The Convenient Marriage

Excellent Narration!

Across the boards it seems that everyone is in agreement that these Georgette Heyer novels should be unabridged. I certainly add my vote to that.

While this isn't necessarily my favorite Georgette Heyer offering, it is entertaining nonetheless. This particular story contains more wacky hijinks than her other works.

Once again, Richard Armitage provides stellar narration. He provides three dimensional characters using only his voice. I'm pretty sure he could make my grocery list come to life, were he to read it aloud.

All in all I found this to be a very pleasant listen.

20 people found this helpful

Love Georgette Hayer

I read this book a long time ago and loved it. This is a lovely story that's old fashioned with wonderful characters. My only complaint....... I wish this was the unabridged version of this story. This abridged version was missing some of the details and sweetness.

Richard Armitage read wonderfully. Each character has unique voice and his inflections are superb. Definitely, one of the best! 😘"

29 people found this helpful

Young girl grows up very quickly

What did you love best about The Convenient Marriage?

I love the mistakes the heroine makes along the way, and the lengths her resourceful yet annoyed brother will go to to keep her out of trouble. Meanwhile the hero, unbeknownst to all, has everything under control.

Who was your favorite character and why?

It is very, very hard to pick a favorite character. The three I mentioned above are probably all tied for first place. They are all too human. I love Horry's honesty, Pel's devotion, and Lord Rule's fall from power--a confirmed (sort of) bachelor falling for the innocence and charm of a stammering seventeen-year old.

What does Richard Armitage bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I wish Richard Armitage would read ALL Georgette Heyer's books. He infuses each character with emotion, believability, and personality. It amazes me that he is able to keep each character separate--each having their own voice and mannerisms--yet read the story so smoothly with no apparent break. He just flows from one character into another. In my opinion no one could do the reading better.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

My husband thought something was wrong with me because I would walk around our house laughing out loud. Then he would spot my headphones.

Any additional comments?

The only comment I have to offer is that I wish the book had not been abridged. Some of my favorite parts were not included and I dearly missed them. But I appease myself with the knowledge that movie scripts are always somewhat different from the books they're based on. However even in its shortened form the story was 'complete,' and if I hadn't read the book first, I really wouldn't have been able to tell that something was missing.

12 people found this helpful

Armitage did what he could

This was my first Georgette Heyer, to which I was irresistibly drawn by the fact that it's an audiobook read by Richard (Thornton Guisborne Thorin) Armitage. Also: Georgette Heyer. All I've ever heard about her is how wonderful her books are, the epitome of their genre, not to be missed.

I feel let down.

It's a cute idea. Horatia ("Horry") (note to parents everywhere: don't name your child Horatia, or that's what will happen) Winwood sees her older sister Elizabeth being drawn inexorably into a terrible situation: she loves someone else, but the Earl of Rule has asked for her hand. Given the family's financial situation – including a brother who enjoys the drink and the gambling – there is no choice: Elizabeth must marry the rich lord and not her penniless soldier boy. So Horatia – though very young by current standards – takes matters into her own hands. She tromps off to present herself to Rule and – calmly, coolly, and collectedly – offer herself as a substitute. Purely a business arrangement, you understand, and neither of them expected to interfere with the other; he can even keep seeing his mistress. (!) When her mother and sisters find out they all nearly conniption from the horror and embarrassment, but when it turns out that Rule rather liked the audacity of it all things look much brighter.

The problem is that the concentration of the story drifts from there into other waters. If it had held its focus on Horry being unconventionally audacious and ahead of her time, convinced that whatever she was starting to feel for him the marriage was one of convenience purely, and so on, I might have had fun. But her unconventionality transmutes into a penchant for gambling and the high life just like her brother's, and it was a little nauseating. She was presented as being a smart girl, and yet she immediately forgets what it was like not to have very much and begins spending money like one to the manner born. Then the whole thing deteriorates into a rather unpleasant farce involving an extremely unwise flirtation with another man leading to results so nearly tragic I was a little stunned; I had expected something light and clever, not this adventure, involving at least two episodes of faux-highway-robbery, near-ravishment, a missing brooch, disuises, and Horry's brother and his Wodehouse-esque goofy sidekick.

Armitage did a fine job of reading it – as well, that is, as any man could be expected to do with a book featuring a passel of women in the primary roles, one of whom has – wait for it – a stutter.

I have to ask – whoever chose this among all of Heyer's novels – what were they smoking? An audiobook of a novel whose main character stutters? It was painful to listen to – I can only imagine it was painful to narrate. I hope they paid Armitage well.

I understand that this is one of Georgette Heyer's early books, and not among the best; also, I just belatedly noticed that the audiobook was (horrors!) abridged. So this won't put me off the author's body of work.

Almost. But not quite.

35 people found this helpful

ANOTHER DELIGHT FROM HEYER AND ARMITAGE

I have been living in a cave...but so glad I'm out of it now that I've discovered Georgette Heyer's Regency novels. After reading "Venetia" and "Sylvester: or the Wicked Uncle," I turned to "The Convenient Marriage" and was equally enchanted by her characters and the wild-and-woolly plot.

In this story, The Earl of Rule, needing a good marriage, makes an offer to Lizzie, the eldest Winwood sister, but she is in love with someone else. Lizzie feels obligated to marry the duke to save her family's current destitute situation, so Lizzie's youngest sister Horatia steps up to rescue her forlorn sister. She makes Rule an offer: she will marry him in place of Lizzie to rescue the family's fortunes but will allow him to live his life as he always has (meaning, he may continue his affair with Lady Massey) and she will be left alone to live as she will.

The deal is struck...and then all hell breaks loose as Horatia gets into one scrape after another, Rule realizes he is really in love with his wife, she feels like her antics have ruined everything and her gambling ne'er-do-well brother Pelham oddly enough tries to come to her rescue.

It's a convoluted plot with lots of characters, masked bandits, sword fights, secret identities...but it's a delight -- funny, charming, enchanting and sweet. If you like Jane Austen's work, you will love Georgette Heyer's stories, which take place at a similar time but are infused with tons of humor and plenty of sweetness.

A huge plus is the narration by Richard Armitage, who somehow manages to do all the voices and make them sound distinct. His narration is a major asset to this story. His voice is so spectacular, I would really, honestly, listen to him read the phone book. He transformed this story into something really engaging and fun.

4 people found this helpful

Anything narrated by Richard Armitage is great

Would you listen to The Convenient Marriage again? Why?

Big fan of English period romances. Listened to it twice but I could listen to Richard Armitage read the phone book.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Convenient Marriage?

Love the ending

What does Richard Armitage bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His accent is most enjoyable and I don't even mind when he changes his voice to match the character. Listened to another person read a book & I wanted to kill the narrator for the voices she affected.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Indeed

11 people found this helpful

Beautifully read/acted

Just as in reading any of the Georgette Heyer books I found it impossible to stop listening to this recording once started so I sat into the early hours of the morning drinking it all in. I was far more delighted with The Convenient Marriage than Sylvester or Venetia (also narrated by Richard Armitage). It helped that it had been much longer since I read The Convenient Marriage and so I could not actually remember the bits that were left out in this abridged version (I found the parts omitted in Sylvester and Venetia - especially in the meeting between Venetia and Damarel - almost painful). Chiefly though Richard Armitage does such an excellent job of portraying the various characters (each with his or her unique voice) and of expressing their emotions that he really brought them to life for me. He`s a good narrator too with clear pronounciation and has a very pleasant voice to listen to.

6 people found this helpful

Darling

This is the cutest romance I have ever read! The characters are all wonderfully built and likeable/detestable where applicable.

Richard Armitage makes it even more heart-squishing with his masterful, cheeky performance.

A++

This is in my regular rotation and never fails to bring unending smiles.

As Horry would say, "I like it very much!"

2 people found this helpful

Poor story line

I really wanted to like this story. After all, Richard Armitage is narrating this! But I could not get into how unbelievable the characters and plot were. The heroine once poor, marries well and turns into a money hungry, power shopper with a compulsive gambling problem, befriending her husband's worst enemy along the way. And the husband allows all of this. At no point in the book did I catch a glimpse of these two characters falling in love. And yet, suddenly, at the end, they are.

2 people found this helpful

Charming regency period romance will charm

Would you consider the audio edition of The Convenient Marriage to be better than the print version?

Yes- Richard Armitage is wonderful.

What did you like best about this story?

The narrator seemed to make this story and its characters move through each scene- very well done!

What about Richard Armitage’s performance did you like?

His mastery of the charcters voices and his own velvety baritone were captivating. I felt I could listen to him read ANYTHING.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes... and then I listened to it again the next day.

Any additional comments?

This was wonderful- I will be looking at more audio books after this.

2 people found this helpful