Georgette Heyer Fans discussion
Group Reads
>
False Colours Group Read Feb 2020 Chapters 1-11
I haven't dragged my copy out yet, but I'm fairly sure mine is the same as the pictured one.I have read this one too many times to count.
Last time we read this one as a group was Sept 2015. 😊
I have read this one about 5 times, and am using my kindle for this read.Cover:
I am on the kindle too!This is one of the few Heyer's that I don't have in a dusty old paperback from my mum's collection, so I had the pleasure of reading it for the first time with this group.
I have read it many, many times and used to own it. Currently, I am reading a hardcover from the library that has no photo - but it probably had a book jacket at one time that did and it's long gone.the page before the story begins says only "For Susie" which I don't remember seeing before - do others see this? anyone know who Susie is?
Jackie wrote: "I have read it many, many times and used to own it. Currently, I am reading a hardcover from the library that has no photo - but it probably had a book jacket at one time that did and it's long gon..."I think Susie would be her son's first wife. Gh was very fond of her.
An Adored Daughter-in-LawAt first Georgette and Ronald were inclined to look askance at their son’s new girlfriend, but it did not take Susie long to win them over. When Richard married Susie in 1962 it marked the beginning of a new kind of relationship for Georgette. She had long thought she did not want a daughter and had clung to her maxim that ‘Boys tell their mothers, and Girls tell their fathers’. But her perception was based on her own experience of having ‘been a daughter’; the advent of ‘Our dear Susie’ into her life soon convinced her she was wrong. Susie proved to be a stimulating companion, bright, funny and energetic, and she quickly found her place in the family. Georgette was especially pleased to discover that her new daughter-in-law ‘has our own type of humour. This makes life very easy, for one doesn’t have to edit one’s conversation. She’s quick-witted too, & dearly loves a joke.
Georgette adored Susie who brought a new dimension to family life.
Within six months of the wedding Georgette told her friend Isabella Banton that ‘I made a lot of Good Resolutions, when Richard married, about Never Intruding on them, or Making Demands, but Susie smashed the lot – so that I find myself wondering if all is well at 56 Cornwall Gardens, if I don’t get a telephone call from her.’ Unlike Richard, Susie talked to her new ‘mama’ regularly, exchanging news and gossip and keeping her up to date with family events. In 1964 Georgette paid special tribute to her beloved daughter-in-law by dedicating False Colours to her.
found on https://jenniferkloester.com/a-specia...
Susanna and Richard married in 1962, and False Colours was published in 1963 - that is a fast friendship!
She may have known Gh before that though as she was originally in an unhappy marriage with one of Richard's friends.
I'm reading the Sourcebooks edition
I first read this in August 1969 when I bought the paperback.
Here's that cover--which is actually decent!
I've probably read this 5 or 6 times, but it has been many a year since I last read it. I'm looking forward to it.
This is not one of my favourites, but I do have it as an audio book, so will listen, after my current book, so that I can join in the discussion. As is usual with Audible Heyers, there is somethng wrong with the cover ...
- not my idea of the central couple.
My copy has the cover pictured here. I only read this once and it was many years ago so really looking forward to it. I'll be starting tomorrow. I had to finish a book that was dragging along and took me forever to get through. I feel like I've been having GH withdrawal because we haven't read a Heyer since December:):)
I read it twice. Once maybe about 10 or more years ago and then the last time we read it as a group. I got the same old edition from the library. It's missing the original dust jacket and I suspect it's been rebound at some point too. The pages are brittle and yellow.
This is a favorite and I've read it many times. I used to have a paperback with this cover
, then later upgraded to a hardcover with the (original, I presume) Barbosa cover art
... but this time around I'm reading it on my Kindle!
I’ve read this one a few times, and have this paperback,
, but will listen to the audiobook this time - I find that really enhances the story for me on a reread, especially with a great narrator!
I'm nearly through Middlemarch as my first audio book ever Susan. I've been listening to it for over a year now. Can't wait to finish it. I never thought I'd enjoy an audio book but I really am! Great distraction when doing endless house work.
Feels like ages since I’ve read a Heyer! Another new one for me (just the Kindle version), so looking forward to it.
Teresa wrote: "I'm nearly through Middlemarch as my first audio book ever Susan. I've been listening to it for over a year now. Can't wait to finish it. I never thought I'd enjoy an audio book but I really am! Gr..."Good for you! I’ve got to get back to Middlemarch and Bleak House, that’s taken me forever! I like to listen while I knit, or ride the exercise bike - boring, but one of the types of exercise I can do with my balance issues.i never thought I’d like audiobooks, either, but got hooked during my recovery from surgery- with a great narrator, it’s like a private performance!
I remember really liking this, and am really happy to hop into it and I love the nickname Kit!
Kit Fancot is one of my favorite Heyer heroes. I am currently plowing through a long historical fiction novel for another group read, but I'm not really warming to it so I may sneak away and read False Colours instead!
I've read it many times, it's definite up there with my favourites.
Well, first two chapters read! Love the opening paragraphs, how effectively Heyer sets the scene of this young man arriving home in the middle of the night. Quite a long set-up over these two chapters. But nice to see the affectionate interaction between mother and son. What a hopeless spendthrift the mother is, if her idea of “sacrifice” is redecorating the room yet again! Kit is tolerantly amused, but no wonder the late husband struggled! I feel some sympathy for him - and he did, after all, offer to pay off her debts.
It’s a while since I read this and I think I’ve only read it twice so looking forward to reading it this time! My paperback copy went to that great recycling library in the sky so I have it on my iPad.
All that cant (in that first conversation between Fimber and Kit) was a bit overwhelming! I got the gist of what Fimber was saying--but I have no clue what half of those terms actually mean.
Julie, "tolerantly amused" really sums up how Kit reacts to his mother. Heyer brilliantly portrays how much affection exists between both twins and their mother, even though Evelyn isn't even present.
by the end of the first chapter we really know a lot: Kit is the practical one and came home to save his twin from the results of their Mom's ridiculous lack of money-handling skills.
Barb in Maryland, I haven't gotten to that conversation yet, but this isn't one of the books where I remember thinking the cant was over the top.
Julie wrote: "Well, first two chapters read! Love the opening paragraphs, how effectively Heyer sets the scene of this young man arriving home in the middle of the night. Quite a long set-up over these two cha..."
Yes, I felt the same about the opening paragraphs and the first interactions between Kit and mum. I remember last read blaming her more for the situation (no spoilers), but listening and reading along the first two chapters, I’m picking up more on the character of the deceased father. The fact that although he loved her, he was 15 years older and fell for her straight out of the schoolroom - can’t have made life easy for her, if he made his disappointment felt so that the boys picked up on it! Trust me, I raised a son, they’re pretty self-involved! As are all children, up to a point. And that bit about having the man of business in some meeting, taking notes, as if she were a wayward employee to be disciplined! That had to be humiliating...anyway, yes, she’s rather a flake and wasteful, but I don’t think she ever received much guidance- and, as Heyer so cleverly notes, the very personality he fell in love with in a young girl, he resented in a wife! Not fair, and definitely not a recipe for a happy, healthy marriage!
Barb and Jackie, I don’t think I’ve gotten to that conversation either, I’ll weigh in when I do - but I was surprised when I started listening, although I’ve read this twice, it was 2008 and 2015, not so terribly long ago by a calendar, but for some reason I was mixing this one up with the one with Gervase and Drusilla, I don’t know why! Perhaps because the blurb on my book made it sound mysterious, as does the blurb on that book.
Anyway, now that I realize this isn’t that book, I can settle in and enjoy reacquainting myself with this one - I’m still reading another Regency set mystery from my library, so I will try and divide up my reading time to make headway- Super Bowl Sunday, perfect time! I’m sure we have some American football fans here, but I have never really grasped enough of the game to enjoy watching- I like the funny commercials, but nowadays you can see them on the internet...;)
It has been so long since I last read this that I had forgotten the twins age--a mere 24 years old. (Which makes mama in her early 40s, btw.) Anyway, Kit, at least, seems to have achieved a degree of maturity.
I have the original hardback edition from the library (no dust jacket). I do like Kit. The mother is charming, if exasperating--though to be honest, she is very close to being just plain exasperating. But I'm still enjoying the book.
Barb in Maryland wrote: "It has been so long since I last read this that I had forgotten the twins age--a mere 24 years old. (Which makes mama in her early 40s, btw.) Anyway, Kit, at least, seems to have achieved a degree ..."Yes - hard to imagine if Kit and Evelyn were identical twins, in personality AND looks - I don’t think we’d have much of a story!
I think that the personality of one affects the personality of the other, like siblings! They react and learn and grow from each other.
Susan in NC wrote: "Barb in Maryland wrote: "It has been so long since I last read this that I had forgotten the twins age--a mere 24 years old. (Which makes mama in her early 40s, btw.) Anyway, Kit, at least, seems t..."Yes, married straight out of the schoolroom - so she could be a mother by the time she was 18/19, so more than likely she’s only 42 or 43.
Sheila (in LA) wrote: "I have the original hardback edition from the library (no dust jacket). I do like Kit. The mother is charming, if exasperating--though to be honest, she is very close to being just plain exasperati..."I like Kit, in the main, and Cressida. But - and it's a big 'BUT' - they need to armour themselves against Lady Denville.
I think Kit is well able to handle his mother. It's also plain to see that no matter what she has done he adores her.
Which is the problem. Will she be a good influence on little Kits and Cressies, or will they be so besotted with their adored grandmother that they accept her extravagance and gambling as 'charming' and fit to be copied?
It's worth noting that, dearly as they love her, neither Kit nor Evelyn seem to have copied their mother's reckless extravagance with money. I don't think we really have to worry about the grandchildren.
I agree. However much they love 'Grandma' I think their parents will keep them well in hand.
Chapter Five has a very interesting between Kit and Cressida. We learn a lot more about lovely Miss Stavely, yes indeed.
Teresa wrote: "I think Kit is well able to handle his mother. It's also plain to see that no matter what she has done he adores her."He does adore her! And initially I thought so too, that he knew how to handle her. But, a few more chapters and I’m not so sure. Manipulate might be too strong a word, but it seems she certainly knows how to get Kit to do what she wants - especially the tactic of likening him to his father!
Brilliant scene setting from the beginning with Kit’s arrival and his encounter with his mother and the decision to pose as his missing. brother. It was during this scene that I remembered how much I disliked his mother. Sorry but I am really intolerant of folk who play the “poor, stupid me, I can’t help it” card. Amabel is one reason that “False Colours” is not among my favourites. She is not a girl but a 43 year old woman who has remained a stubborn child in her refusal to learn. Yes, I understand she married a man 15 years older than her straight from the schoolroom and that he was a cold monster who disliked the very things about her which attracted him in the first place - but she is clearly not unintelligent - so I don’t accept that she couldn’t learn how to handle money better.
(By the way, when I read about the 15 year age gap - I couldn’t help think about Horry and Rule, and Nell and Cardross!! Thank Goodness neither of those heroes were as horrid as the Earl here!)
I don’t believe in the “I’m just a stupid woman who doesn’t understand” trope. It’s not just that she is beyond foolish with money - it’s that she is prepared to manipulate Kit into doing what she wants. Credit to him that he loves his mother but she certainly knows which buttons to push to make him do as she wants. That scene is painful to read knowing this is his mother who is prepared to manipulate him.
I love Kit and Cressy - they are a lovely couple and one can feel the attraction from their very first meeting which is a beautifully drawn scene. Then we don’t hear from Cressy again for what seems an age. There was lot of padding in the early sections of this book and I felt that GH could have improved False Colours with some judicious editing. The lengthy scenes with Fimber et al, where Heyer could show off her great knowledge of cant - became boring and bewildering. There was no reason for them to be so impenetrable and I question whether these servants would have spoken like this to their employer. People in service have always had the ability to moderate their language to accommodate their employers. (The Tollgate is very different because John is encountering a stranger who he meets much more as an equal).
I mostly enjoyed this first half because Kit is just lovely and Cressy is obviously perfect for him and the story has been really well developed.
Susan in Perthshire wrote: "She is not a girl but a 43 year old woman who has remained a stubborn child in her refusal to learn. Yes, I understand she married a man 15 years older than her straight from the schoolroom and that he was a cold monster who disliked the very things about her which attracted him in the first place - but she is clearly not unintelligent - so I don’t accept that she couldn’t learn how to handle money better"I think this is very true and perceptive - Amabel is clearly intelligent enough to manage her accounts properly if she tried. I choose to believe that she has actually been a gambling addict for 20 years because of her unhappy marriage, and all the 'oh, I can't do accounts' talk is just a jokey excuse - like alcoholics who joke about being a 'wine mom'!
I feel sorry for Amabel. She did what she was supposed to do: marry a man and conform to gender norms of the day. Women weren't expected to handle money. When my grandfather died after 60 years of marriage, my grandmother had to learn to pay the bills and manage her money with help from a financial adviser. Amabel shouldn't be expected to be smart enough to handle her finances. She's manipulative with her sons and they give in to her when they should put their foot down and say "NO MORE!" Evelyn sounds like he's cut from the same cloth as his mother whereas Kit is more sensible and practical. He actually has a JOB, a rarity for a Heyer hero other than her military heroes. Fimber, the cant-speaking valet, knows his masters quite well and it sounds like he encouraged their youthful exploits. It's nice that he's worried about Evelyn but gosh, Evelyn is an adult. Let him solve his own problems!
I don't like this book as much as some of the others because I just don't like romances based on deceptions. The switching places with a twin trope is not my thing.
Intelligence comes in different forms. The sort that handles money (and numbers in general) well is quite different from the sort that is perceptive about people and can handle them well. I'm perfectly willing to believe that Amabel Denville has the latter kind of intelligence but not the former.
I'm on chapter ten and I agree with Susan that there is a lot of filler so far. But I'm enjoying it even though there hasn't been a lot happening. Something is keeping me reading.
Teresa wrote: "I'm on chapter ten and I agree with Susan that there is a lot of filler so far. But I'm enjoying it even though there hasn't been a lot happening. Something is keeping me reading."Yes Teresa, - even a slightly ‘padded out’ Heyer is engaging!
I kept on reading too: even when I was noticing the filling and thinking -“let’s get on with the story please!”
Margaret wrote: "Intelligence comes in different forms. The sort that handles money (and numbers in general) well is quite different from the sort that is perceptive about people and can handle them well. I'm perfe..."yes, this. I don't have any problem believing that Amabel is really that "dumb" about money. She does her best with what she knows and she really believes everything is fine if she just pays interest on a loan from a friend. she doesn't even get that she still owes the principal!
QNPoohBear wrote: "Women weren't expected to handle money."I'm not sure that Georgian women weren't expected to handle money. Everything I've read about the period says that women were supposed to do the household accounts.
I think part of Amabel's problem is that she wasn't brought up properly. Her family are all 'perfect widgeons' like her, and her mother never taught her what being a wife would entail.
I do appreciate that not everyone shares my disapproval of Amabel. That’s fine of course, but I think there is a huge difference between ‘not being good with numbers” and selfishly continuing to spend your way into even more debt - and then expecting your son to make a marriage of convenience so he can release his trust fund and pay off your debts (which are the equivalent of over £1.5 million pounds today! )Failing to appreciate that if you keep ‘buying’ things with money you don’t actually have - then your debt will simply keep increasing is not simply ‘not being good with numbers’. Amabel clearly understands that but has no intention of cutting her clothes to fit her cloth!
It’s funny how poor people have to work hard to manage their money - they don’t get to use the excuse that they’re not good with numbers. To be fair, I don’t think Amabel uses that excuse - she simply doesn’t see why she should economise.
Jackie wrote: "Margaret wrote: "Intelligence comes in different forms. The sort that handles money (and numbers in general) well is quite different from the sort that is perceptive about people and can handle the..."And her solution to owing a debt to a milliner is to mollify her by buying several more expensive hats! She really is a hopeless case.
Susan in Perthshire wrote: "Kit is just lovely and Cressy is obviously perfect for him” Cressy is delightful....or, as Kit says, “a darling.” As for Kit, I totally agree. How he treats Ambrose is yet another example, offering him an interest and “patient encouragement” whereas all he ever got from Evelyn was contempt.
I’m curious to see what’s happened to this other twin! So far haven’t seen much to recommend him.
Georgette Heyer Fans
Books mentioned in this topic
Persuasion (other topics)False Colours (other topics)
False Colours (other topics)
False Colours (other topics)
False Colours (other topics)
More...
This is our first group read of 2020!
*We have not read this title as a group since 2015*
Is this your first read? How many times have you read this title? Which format are you using? And what does your cover look like?
Is this anyone's favourite Heyer?
Please remember to use spoiler tags or to post spoilers in the spoiler thread.