Georgette Heyer’s THE GRAND SOPHY – A Brilliant Classic from the Queen of Regency Romance!

Set in the Regency (no date is given but it’s sometime after May 1816 when Beau Brummel moved to Calais), this is the story of Sophy Stanton-Lacy, whose father, Sir Horace, drops her on the doorstep of his sister Lizzy as he jaunts off to South America.

Raised by her diplomat father, who took her with him on his many travels, Sophy is independent, resourceful and loves nothing better than a good time, even if it means taking risks. She also loves to sort out other people’s problems. When she realizes everyone at Berkeley Square is attached to the wrong person and into all sorts of trouble, she dives in to fix it. Kind-hearted Aunt Lizzy is shocked but soon becomes a fan of Sophy’s. Stern Cousin Charles and his humorless fiancée Eugenia are disapproving. Sophy continues to plot. An accomplished rider, she soon wins Charles’ admiration even while he takes her to task for her excursions beyond a young lady’s purview.

In Sophy, Heyer has created a larger than life heroine who is clever, endearing and witty. One never knows what she will do next. It’s not until 3/4ths of the way through the book that Charles begins to see his cousin Sophy differently so be prepared for the wait. 

Heyer engages in merciless head hopping and narrator intrusion to tell us the story, which took some getting used to, and she is occasionally short on description. Still, it all works for a delightful Regency romp, very well done. The characters engage in some wild misadventures that Sophy must sort out. In the end all comes right, but to get there you will happily be turning pages!