195:. Jenny is at first hesitant to make any changes to the rather dilapidated Priory, but Adam is content to leave it in her hands, particularly as she does so out of her own funds, rather than relying on her father, as they had been obliged to do in London. The couple are now more at ease with each other, but Julia again disturbs this by visiting Fontley in the company of her parents and of Lord Rockhill, her latest suitor. In particular she hints that once she is married, she would be available to Adam, a prospect he rejects not only out of loyalty to Jenny but in gratitude too.
287:, compares with Jonathan Chawleigh's balancing his business acumen with his extravagant devotion to his daughter's welfare. Another conflict of interest appears in the way the self-centred Julia Oversley focusses only on her own emotional distress rather than sparing Adam's feelings, while Jenny always puts her husband’s emotional welfare before her own.
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household and so, with full awareness by all parties, the arranged marriage is quickly accomplished. It is a simple contract; Jenny gains the title of Lady Lynton and Adam receives enough money to take care of his family obligations and save his estate. The chief difficulty is to prevent
Chawleigh from being too generous.
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in the confused reactions and financial panic in
Britain during Napoleon's invasion of Belgium, from which Adam ultimately profits. But the passing of this very specific time is also marked by gossip on social occasions in the wake of the disruptive family behaviour of the royal family, such as the
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will not lose, so instead of taking his father-in-law's advice to sell his stocks, he buys when prices are low and makes his fortune. Rather than insult
Chawleigh with repayment of what he owes, however, Adam delights him by suggesting that the Lynton property titles held by Chawleigh be passed on
275:
well as cultivating a close relationship with one's bankers. This particular theme culminates in the depiction of the "Waterloo panic" through which Adam keeps his nerve and relies on private experience of a military kind, enabling him to recoup his fortune in the end, with the aid of a loan from
274:
Finance is also a focus throughout Heyer's novel: beyond what it could buy, there is as well the theme of how money is best expended to assure future income, for instance on improving the estate from which part of one's regular income comes. Keeping a watch on investments is equally important, as
179:
The marriage is an awkward one, with Jenny devoted to making life as comfortable as she can for her husband, while Adam buries his feelings for Julia and concentrates on launching his wife into society. Nevertheless, Julia lacks Adam's self-control and almost precipitates a scandal by fainting on
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Oversley suggests that Adam listen instead to the proposal of his friend Mr
Jonathan Chawleigh, an extremely wealthy city merchant, who wishes his daughter Jenny to marry into the aristocracy. As it happened, Jenny had already met and been impressed by Adam during previous visits to the Oversley
282:
Writing to her publisher in
February 1960, Heyer announced that her next book "will be neither farcical nor adventurous, & will depend for success on whether I can make the hero as charming as I believe he was! And also, of course, if I can make a quiet story interesting." It is a story of
322:, whose reducing regime for expectant mothers was currently fashionable. But another fashion of the time is put to farcical use in describing the homecoming of the honeymooning couple to Lynton House, which Mr Chawleigh, mistaking opulence for elegance, has had redecorated for them in
198:
After a row with his domineering father-in-law, Adam settles it that the expected baby will be born at
Fontley, where Jenny is happy, and under the care of a doctor of their choosing. Nevertheless, he is irked by his financial dependence on Chawleigh and decides to gamble on the
220:
before his guests leave next morning. The only discontented person is Julia at not being the centre of interest. Seeing through her shallowness, Adam makes his devoted Jenny realize how much genuine affection he feels for her now that he has outgrown his youthful dreams.
271:, particularly in the behaviour of Julia, who uses her reputation for sensibility to get her own way, and in Jenny's, who is not so without emotion as she pretends, but by her commonsense behaviour gains admiration, acceptance and affection from others.
184:. It is only thanks to Jenny's initiative that gossip is averted. Drawing on her previous acquaintance with the Oversley family, she arranges to be seen driving in public on friendly terms with Julia and to hold a select dinner at Lynton House in
155:
in the US. Set between 1814–1815, the story centres on a bankrupted viscount who reluctantly enters a marriage of convenience with a wealthy merchant's daughter. In this case the time is supported by a rich assortment of period detail.
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personalities as well as a depiction of class differences. Upper-class climbing, in which the material interests of his family are neglected, in the case of the 5th Lord Lynton and his interaction with the set about the
215:
In the excitement of so much business, Adam leaves it too late to attend the engagement party of his sister Lydia being held at
Fontley, but more than makes up for it by arriving with the newspapers announcing the
168:. On arrival he discovers that his Lincolnshire estates are bankrupted by debt. Lacking any means of restoring his family's wealth, and with his mother and two sisters - Charlotte and Lydia - to support, he begins
172:. He also mentions the necessity of selling Fontley Priory, his historic family home, on a visit to Lord Oversley, with whose beautiful daughter Julia he had been in love but must now relinquish.
164:
After the death of his father, the 5th
Viscount Lynton, in a riding accident, twenty-six-year-old Captain Adam Deveril is summoned home from his regiment in the closing year of the
311:
310:
Other contemporary allusions in the novel are of more intimate concern to its main characters. In order to improve his run-down estate, Adam studies the farming methods of
237:, some critics have classified it with those of her social comedies that focus on other themes than exclusively romance. Jennifer Clement compares the novel to
300:
249:(1957) in this respect as "a reverse romance…where the central pair begin by getting married and end by realising their love for one another". The story of
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318:, as his grandfather, the 4th viscount, had done before him. Also consulted, to nearly disastrous effect on Jenny's behalf, was the obstetrician
290:
The timeline upon which the progress of the plot depends, covering the seventeen months from the end of
January 1814 to June 1815, comes to its
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617:
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Towards the end of the season, Jenny reveals that she is pregnant and Adam takes her to
Fontley, where he begins to immerse himself in
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303:. Equally occurring off-stage but establishing the period and having their effect on the novel's participants are the first of the
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garlands", not to mention a bath in the shape of a shell that is greeted by the normally quiet Jenny with shouts of laughter.
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is chiefly about class and wealth and Clement traces the ancestry of this sub-genre back to
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coming face to face with him at one of the most exclusive social functions of the
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at which the family – and even one of Julia’s many other admirers – are present.
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Jennifer Clement, "Loving and giving: emotional hypocrisy and generosity in
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lifestyle. In addition, the contrasting attitudes exhibited in Austen's
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Prince Regent's relationship with his estranged wife,
299:, and the scandal caused by his rebellious daughter,
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267:are similarly to be found, for example, in Heyer's
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354:Georgette Heyer, History and Historical Fiction
203:at a crucial time. Having followed the news of
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233:is usually bracketed among Georgette Heyer’s
16:1961 Regency romance novel by Georgette Heyer
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458:"A Civil Contract – hidden depths Part 2"
446:"A Civil Contract – hidden depths Part 1"
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334:on pedestals entwined with lotus and
212:directly to his new-born grandson.
147:, first published in October 1961 by
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362:The Private World of Georgette Heyer
314:and visits his experimental farm at
618:The Transformation of Philip Jettan
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151:in the UK and in January 1962 by
396:Regency Art and Regency Artists
369:Georgette Heyer's Regency World
826:Sylvester, or the Wicked Uncle
1:
486:Jane Aiken Hodge 2011, p.152
954:Heinemann (publisher) books
406:Kloester 2011, pp. 397, 400
205:Napoleon’s exile and return
193:the improvement of his land
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225:A historical genre fiction
934:Novels by Georgette Heyer
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435:Kloester 2005, pp. 276-7
426:Clement 2021, pp. 88-103
682:The Convenient Marriage
239:The Convenient Marriage
416:Heyer Novel Chronology
328:'Egyptian' furnishings
170:liquidating his assets
477:Kloester 2005, p. 154
468:Kloester 2005, p. 305
297:Caroline of Brunswick
264:Sense and Sensibility
610:Instead of the Thorn
949:Fiction set in 1815
944:Fiction set in 1814
929:1961 British novels
778:The Quiet Gentleman
746:The Reluctant Widow
551:Simon the Coldheart
456:Jennifer Kloester,
444:Jennifer Kloester,
374:Jennifer Kloester,
367:Jennifer Kloester,
218:victory at Waterloo
153:G. P. Putnam's Sons
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543:The Great Roxhythe
378:, Sourcebooks 2011
364:, Sourcebooks 2011
360:Jane Aiken Hodge,
324:neoclassical style
301:Princess Charlotte
939:Historical novels
916:
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714:The Spanish Bride
698:The Talisman Ring
535:Historical novels
357:, UCL Press, 2021
320:Sir Richard Croft
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101:Publication place
85:William Heinemann
49:Cover artist
22:A Civil Contract
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850:A Civil Contract
842:The Unknown Ajax
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634:These Old Shades
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231:A Civil Contract
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136:A Civil Contract
92:Publication date
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882:Black Sheep
802:Bath Tangle
674:Devil's Cub
666:Barren Corn
312:Thomas Coke
307:in London.
259:upper class
255:Jane Austen
245:(1944) and
141:Regency era
923:Categories
818:April Lady
559:Beauvallet
383:References
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247:April Lady
209:Wellington
874:Frederica
786:Cotillion
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326:and with
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241:(1934),
114:Hardback
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524:Novels
128:384 pp
116:&
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139:is a
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