A Well-Matched Pair

by Sheila Bishop

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449217337
• ISBN13: 9780449217337
• Release Date: May 1989
• Publisher: Fawcett Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Should add this...

If you are looking for a conventional romance with an unselfish hero (or a hero who reforms quickly) look elsewhere. The happiness of the heroine does depend on the convenient accident to the hero's wife, but I do not believe that the hero leads the heroine (a young girl) on - despite what the Nonesuch (Good Ton website) says. By the way, I strongly recommend that site for a list of titles by authors of Regency, although her decision to exclude most Regency historicals makes little sense to me.Sheila Bishop does not write conventional romances in my view. The first book I ever read by her was LUCASTA where the young girl you might believe to be the heroine dies midway; the real heroine is a friend of hers, keeping a diary about what happens to Lucasta and her friends. I also read a story of hers set in the early Stuart or late Tudor period (MY FAVORITE SISTER) about the adulterous affair of Penelope, Lady Rich (sister of the Earl of Essex who was connected with Elizabeth I). If you will not touch a book about adultery, avoid this book - it is more historical fiction than period romance, anyway. A WELL MATCHED PAIR is more a Regency novel than a Regency romance (in the way that American publishers now understand it). In short, the couple who are the protagonists must deal with messy realities in which married women have affairs and young unmarried women fall in love with married men. Bishop also writes in a different style from what is now preferred by publishers and editors (and what the readers are now used to). The style is more that of an "omniscient narrator" who sees everything. We don't go deep into the minds of the hero and heroine, and sometimes we must guess at what they are thinking. [They are also less likely to blurt out their feelings through interior monologues or dialogue]. The general writing style is also a lot more formal. This was the period when the romance (set in the Regency) was transitioning from Heyer to Gothic (1980s being the high point) to whatever we have today. AWMP is not a Gothic, although other novels by Bishop do have slightly Gothic overtones. I should add that Bishop cannot really be compared even to Carla Kelly (although both deal with some very serious issues). She is not Georgette Heyer either; although her knowledge of the period seems impeccable, she does not use as much cant as Heyer did, and her dialogue is not witty nor light-hearted. Bishop does not write quite as much about titled personages, and at times her characters seem more Austenesque than Heyeresque. She might be comparable - in some respects - to Laura Matthews. I cannot say for certain that if you like Matthews, you will like Bishop, but the two authors share some fans in common.I am also told that Bishop's A WELL-MATCHED PAIR is very unlike the rest of her ouevre. I am not so convinced of that, given that I have not read enough of her work. What delights me about Bishop, apart from her ability to convert unsympathet

Interesting

This is a gripping, readable story, but take warning: it is essentially a sad one. I had trouble being completely satisfied with it. For one thing, only a tragedy can finally allow the lovers to be together--and there are some good questions about how guilt might poison their relationship.For another, I wasn't sure I liked the hero. Bishop originally shows him as a not very likable man, and that was hard to shake. There is an interesting scene near the end where, based on a misunderstanding, the heroine pithily sums up his character. Although all is cleared up in the end, I couldn't help but feel there was some truth in that summing up. And you know, the ideal romance is one where you are as in love with the hero as the heroine is:)Bishop's intelligent observation of people and relationships is here, though. There is always the sense in her books that you are dealing with real people living through trials and learning from them the way people really do. Her Edith grows from a young, untried girl to a poised woman. The character of the Duchess is handled nicely, although I find it sad that she suffers so much guilt for a kind of infidelity it's taken for granted her husband has the right to commit. There is also some nice inclusion of children in the story, and their characters add an extra dimension you don't usually find in romance novel. So, recommended, but don't expect a frothy story a la Georgette Heyer.

Do you want a meaty Regency?

As far as Regency romances go, most are strictly light reading, with variations on the same old plot devices. I have not read too many books by Sheila Bishop, but her Lucasta was more Gothic than a romance. A WELL-MATCHED PAIR is a gem of a book, as far as Regency romances go. Of course, this comparison is made with other traditional Regencies and with Regency romances in general.I would strongly recommend this book, along with a few by Carla Kelly (MISS MILTON SPEAKS HER MIND and THE LADY'S COMPANION), and Laura Kinsale's FLOWERS FROM THE STORM for anyone who thinks that modern Regency romances (pre- and post-Heyer) are just love stories, with humor at best being their only merit.A bit about the story - (unusual, along with the plots of the other books I have listed above): a young woman is rescued from a road mishap by a house party of lords and ladies, and falls in love with a personable young man who is a rising politician. She travels to a ducal seat, where she soon realizes that things are not what they seem. Her suitor - who is genuinely attracted to her - has had an affair with a married woman, the wife of his best friend at school, and she is now pregnant. The child is apparently his, and the angry husband fights a duel with the suitor (who is rejected by our heroine when he discovers the truth). The unhappy wife is sent away to have her child in seclusion, and everyone pretends that the child was born too early and died young. Oddly enough, the heroine develops a genuine liking for the adulterous wife (to whom she is now acting as companion), and also falls in love with her husband. However, the husband and his wife's companion do not have an affair, although they acknowledge their feelings to each other. The wife dies in an accident, and the heroine learns that a) the wife always loved her husband who had grown indifferent to her after the birth of their son; and b) the wife learned that her husband and her friend were in love. The guilt felt by the heroine and the new widower drive them apart, as much as does social convention (it is now impossible for the couple to meet or to correspond). Later, the heroine comes to London, where the widower (now the hero) acts strangely cold towards her, forcing the heroine to contemplate marriage to her former suitor (the former lover of the hero's wife and the father of their child).I won't go into further details, except to say that the heroine and hero do end up together. All the major characters, including the adulterous wife and her lover (the heroine's former suitor), are beautifully drawn, and are living and breathing people, for whom you can feel. In fact, the story reminded me of a cross between Mansfield Park (the lover/suitor being Henry Crawford, but less indolent), and the sad love affair of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, upto a point.This was a great read, and well worth my time (it kept me up until 1:30 AM). If you find this, and you are tired of melodramatic plots