Shortly after the siege and fall of Badajoz, he and a fellow officer are approached by a Spanish noblewoman who asks for their protection for her younger sister, Juana, who is just fourteen. He’s already acquired a reputation for being indestructible – he’s escaped so many battles relatively unscathed that he’s practically a legend. The story quickly introduces Harry – brash, young, impetuous but a superb soldier and leader of men, one of those who yells “Come on!” to his men and fights at their side rather than an officer who sits back and lets them get on with it. This is one of the few of Georgette Heyer’s novels that I haven’t yet read, so I came to it without really knowing much about the story, other than that it’s very firmly based in fact, and that much of the dialogue and detail about the events within are taken directly from Harry Smith’s autobiography. One of the best known of these is An Infamous Army, which is said to include some of the most well-researched descriptions of the Battle of Waterloo, and which, as a result, is (or was) a set text at Sandhurst! The Spanish Bride is in a similar vein, although whereas in Army the principal characters are fictional, Brigade-Major Harry Smith and his young bride Juana actually existed, as did the other characters in the book. I've given this a B+ for narration and a B- for content at AARĪlthough Georgette Heyer is principally known for writing a large number of sparkling Regency Romances and Comedies of Manners, she also wrote a number of mysteries and several books of historical fiction based on real events. Heyer remains a popular and much-loved author, known for essentially establishing the historical romance genre and its subgenre Regency romance. While some critics thought her novels were too detailed, others considered the level of detail to be Heyer's greatest asset. Her Georgian and Regencies romances were inspired by Jane Austen. She wrote one novel using the pseudonym Stella Martin. She made no appearances, never gave an interview and only answered fan letters herself if they made an interesting historical point.
Heyer was an intensely private person who remained a best selling author all her life without the aid of publicity. Beginning in 1932, Heyer released one romance novel and one thriller each year.
Rougier later became a barrister and he often provided basic plot outlines for her thrillers. In 1925 she married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother into the novel The Black Moth. Georgette Heyer was a prolific historical romance and detective fiction novelist.
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