An Infamous Army

Author: Georgette Heyer
Published: 1st printing: 1937 (William Heinemann); Reissue: September 2007 (Sourcebooks)
Category: Historical Fiction
Rating: 8/10

I've always thought of Georgette Heyer as a historical romance author, but An Infamous Army is solidly a historical fiction. Sure, there's a romance, but I'd say that it composes 15% of this book. The rest is spent on extremely well-researched historical and military details.

The subtitle says this is "A novel of love, war, Wellington and Waterloo," and that really sums it up. Heyer painted a sharp picture of Wellington, and I learned so much beyond "He's that guy who beat Napoleon at Waterloo." Heyer apparently went as far as to purchase one of Wellington's letters so she could learn the style and tone of his writing. She described him to be a man of little frivolity despite his love of throwing parties. He spoke plainly, to the point of offending society.

The love story between Colonel Charles Audley and Lady Barbara Childe was so well characterized despite the fact that Charles and Bab had very little screentime. Bab is known as the wild widow of Brussels, and when Charles falls for her, and she too loves him, although she can't quite figure out why. He's not as rich or titled as her other smarmy Belgian suitor, but she accepts his proposal. However, she finds being engaged too stifling and selfishly causes mischief involving Charles's sister-in-law's (Lady Worth) brother. They break off the engagement just before Charles leaves for war, and when he's gone, Bab realizes how horrid she behaved.

Reader beware though - this is not a fluffy novel to breeze through in a day. I wanted to read it faster, but really couldn't because there is so much information to take in. I did sometimes think that there was too much detail. There are practically page-long paragraphs where Heyer lists people and what regiment or family they're from and they might be mentioned once more during the course of the final battle. And you know that everyone has three names. In one paragraph at the beginning, Wellington was referred to as Beau and Old Hookey (I think because of his nose). It was so early in the book that I had no idea that those were all nicknames for the man. There's also a good deal of French, and not the kind of French that you can understand with high school French classes under your belt. I would have looked up translations for the text, but most of my reading is done on the subway and I don't carry a French dictionary in my bag.

It's really too bad that there are no maps in this book. With so much military action and Belgian settings, it's hard to get a feel for how dire circumstances are. Sure, I could look up a map of the battle of Waterloo, but yet again, reading on the subway prevents that.

This is my favorite Heyer (I think I've read two others) by far. The descriptions were so vivid. And I'm not just talking about the pretty descriptions of Bab's hair and dress; the battle scenes were horrifying and gritty. Heyer didn't sugarcoat anything, and many of the aides de camp (Wellington's staff) were killed or seriously wounded. And reading about the poor horses that carried men into battle was heartbreaking.

I loved the main civilian characters (i.e. Lord and Lady Worth, and Bab), which really surprised me. At first I was going to dislike Lady Judith Worth because she wanted to set Charles up with this insipid little heiress she befriended, and I thought, "Oh, here comes another meddler," but Heyer didn't write such a shallow character. Judith and her husband took in Bab when she had no place to go, and in the course of treating wounded soldiers, they bonded, and she found that she wanted Bab and Charles to marry after all. And Lord Worth? He was a paragon among husbands I think. So kind, brave, and unwilling to believe everything being gossiped.

Definitely pick this book up if you want to go beyond the fluffy level of historical romance. Sourcebooks is reissuing Heyer's novels, and next on their list is Cotillion for October publication. It's also supposed to have been meticulously researched like An Infamous Army.