FALSE COLOURS

Author: Georgette Heyer ISBN: 9781402210754 3/2008 HISTORICAL Publisher: SOURCEBOOKS
Time Period: Regency 1817

A missing twin ... Something is very wrong, and the Honourable Christopher Kit Fancot can sense it. Kit returns to London on leave from the diplomatic service to find that his twin brother Evelyn has disappeared and his extravagant mother's debts have mounted alarmingly. A quick-minded heiress ... The Fancot family's fortunes are riding on Evelyn s marriage to the self-possessed Cressy Stavely, and her formidable grandmother's approval of the match. If Evelyn fails to meet the Dowager Lady Stavely in a few days as planned, the betrothal could be off. A fortune in the balance ... When the incorrigible Lady Fancot persuades her son to impersonate his twin (just for one night, she promises) the masquerade sets off a tangled sequence of events that engage Kit s heart far more deeply than he d ever anticipated with his brother s fiancée who might know much more about what's going on than she cares to reveal...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Continuing the re-issue of the classic romances of Georgette Heyer is FALSE COLOURS, a novel of twins, family problems and falling in love with the right person.  Georgette Heyer, hailed as a premiere of the Regency Romance genre for decades now, has never failed to make me happy with her stories.  Unlike more contemporary authors, Heyer shows an understanding of the nuances in Regency everyday life that is wonderful to read.  Admittedly, for those used to the current trend of popular historical romances with heavy intimacy scenes and scandalous conduct, Heyer's books are more character driven, so they might seem slower.  Her tone is definitely more in line with Jane Austen—reflective, detail oriented and period minded.

Mistaken identities are the theme of this particular title, though in all honesty, "misleading identities" is closer to the mark.  You have Kit and Evelyn Fancot, handsome good-spirited identical twins. Evelyn disappears and leaves the Fancot family in something of a predicament; conveniently, Kit shows up on leave from his diplomatic duties and agrees to a charade which should have worked since the two are so very similar in looks, but their temperaments are quite disparate.  Kit is very even-tempered and more likely to forgive and forget than dwell too long over a matter.  Evelyn, the older of the two, is by contrast prone to over thinking situations and dwelling entirely too long. 

The cast of characters surrounding them all are at turns interesting, comical and downright annoying—just like anyone would expect of a gathering of family, friends and extendeds.  Their mother in particular was annoying; she obviously loved her children, but she didn't heed them and was entirely too taken up with keeping herself happy!  They only enabled this behavior.  For her credit the mother can tell the two apart instantly, a trick some characters could have used more then once.  I was rather fond of the Dowager Lady Stavely, another character of mature years who had spunk and wicked humor. 

What might irritate readers unused to the style is that she gives a lot of detail about her characters' back stories by telling the reader in page long (or longer) paragraphs, often in the middle of conversations.  This is done to explain the motivations of the characters, but also to give grounding for later when the characters refers to traits or events offhandedly.  For instance, in this book we're told early on about the twins' boyhood and life after Oxford; later, a character mentions how alike the two are on the surface but how different they are otherwise.  Little explanation is given and it's assumed you remember the differences described in the very beginning of the book. 

Alexandra Cenni