If Georgette Heyer wrote Gone With the Wind…

 Alverstone is a slam dunk historical family saga, a vividly filmic Regency ‘Downton Abbey’ that has it all: romance, villainy, humor, and adventure, set against a backdrop of glittering balls, sprawling estates, and the battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars. For the purists among us, author Beatrice Knight delivers a Regency setting up there with the best ever written, and that includes Georgette Heyer.

Alverstone is made for readers who want to escape back in time and put themselves in the shoes of a young, well-bred Regency woman, losing themselves in the world she inhabited. What was it like to go to a grand event at Vauxhall Gardens? Ms. Knight invites readers to live the experience with every sense fully engaged. What did people actually discuss over dinner – was it all small talk or did the events of the day inform conversation? What did they eat? What did they wear, and where did they buy it?

Historically accurate Regency vernacular flows effortlessly through the dialogue and thoughts of the large cast of characters above and below stairs. Witty, fun, and cleverly nuanced, the period-appropriate language is thankfully free of those glaring 21st century anachronisms that litter so many Regency romances. Readers seeking a straightforward romance may find they’ve bitten off more than they can chew. Think: Gone With the Wind – yes, there’s a love story, but so much more.

Alverstone is set in 1813, when half the men in the UK had been at war for almost a decade. With fewer eligible men in circulation, women made romantic compromises. Heroine Charlotte Winford faces that issue, and being more educated and thoughtful than many of her class, she is more ambivalent about her options. A romantic at heart, she yearns for a knight-in-shining armor, not least because she encountered just such a hero as a young girl.

At the very moment when she is contemplating a loveless marriage to a rich pig breeder, said knight, Jasper Alverstone, steps back into her life.  So, too, does another prospect, the dashing and likeable Major Braxted. Her brother’s best friend, he is in many ways the ideal husband. Charlotte spends the first half the story at odds over her three suitors, torn between common sense and uncommon passion. After all, Jasper is a marquess, and on the brink of being engaged to a woman with a huge fortune.

Why waste emotional energy on a man who is never likely to propose? Charlotte ruminates: “… they were destined to inhabit two different worlds. His future was inescapable and hers unavoidable. He would marry for duty; she to protect her reputation and live the life expected of her.”

Jasper, the Marquess Alverstone is equally conflicted. He is not free to marry Charlotte, even if he wished to. We can see that he has fallen for her, but Charlotte’s situation is complicated by a ruinous secret from her past which could be exposed at any moment. She must marry a respectable man before the proverbial hits the fan. Jasper knows it’s unfair to expect her to wait for him to sort out his life, and he is above all a man of honor.

Their story unfolds within the broader context of their respective families as Britain moves into the final phase of the war with Napoleon. Jasper’s family has a military tradition and Ms. Knight weaves that thread into the story via Jasper’s seasoned perspective and that of his honorable, romantic younger brother Tristan, who is in the Navy fighting the War of 1812 with America.

When Tristan’s warship seizes a merchant vessel off the US coast, he encounters orphaned 14-year-old Sylvie Winford, who is en route to her English relatives – Charlotte’s family – with her maid Eulalia, a former slave. The author sets up a connection between the two that will clearly be developed in the next volume. Meanwhile, Sylvie and Eulalia are strong secondary characters who afford some unforgettable moments and incisive social observation when the Winfords – well-meaning abolitionists – must face their slave-owning family connection.

Others among the large ensemble cast became favorites of mine. Aunt Stirling, who is chaperoning Charlotte for the Season is exceptionally well-drawn and her polite feud with Charlotte’s mother, Lady Winford, is a compelling sub-plot with a touching resolution. Patience Kemp, the housekeeper, is cleverly positioned to reveal class tensions. Having been brought up as Sir Ralph Winford’s nursery companion, then ‘discarded’ she seems to belong nowhere, and has a painful past to resolve. I teared up in the resolution scene with the ailing Sir Ralph.

In reviewing this book, I assumed the JASNA and Jane Austen crowd, as arbiters of the era and guardians of the Austen legacy, would fall upon it with glee, thrilled as I am to discover one of the most accomplished new authors Regency fiction has seen in decades.  However, if my ARC pile is any indication, publishers and Janeites are so preoccupied with a succession of Austenesque fanfiction insta-books, they have not yet picked up one of the few novels Jane Austen herself would almost certainly have appreciated.

I confess to not being a huge fan of the Austenesque sub-genre, although I understand why authors are drawn to it. Aside from ready-made market appeal, it’s fun, a great way to celebrate our beloved Jane, and it’s obviously a lot easier to recycle Jane Austen’s name and her much-loved plots and characters than to invent one’s own ‘cold turkey.’ Unfortunately, what was once a delightful, quirky sub-genre is fast getting overcrowded with weak stories that seem to be rushed out for quick financial returns. I’ve noticed, lately, that some of these works seem to be AI-generated. No surprise, there. With such a vast pool of Jane Austen fanfic to plagiarize, AI engines have ample fodder to rehash.

Don’t get me wrong. I can lie on a beach towel and devour another Lizzie Bennet knock-off with the best of them. But a book that draws its entire existence from Austen’s genius, no matter how crowd-pleasing and well executed, is not in the same ballpark as an original story. Rant over.

Thank you, Ms. Knight, for rescuing this reviewer from diminished expectations. Penning a sweeping historical saga populated by well-crafted characters with fresh, fabulous Regency dialogue, spanning continents and class differences, is a task for a serious author who does serious research. Ms. Knight tackled a daunting breadth of story, and she nailed it. In doing so, she brought something new and entirely her own to a genre that’s been feeling stale: a distinctive voice, not like any other, and a grand vision of what a Regency-set historical novel can be.

I can’t think of another story like hers in the crowded present-day Regency field, so my point of comparison is with Georgette Heyer’s An Infamous Army and The Spanish Bride, for immersive setting, superb research, and distinctive author voice. Like those comparables, Alverstone is a 5-star novel.

As a storyteller, Ms. Knight is as much in the Pearl Buck or Dorothy Dunnett mold as that of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. If you love stories like The Forsyte Saga, then it’s probably also in your lane. There’s a 20-hour audiobook coming up for release, so if you are planning a journey to Alverstone, allow for a good chunk of time. I loved the book and could happily have read more!

We received a pre-publication copy of Alverstone from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Cover image courtesy of Maiden Press © 2023.  Review by Meredith Thompson © 2023 The Regency Chronicle.

If you’re like me, you want to pick up a historical novel and lose yourself in another time and place. Welcome to Alverstone, a Regency ‘Downton Abbey’ that has it all: romance, intrigue, tragedy, and humor, set against the backdrop of glittering balls, sprawling estates, and the battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars.

At its heart is the developing love story between Charlotte Winford, teetering on the brink of spinsterhood, and war-hardened Jasper Alverstone, torn between duty and desire. Now head of his illustrious family, Jasper is bound by his father’s final wishes, to marry a neighbor’s unpleasant but wealthy daughter. Charlotte, after yet another failed Season, is looking for an excuse to refuse the only marriage offer she has-from a rich country squire she could never love.

Both are looking for a way out. While author Beatrice Knight could have settled for a routine ‘marriage of convenience’ tale, she wrote a richly layered exploration of love, class, and destiny. As the Alverstones and Winfords navigate the convolutions of fate, I found myself swept up.

Knight writes like she time-traveled from 1813. As founder of the All Things Regency research blog, she brings a deep understanding and passion for the customs, language, and fashions of the era. What sets Alverstone apart is its authenticity, along with deft plotting, sharp wit and vivid characters.

Whether you’re a fan of Regency fiction, or just great storytelling, Alverstone is a must-read — a sumptuous period piece. Witty. Touching. Deliciously Austen-like. Impossible to put down.

We received a pre-publication copy of Alverstone from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Cover image courtesy of Maiden Press © 2023.  Review by Pam Baker © 2023 The Regency Chronicle.