Review: Strong Debut, Worth Checking Out
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 24, 2010
It used to be fairly common for Regency novels to deal with the wars and the soldiers on the streets. Somewhere over the last ten or twenty years those fell out of favor. You might have a returned soldier or a few dozen spies, but novels about soldiers or their wives largely ceased to exist. In The Sergeant's Lady Susanna Fraser brings those novels back to life. With a style reminiscent of Joan Wolf's early Regencies, Fraser sets her characters in the Spanish countryside for a look at a different aspect of Regency life. Anna is the sort of heiress you wouldn't expect to find following her husband's regiment around. With a net worth somewhere upwards of 6 million dollars she should be a prize to her husband. Sadly for Anna, her husband holds a flaw common to first husbands in the Regency. He's just not that into her.Will, a Sergeant with a net worth somewhere upwards of quite a bit less, is very into Anna. Unfortunately (and with welcome realism) Will is aware that he is unlikely to catch a woman of Anna's rank. Doing so could be a disaster for them both, and certainly the end of his career. Wartime being what it is, events conspire differently and soon Will and Anna find themselves unable to stay apart. The relationship between them is sweet and natural, with Anna's family's wealth being recent enough for her to relate to the 'common' people but large enough to prove a complete deterrent to Will. While the events that unfold around them occasionally go a bit over the top (Really, guy in well? That's your big plan?) overall the realism of social conflict is a welcome change from the status oblivious characters of Greater Regencyland.I was torn between three and four stars for The Sergeant's Lady. It's better than three stars, but some issues with side villains and the ultimate resolution kept it from a five star read. While I think Anna is kidding herself that she could be content without her wealth the reactions of those near to Anna and Will make for an engaging and different Regency read. Any fan of traditional Regency should certainly consider Susanna Fraser a new author to watch.