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Lord Greywell's Dilemma
Elspeth Parkstone agrees to a marriage in name only to Viscount Greywell, who is still distraught over his first wife's death and infant son's continuing illness
Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1983
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March 17, 2022
4.25 🌟
This is a reread for me and again Elspeth the heroine stumped me. I've rarely seen a heroine so well put together - mature, responsible, reasonable and always striving to give her best to all. Inspite of all her good qualities, she's initially shown to be prudish and puritanical and cannot like physical relationships. This book is a coming of age with respect to intimacy, the need and importance of relationships.
David Greywell has just lost his wife during childbirth and his 3 month old son is very sick and isn't supposed to.make it. Elspeth is a 26 Yr old.spi ster who has taken on the responsibility of all the bustard children her widowed father is producing, and hence has refused to marry. Also why she abhors intimacy and any relationship.Since Greywell needed to get back to Vienna to help Castlereagh with peace talks he enters into a marraige of convenience with Elspeth.
David is a very mature and understanding husband. Towards the end we realise why he's so successful in politics--his understanding of human nature is impressive and boy how he plays Elspeth.
It's a very nice slow-burn romance with zero smut. Great characters except for her dad. Iwould never have forgiven him so easily.
Recommended: 👍
This is a reread for me and again Elspeth the heroine stumped me. I've rarely seen a heroine so well put together - mature, responsible, reasonable and always striving to give her best to all. Inspite of all her good qualities, she's initially shown to be prudish and puritanical and cannot like physical relationships. This book is a coming of age with respect to intimacy, the need and importance of relationships.
David Greywell has just lost his wife during childbirth and his 3 month old son is very sick and isn't supposed to.make it. Elspeth is a 26 Yr old.spi ster who has taken on the responsibility of all the bustard children her widowed father is producing, and hence has refused to marry. Also why she abhors intimacy and any relationship.Since Greywell needed to get back to Vienna to help Castlereagh with peace talks he enters into a marraige of convenience with Elspeth.
David is a very mature and understanding husband. Towards the end we realise why he's so successful in politics--his understanding of human nature is impressive and boy how he plays Elspeth.
It's a very nice slow-burn romance with zero smut. Great characters except for her dad. Iwould never have forgiven him so easily.
Recommended: 👍
August 20, 2012
I’m on a bit of an arranged marriage/ marriage of convenience kick at the moment, but this one is slightly different in that neither the hero nor heroine is impoverished and marrying for money. Elspeth Parkstone is twenty-five, unmarried and content to remain so. She’s also a bit of a prig who prides herself on her moral fortitude, and who spends her time doing “good works” in the parish, among which is seeing to the well-being of her father’s numerous by-blows!
But Elspeth’s disapproval of her father is weighing heavy with him and he’s keen to get her off his hands. He knows he will never get her married off by conventional means, and, hearing of the situation of a young widower (Greywell) with a sickly son, hits upon the idea of using Elspeth’s desire to do good, and her experience with children to get her to marry Greywell.
They don’t hit it off at all well to start with. He thinks she’s the type of woman to be forever interfering; she thinks he’s always comparing her unfavourably to his dead wife; they can’t say anything much to each other without the other misinterpreting it, and Elspeth is relieved when Greywell leaves for Austria where he’s been called on a diplomatic mission.
Her care of his son begins to greatly improve the boy’s health; she makes some changes to the household routine and then, finding herself with time on her hands, she strikes up a friendship with the handsome son of a neighbour. He’s an amateur poet, and although Elspeth finds some of his poetry to be long-winded and overblown, she is nonetheless attracted to him and finds herself wondering what it would be like to kiss him and make love to him – things to which she’s never given a second thought before. She has never understood sexual attraction – in fact, her father’s profligacy has given her a distaste for the idea of physical intimacy – but with Francis, she begins to feel desire and to gain an idea of how powerful a force desire can really be.
Elspeth and Francis become very close – kissing leads to a bit of groping and then to them almost having sex; but Elspeth, despite her newfound sexuality, cannot betray her marriage vows. She feels terribly guilty for what almost happened, but she has also become less intractable as a result. This actually reminded me of what happens to the Katherine Hepburn character inThe Philadelphia Story when she believes she’s slept with James Stewart on the eve of her wedding – she learns humility and to forgive human frailty; in this novel, Elspeth has been somewhat holier than thou but once she begins to understand human nature a bit more, and to discover her own, passionate nature, she begins to unwind and develop a sense of humour.
When Greywell returns – having been injured (although not badly) at Waterloo, he finds his son much improved, and immediately notices the changes in his wife. The final third or so of the book, sees them beginning to grow closer and finally consummate their marriage. This part of the story is especially engaging as both characters start to put away their preconceptions and begin to develop a sincere affection for each other. Of course, all ends well.
I wasn’t sure, as I read this, whether I really liked the idea of the heroine’s sexual awakening taking place at the hands of someone other than the hero – but afterwards, I realised that had it not been for that, then Elspeth and Greywell would probably have driven each other crazy with their continual sniping and misunderstandings, and that they had needed time apart – and Elspeth had needed time to climb down from her high horse! It’s an unusual story in that respect, but the reconciliation is handled deftly and written with a great deal of tenderness so it’s a real joy to see these characters finally come to understand each other and fall in love.
But Elspeth’s disapproval of her father is weighing heavy with him and he’s keen to get her off his hands. He knows he will never get her married off by conventional means, and, hearing of the situation of a young widower (Greywell) with a sickly son, hits upon the idea of using Elspeth’s desire to do good, and her experience with children to get her to marry Greywell.
They don’t hit it off at all well to start with. He thinks she’s the type of woman to be forever interfering; she thinks he’s always comparing her unfavourably to his dead wife; they can’t say anything much to each other without the other misinterpreting it, and Elspeth is relieved when Greywell leaves for Austria where he’s been called on a diplomatic mission.
Her care of his son begins to greatly improve the boy’s health; she makes some changes to the household routine and then, finding herself with time on her hands, she strikes up a friendship with the handsome son of a neighbour. He’s an amateur poet, and although Elspeth finds some of his poetry to be long-winded and overblown, she is nonetheless attracted to him and finds herself wondering what it would be like to kiss him and make love to him – things to which she’s never given a second thought before. She has never understood sexual attraction – in fact, her father’s profligacy has given her a distaste for the idea of physical intimacy – but with Francis, she begins to feel desire and to gain an idea of how powerful a force desire can really be.
Elspeth and Francis become very close – kissing leads to a bit of groping and then to them almost having sex; but Elspeth, despite her newfound sexuality, cannot betray her marriage vows. She feels terribly guilty for what almost happened, but she has also become less intractable as a result. This actually reminded me of what happens to the Katherine Hepburn character inThe Philadelphia Story when she believes she’s slept with James Stewart on the eve of her wedding – she learns humility and to forgive human frailty; in this novel, Elspeth has been somewhat holier than thou but once she begins to understand human nature a bit more, and to discover her own, passionate nature, she begins to unwind and develop a sense of humour.
When Greywell returns – having been injured (although not badly) at Waterloo, he finds his son much improved, and immediately notices the changes in his wife. The final third or so of the book, sees them beginning to grow closer and finally consummate their marriage. This part of the story is especially engaging as both characters start to put away their preconceptions and begin to develop a sincere affection for each other. Of course, all ends well.
I wasn’t sure, as I read this, whether I really liked the idea of the heroine’s sexual awakening taking place at the hands of someone other than the hero – but afterwards, I realised that had it not been for that, then Elspeth and Greywell would probably have driven each other crazy with their continual sniping and misunderstandings, and that they had needed time apart – and Elspeth had needed time to climb down from her high horse! It’s an unusual story in that respect, but the reconciliation is handled deftly and written with a great deal of tenderness so it’s a real joy to see these characters finally come to understand each other and fall in love.
January 14, 2024
An odd book that I enjoyed, but it had some worrying elements, not least a surprising amount of sexual content for a book of this age, plus a wife dallying with a man other than her husband. But an interesting read, nonetheless.
Here’s the premise: Elspeth Parksone is 26 and determined not to marry. Her mother died ten years ago, and ever since then her father has been merrily fathering bastards on every willing girl in the neighbourhood. Elspeth takes the opposing path of becoming ever more puritanical, taking care of the bastards and devoting her life to good works about the parish. Having accidentally encountered her father in flagrante delicto with a local wench, and misunderstanding the groans of passion, the horrified Elspeth has decided that marriage is not for her. Meanwhile, David, Viscount Greywell, has just lost his beloved wife in childbirth and his son is sickly and not expected to live. When a mutual friend suggests that what he needs is a wife used to dealing with infants, and he knows just the person…
So Lord Greywell arrives to take a look at Elspeth, and after some manoeuvring, they reach an accommodation and marry. He immediately takes off for Vienna and the political negotiations going on there, leaving Elspeth to take care of the child, the household and the estate.
I confess that this is precisely the sort of situation that fascinates me. Modern marriages are almost exclusively based on romantic love, but the Regency was full of pragmatic marriages which were more a business arrangement than anything else. In this case, Elspeth only agrees to it on the understanding that it will be a marriage of convenience only, and she won’t have to participate in any of that nasty man/woman intimacy that so repels her. Lord Greywell is still too grief-stricken over his wife to care much. So long as his son and heir survives, nothing more will be demanded of his wife.
Their first few days together are a master-study in the difficulties inherent in such arrangements. He finds himself constantly comparing her with his late wife, unfavourably. She is constantly bumping up against the traditions of the household, and wondering what she can change and what will annoy her new husband too much. Their interactions are edgy and sometimes downright hostile, and yet they are both smart enough to understand and make allowances for the other. There’s a continual process of adjustment between them, but it’s not clear at first whether this will end in a rapprochement or whether it will descend to outright war.
But then Lord Greywell goes off to be a diplomat, and their only communication is by letter, a very unsatisfactory means of communication for two people with so wide a gulf between them. He fades out of the picture somewhat at this point, and Elspeth is left to her own devices, stymied somewhat by the conventions of the neighbourhood from carrying out her usual charitable projects, and at somewhat of a loose end. Into this void comes Francis Treyford, the effete son of neighbours and a poet, who falls into a kind of infatuation with Elspeth, writing her impassioned poetry and generally hanging around her. And with her husband away, she is vulnerable to his attentions.
I confess to a certain queasiness about her behaviour at this point. I can understand a roving eye before a couple get together, and even something a bit more physical than that, but once there’s a definite pairing, the two should not be looking elsewhere, and certainly not doing anything more than looking. Elspeth and Francis get beyond kisses into something that would certainly have ended up in infidelity, except that Elspeth draws back at the crucial moment. The interlude serves to awaken her to the possibilities of physical intimacy, however, so when her husband returns, she is far more open to the idea than she was, and this smooths the path to the final rapprochement between the two.
I can respect this as an interesting choice by the author, and perhaps in the real world a wife in this situation, effectively abandoned by her husband, feeling lonely and unwanted, might indeed be vulnerable to another man. But frankly, I wonder how likely it would be that a well brought up Regency woman, especially one as buttoned up as Elspeth, would proceed quite so far down the path to an affair. And as a reader I would much rather it had been her husband who opened her eyes to the possibilities of marital intimacy. For that reason, I feel I can only give this four stars. The subject of sex pervades the whole book, and there’s a mildly graphic interlude towards the end. In addition, there are a number of Americanisms (gotten, write him instead of write to him, etc) which also detracted from my enjoyment. A great pity.
Here’s the premise: Elspeth Parksone is 26 and determined not to marry. Her mother died ten years ago, and ever since then her father has been merrily fathering bastards on every willing girl in the neighbourhood. Elspeth takes the opposing path of becoming ever more puritanical, taking care of the bastards and devoting her life to good works about the parish. Having accidentally encountered her father in flagrante delicto with a local wench, and misunderstanding the groans of passion, the horrified Elspeth has decided that marriage is not for her. Meanwhile, David, Viscount Greywell, has just lost his beloved wife in childbirth and his son is sickly and not expected to live. When a mutual friend suggests that what he needs is a wife used to dealing with infants, and he knows just the person…
So Lord Greywell arrives to take a look at Elspeth, and after some manoeuvring, they reach an accommodation and marry. He immediately takes off for Vienna and the political negotiations going on there, leaving Elspeth to take care of the child, the household and the estate.
I confess that this is precisely the sort of situation that fascinates me. Modern marriages are almost exclusively based on romantic love, but the Regency was full of pragmatic marriages which were more a business arrangement than anything else. In this case, Elspeth only agrees to it on the understanding that it will be a marriage of convenience only, and she won’t have to participate in any of that nasty man/woman intimacy that so repels her. Lord Greywell is still too grief-stricken over his wife to care much. So long as his son and heir survives, nothing more will be demanded of his wife.
Their first few days together are a master-study in the difficulties inherent in such arrangements. He finds himself constantly comparing her with his late wife, unfavourably. She is constantly bumping up against the traditions of the household, and wondering what she can change and what will annoy her new husband too much. Their interactions are edgy and sometimes downright hostile, and yet they are both smart enough to understand and make allowances for the other. There’s a continual process of adjustment between them, but it’s not clear at first whether this will end in a rapprochement or whether it will descend to outright war.
But then Lord Greywell goes off to be a diplomat, and their only communication is by letter, a very unsatisfactory means of communication for two people with so wide a gulf between them. He fades out of the picture somewhat at this point, and Elspeth is left to her own devices, stymied somewhat by the conventions of the neighbourhood from carrying out her usual charitable projects, and at somewhat of a loose end. Into this void comes Francis Treyford, the effete son of neighbours and a poet, who falls into a kind of infatuation with Elspeth, writing her impassioned poetry and generally hanging around her. And with her husband away, she is vulnerable to his attentions.
I confess to a certain queasiness about her behaviour at this point. I can understand a roving eye before a couple get together, and even something a bit more physical than that, but once there’s a definite pairing, the two should not be looking elsewhere, and certainly not doing anything more than looking. Elspeth and Francis get beyond kisses into something that would certainly have ended up in infidelity, except that Elspeth draws back at the crucial moment. The interlude serves to awaken her to the possibilities of physical intimacy, however, so when her husband returns, she is far more open to the idea than she was, and this smooths the path to the final rapprochement between the two.
I can respect this as an interesting choice by the author, and perhaps in the real world a wife in this situation, effectively abandoned by her husband, feeling lonely and unwanted, might indeed be vulnerable to another man. But frankly, I wonder how likely it would be that a well brought up Regency woman, especially one as buttoned up as Elspeth, would proceed quite so far down the path to an affair. And as a reader I would much rather it had been her husband who opened her eyes to the possibilities of marital intimacy. For that reason, I feel I can only give this four stars. The subject of sex pervades the whole book, and there’s a mildly graphic interlude towards the end. In addition, there are a number of Americanisms (gotten, write him instead of write to him, etc) which also detracted from my enjoyment. A great pity.
November 30, 2025
This was sort of okay, as a story about a woman growing up to be more accepting of people's frailties. But not really that romantic, given that the MMC and the FMC are apart for most of the story. Her philandering father has given her a disgust of physical relationships so she doesn't want to marry and devotes her time to good works and self-righteousness. Her situation at home is getting more awkward because of the men in her life, so she decides to trade them for a marriage of convenience. He is a widower who needs a wife to take care of his ailing infant, and he takes himself off shortly after the wedding, going to the continent as a diplomat. He is still in mourning for his first wife, and comes across as aloof, distant, a bit patronising and overly worried that she'll try change things at the estate that is her home now.
He's gone long enough for her to develop an infatuation with a puppyish young poet. I was expecting this to become a bigger scandal but it's not a thing. Instead, her husband endears himself to her by not throwing a tantrum about her extramarital crush (it was mostly platonic but with more opportunity, it could have become more than that).
Other Man/Woman Drama rarely makes a romance more romantic but here I suppose it helped her to be less judgmental of other people's frailties and more understanding of her own physical desires.
Steam level: Briefly consummated.
He's gone long enough for her to develop an infatuation with a puppyish young poet. I was expecting this to become a bigger scandal but it's not a thing. Instead, her husband endears himself to her by not throwing a tantrum about her extramarital crush (it was mostly platonic but with more opportunity, it could have become more than that).
Other Man/Woman Drama rarely makes a romance more romantic but here I suppose it helped her to be less judgmental of other people's frailties and more understanding of her own physical desires.
Steam level: Briefly consummated.
November 6, 2018
The story begins with a newly widowed man with an infant son, and an uptight, bossy spinster being thrown together by his uncle and her father. Her father is a selfish jerk who has fathered illegitimate children all over the neighboring country and since he can't be bothered to deal with them, his daughter faces the embarrassment and responsibility of doing her best to provide for her many half-siblings. Her reaction to her father's disgusting behavior is to become overly pious and kind of obnoxious, she also hates the very idea of sex. The widower is sort of just rolling with the punches as he's lost a woman he loved and his infant son isn't doing very well and is expected to die. The widower is also obligated to join a political delegation to another country and feels powerless in his life.
So the beginning was good. I didn't like the woman and I just felt bad for the man but at least it was interesting until it wasn't. The long middle portion of the story after the marriage of convenience/mercy revolves around childcare, housework, and fending off a neighborhood pretty boy who starts to wear the female main character down because she's a lonely housewife with an absentee husband. After a few chapters of this I was just feeling mildly disgusted with the whole thing.
THEN,
Then there's the happily ever after scene.
The father's sexual exploits, the pretty boy's sexual overtures, the ladies internal monologues on sex, and the actual sex scene towards the end just made this story unbalanced. The pretty boy chapters just dragged the pace of the story down. 3.5 stars
Minimal violence, sex, mild language
So the beginning was good. I didn't like the woman and I just felt bad for the man but at least it was interesting until it wasn't. The long middle portion of the story after the marriage of convenience/mercy revolves around childcare, housework, and fending off a neighborhood pretty boy who starts to wear the female main character down because she's a lonely housewife with an absentee husband. After a few chapters of this I was just feeling mildly disgusted with the whole thing.
THEN,
Then there's the happily ever after scene.
The father's sexual exploits, the pretty boy's sexual overtures, the ladies internal monologues on sex, and the actual sex scene towards the end just made this story unbalanced. The pretty boy chapters just dragged the pace of the story down. 3.5 stars
Minimal violence, sex, mild language
February 27, 2021
It is so refreshing to read a romance in which the main characters are honest with each other, even when it makes themseleves look bad. More, please!
July 1, 2025
This book is a somewhat unorthodox traditional regency. It follows a marriage of convenience trope, but in quite an original way. First, the reasons why Lord Greywell and Elspeth decide to marry have nothing to do with reputation or gossip or with economical problems (the most common ruses in historical romance); instead, it's all down to practicality. Second, it doesn't sugarcoat the difficulties inherent to a marriage between strangers: their first days (weeks?) together are uncomfortable and they're clashing all the time. So much, that none of them are too sad when he hares off to the Congress of Vienna and later decides to stay as aide to Wellington when Napoleon escapes Elba. Another surprising aspect is that intimacy and sex between the couple play quite a relevant role in the story, more than what I'd expect in a traditional romance. I can't say if I minded this or not, it was just surprising, but not especially distasteful, and it wasn't used as a substitute for a proper development or progression in their relationship.
I wasn't too convinced with his change of attitude (from before his absence to his return after Waterloo). It's supposed to be explained because before leaving he was still grieving and, after a few months away, including the battle of Waterloo, he was ready to move on. Still, since we don't know much about him all the while he's away, it feels a bit sudden. On the other hand, her change (which includes shedding her puritan and righteous attitude, after an enlightening experience) is quite well depicted.
All in all, for me this would be between 3 (ok, entertaining) and 4 (quite good) stars. But there's something he did in the end which, even if I get his reasons, left a bitter aftertaste and quite spoiled the happy ending for me (other readers may find it romantic, who knows). Perhaps I wasn't in an understanding mood...
I wasn't too convinced with his change of attitude (from before his absence to his return after Waterloo). It's supposed to be explained because before leaving he was still grieving and, after a few months away, including the battle of Waterloo, he was ready to move on. Still, since we don't know much about him all the while he's away, it feels a bit sudden. On the other hand, her change (which includes shedding her puritan and righteous attitude, after an enlightening experience) is quite well depicted.
All in all, for me this would be between 3 (ok, entertaining) and 4 (quite good) stars. But there's something he did in the end which, even if I get his reasons, left a bitter aftertaste and quite spoiled the happy ending for me (other readers may find it romantic, who knows). Perhaps I wasn't in an understanding mood...
February 11, 2023
È il secondo libro di questa scrittrice che leggo (l'altro è stato 'The Lady Next Door') e in ambedue i casi ho trovato il protagonista maschile incredibilmente 'flat'. Stavolta ero orientata per le tre stelle, perché la storia aveva una sua originalità e, fino a quasi tre quarti, la giusta tensione. Ma negli ultimi capitoli (quando il marito, di ritorno a casa, dopo aver ha saputo dalla moglie che un suo amico le era stato più vicino di quanto fosse lecito, organizza una trappola per vedere se i due in sua assenza riprendono la loro 'dalliance') l'autrice ha perso sul campo una stella. Tanto più che la moglie in questione, anziché tirare sulla testa dell'idiota il primo oggetto pesante a portata di mano, poco mancava che si complimentasse con lui per l'ingegnosa trovata.
December 28, 2024
Lord Graywells Dilemma?
How about Lady Graywell's?
He needed someone to care for his heir; she had to negotiate a world where she was considered fortunate that four equally odious men wanted to marry her, although none cared for more than her looks, and money (a and interest in music)! Think if it had been only looks or money! Humans are complicated enough without institutional misogyny.
This is a pleasant, somewhat erotic, story, it's a bit hard for me to ignore the wretched social structure.
How about Lady Graywell's?
He needed someone to care for his heir; she had to negotiate a world where she was considered fortunate that four equally odious men wanted to marry her, although none cared for more than her looks, and money (a and interest in music)! Think if it had been only looks or money! Humans are complicated enough without institutional misogyny.
This is a pleasant, somewhat erotic, story, it's a bit hard for me to ignore the wretched social structure.
February 13, 2019
3.5 stars
January 26, 2022
Really a 3.25
November 23, 2023
I could see how this story developed and I liked how the main characters grew together at the end.
January 8, 2016
Okay, but not the best. I didn't like how Lord Greywell character was only in the first half, and close to the end. Yeah there was the letters, but that's not the same. And to be frankly honest, Francis was a complete cheese ball lol.
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January 9, 2010Fictionwise multiformat ebook
March 1, 2014
A marriage of convenience story with a couple of unusual plot twists.
November 5, 2013
Really enjoyed this one. Have read a few Laura Matthews before and enjoyed but they never hit the spot like this one did. Quirky and witty. I will have to try some more.
March 23, 2015
It was...nice but it felt too long for me. Still, nice.
August 21, 2016
first read 11/18/15; re-read late July 2016
February 2, 2016
Well written with good characterization
June 16, 2023
[note: this is the one where the heroine has an emotional affair while the hero is off doing diplomat things.]
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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