The marriage of convenience

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The marriage of convenience (in the English original The Convenient Marriage ) is a novel by Georgette Heyer . It first appeared in the original in 1934, the German first edition by Paul Zsolnay Verlag in 1955 in a translation by Stefanie Neumann .

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The 35-year-old wealthy Earl of Rule is asking for the hand of 20-year-old Elizabeth Winwood. Although she has been in love with Lieutenant Edward Heron for years, she finds herself forced to accept the proposal as her family is heavily in debt and her brother Pelham piles up further debts. In order to help her sister, Elizabeth's 17-year-old, slightly stuttering sister, Horatia, suggests that the Count take her instead, as he is not in love with Elizabeth and is only looking for a suitable wife. Her family is dependent on Rule's money, however, and she undertakes to give the earl his freedom during this marriage of convenience. The earl enters into this deal, as he is delighted with Horatia's brash manner, and marries her.

Horatia enjoys her new life as a married woman to the fullest, spends a lot of money on her clothes, makes gambling debts at the card table and makes one or two faux pas. She meets Lord Lethbridge, who years earlier had tried to run away with Louisa, the earl's sister. He allies himself with Lady Caroline Massey, the former mistress of Rule, in order to expose Horatia and thus the Earl. Rule forbids his wife to interact with Lethbridge, which Lethbridge doesn't like because she doesn't want to be told anything. She agrees to meet him for a private game of cards, but does not notice that her husband - wearing a domino - has taken his place after throwing Lethbridge into a pond. When the supposed Lethbridge kisses her, Horatia leaves the room angry and upset.

The Earl of Rule has now fallen in love with his young wife, but she remains - although also in love with her husband - at a distance because she believes that he is still in a relationship with his mistress. Lethbridge, in turn, does not give up, but kidnaps Horatia into his house, where she knocks him down with a poker. Crosby Drelincourt, who happens to be passing by and who - although almost of the same age - considers himself the heir of the Earl, enters Lethbridge's house through the open front door and finds a brooch on the floor that belongs to the Rules family jewelry. He puts the brooch in his pocket in order to put the young woman in a bad light with her husband. Lethbridge manages to take the brooch from Crosby, but eventually has to give it to the Earl after a lost duel.

Horatia receives a message that someone will return the brooch to her. Believing that this message came from Lethbridge, she asks her brother Pelham, Captain Heron and Sir Pommeroy to distract the earl so that she can meet with the brooch who brought the brooch unnoticed by him. However, this turns out to be the Earl himself, and he and Horatia kiss passionately.

people

  • Miss Horatia Winwood
  • Lord Marcus Drelincourt, Earl of Rule
  • Miss Elizabeth Winwood, older sister of Horatia
  • Miss Charlotte Winwood, older sister of Horatia
  • Mr. Arnold Gisborne - Lord Rules Secretary
  • Mrs. Theresa Maulfrey - a cousin of the Winwoods
  • Lady Winwood - mother of the Winwood and Pelham sisters
  • Lady Caroline Massey - mistress of Lord Rule
  • Lord Robert Lethbridge -
  • Lieutenant Edward Heron -
  • Lord Pelham Winwood, brother of the Winwodd sisters
  • Sir Roland Pommeroy - friend of Pelham Winwood
  • Crosby Drelincourt - cousin and heir to the Earl of Rule
  • Lady Louisa Quain - sister of the Earl of Rule

expenditure

The book has been published by several publishers since 1962 and in numerous editions. The paperback, first published by Rowohlt in 1962, had a total of 16 editions of 205,000 copies.

literature

  • Mary Fahnestock-Thomas: Georgette Heyer. A Critical Retrospective . Prinny World Press, Saraland, Al. 2001, ISBN 978-0-9668005-3-1 .

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