodygranuaile]

Once upon a time my e-reader did in fact die one hour into an eight-hour transatlantic plane ride, so I fully support never leaving home without at least one reliably non-battery-powered dead tree book in hand.