False Colours

by Georgette Heyer

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...

Genres: Romance, Historical Fiction, Regency, Historical, Historical Romance, Fiction, Regency Romance

303 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Georgette Heyer was a prolific historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother into the novel The Black Moth.

In 1925 she married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer. Rougier later became a barrister and he often provided basic plot outlines for her thrillers. Beginning in 1932, Heyer released one romance novel and one thriller each year.

Heyer was an intensely private person who remained a best selling author all her life without the aid of publicity. She made no appearances, never gave an interview and only answered fan letters herself if they made an interesting historical point. She wrote one novel using the pseudonym Stella Martin.

Her Georgian and Regencies romances were inspired by Jane Austen. While some critics thought her novels were too detailed, others considered the level of detail to be Heyer's greatest asset.

Heyer remains a popular and much-loved author, known for essentially establishing the historical romance genre and its subgenre Regency romance.

Reviews

[Roberta]

I due gemelli del titolo li ho trovati abbastanza sciapi, idem per la fanciulla "divisa" fra i due e per la vicenda raccontata. L'unico personaggio spassoso di tutto il libro è soltanto Lady Denville, madre dei due giovani gentiluomini, con le sue mani bucate e la sua aria un po' svagata (e anche il rubicondo Bonamy, suo storico pretendente).

[Lupurk]

Altra simpatica e leggera lettura. Forse sto andando in overdose da Heyer, a leggerne troppi in tempi ravvicinati si rischia di trovarla un po' ripetitiva e meno brillante, ma rimane sempre un passatempo piacevole e divertente!

[Patrizia]

Quando ha scritto questo romanzo, Georgette Heyer aveva problemi di salute, si sentiva plagiata da scrittrici (come Barbara Cartland e Kathleen Lindsay) che trovavano più comodo rubare espressioni e situazioni dai suoi libri piuttosto che studiare, come lei, la stampa e la corrispondenza privata del periodo Regency, era sconcertata dalla decisione del figlio di sposare una donna divorziata ed era incalzata da pubblico ed editori perché producesse almeno un libro all'anno.
Non c'è proprio da stupirsi se la storia - che pure si incentra su un'idea brillante, che avrebbe potuto dar luogo a mille divertenti sviluppi - si trascina un po' stancamente, ravvivata soltanto dai vivaci dialoghi che confermano il grande 'mestiere' dell'autrice.

[Giornata_di_sole]

Altra lettura simpatica e piacevole in cui la vicenda ruota intorno ad uno scambio d’identita’ tra due gemelli, l’uno, Evelyn, inspiegabilmente scomparso e l’altro, Kit, costretto a sostituirsi a lui accettando, suo malgrado, di recarsi in visita ufficiale dalla fidanzata del fratello…Ma il piano predisposto nel tentativo di salvare il salvabile, si tramuterà inevitalmente in una farsa dai risvolti imprevedibili…