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    Faro's Daughter
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    Faro's Daughter
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    Faro's Daughter
    Audiobook (abridged)4 hours

    Faro's Daughter

    Written by Georgette Heyer

    Narrated by Laura Paton

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Fiery, strong-willed Deb Grantham, who runs a gaming house with her aunt, is hardly the perfect wife for the young and naive Lord Mablethorpe. His lordship's family are scandalised that he proposes to marry one of 'faro's daughters', and his cousin the proud, wealthy Max Ravenscar decides to take the matter in hand. Ravenscar always gets his way, but as they lock horns, he and Miss Grantham become increasingly drawn to each other. Amidst all the misunderstandings and entanglements, has Ravenscar finally met his match?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNaxos Audiobooks
    Release dateMar 1, 2013
    ISBN9781843797333
    Unavailable
    Faro's Daughter
    Author

    Georgette Heyer

    Georgette Heyer (1902-1974) was an English writer of historical romance and detective fiction. Born in London, Heyer was raised as the eldest of three children by a distinguished British Army officer and a mother who excelled as a cellist and pianist at the Royal College of Music. Encouraged to read from a young age, she began writing stories at 17 to entertain her brother Boris, who suffered from hemophilia. Impressed by her natural talent, Heyer’s father sought publication for her work, eventually helping her to release The Black Moth (1921), a detective novel. Heyer then began publishing her stories in various magazines, establishing herself as a promising young voice in English literature. Following her father’s death, Heyer became responsible for the care of her brothers and shortly thereafter married mining engineer George Ronald Rougier. In 1926, Heyer publisher her second novel, These Old Shades, a work of historical romance. Over the next several decades, she published consistently and frequently, excelling with romance and detective stories and establishing herself as a bestselling author.

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    Reviews for Faro's Daughter

    4/5

    490 ratings31 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Scrumptious.I can't type it here, the Spoiler Stasi would waterboard me, but Z.O.M.G. this entire ending is the outside of enough! I pity the fool who doesn't indulge in the occasional Heyer. A diet of them would be akin to steamed pudding for breakfast, Queen of Puddings for lunch, and a Pavlova for dinner, but damme how they are like vintage champagne served with an exquisite entremet.
    • 4/5
      Oh, this was so much fun! Why hasn’t anyone adapted Heyer’s novels? In hindsight, this story brims with Pride and Prejudice parallels, but that didn’t really occur to me at the time, nor bother me now, because the characters’ personalities, circumstances and motives are different.When Max Ravenscar hears that his twenty year old cousin, Lord Mablethorpe, plans to marry “a wench from a gaming-house”, he sets out to intervene. Deborah Grantham has no intention of marrying an infatuated boy five years her junior, but although the money Mr Ravenscar offers would alleviate her aunt’s current financial distress, Deborah is deeply insulted by Mr Ravenscar’s assumptions about her and by his attempts to bribe her. So, to annoy him in revenge, she pretends that she's going to take full advantage of his cousin’s infatuation. Things get a bit out of hand, Heyer-fashion, but I like that Deborah has strong ideas about what is off-limits. She’s passionate and has a fierce sense of honour, but she can also be sensible and kind -- and she doesn’t hesitate to help when she meets a distressed young woman who is being pressured into an odious marriage. As for Ravenscar, he’s level-headed, he has positive dealings with his younger relatives, he has a sense of humour and he knows when to apologise. I was delighted by the interactions between him and Deborah.The audiobook narrator, Laura Paton, did a wonderful job of giving the characters distinct and lively voices (and I suspect I would have interpreted one or two of them less warmly if I had just been reading printed words on a page). And the ending was satisfying in a way not all of Heyer’s novels manage… which, I will admit, I might not have appreciated to the same degree if my expectations had been different. “You have had Ravenscar murdered, and hidden his body in my cellar!” uttered her ladyship, sinking into a chair. “We shall all be ruined! I knew it!” “My dear ma'am, it is no such thing!” Deborah said, amused. “He is not dead, I assure you!”
    • 3/5
      I suppose it's as good as any other Heyer - partly, I'm in the wrong mood for a humorous romance, and partly - the major trope here is misunderstanding, my least favorite romance trope. Ravenscar isn't nearly as smart as he thinks he is - he swallows his aunt's reading of the situation whole, and all his investigation consists of going to the house and observing events through the filter of his aunt's assumptions. So he's perfectly set up to egregiously insult Deb...who reacts by deciding to be as vulgar as he thinks she is, because that will "show him". What, exactly, it will show him is really not clear. I think the fact that she's in love with him is pointed out by at least three people, and her immediate reaction each time is to claim she hates him. His behavior is less obviously loverly, at least until he returns the bills. And a grand final twist to make everything worse - and a twist back to make it all better, and happily ever after. Ugh. Not one I plan to reread.
    • 4/5
      My second foray into Heyer's fictions, and another fun romp to the Georgian drawing rooms and gaming houses. Though I guessed pretty quickly what the end result of all this was going to be, it was very entertaining to see how Heyer got us there.
    • 5/5
      Faro's Daughter was my first experience with Georgette Heyer's work and I've fallen in love with this book! The plot seemed simple when I read the story summary, but the execution was brilliant and highly entertaining. This charming historical romance kept me up late just to see how things would play out between Deborah and Max. Heyer paints vivid pictures with each and every scene, allowing the story to progress like an exceptionally created movie in your mind. The dialogue is witty, humorous, and full of emotion, all of which compliment Heyer's passionate characters.Many thanks to my GR's friend Karishma for recommending this author and specifically this book! It's now one of my favorites as well!
    • 4/5
      This is my first of Georgette Heyer - I kind of wish it wasn't, though, if only because it felt a little to much like Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy but with a different plot! Even secondary characters such as Deborah's aunt smacked distinctly of such archetypical characters as Mrs. Bennett. Still, I enjoyed the repartee between Deborah and Max Ravenscar (although I giggled quite a bit at the last name. Ravenscar? Really?). The secondary characters, too, were engaging and sweet, even if they did make me impatient with their gullibility sometimes! What I particularly loved was the breadth and depth of research in this book, and the quality of the language itself. Heyer clearly understood - I mean really understood - the world she was writing about, and it shows in the way she crafts her dialogue and explains her setting to her readers. There are several moments where I'm glad it's in my Kindle, so I can use my dictionary to figure out certain words or allusions! Despite the overwhelming sense of having read this somewhere before, this is definitely a sweet, enjoyable, intelligent read.
    • 2/5
      Believing that his naive young cousin had fallen victim to "Faro's Daughter," in the guise of the beautiful Deborah Grantham, who dealt cards at her aunt's London gaming house, the autocratic Max Ravenscar set out to extricate him by offering the lady a bribe. But he had misjudged his mark, and Deb, outraged by his presumption and the insult to her honor, decided to teach him a lesson...I am sorry to say that Faro's Daughter displayed so many of those obnoxious qualities which particularly irk me in romance novels that even Georgette Heyer's excellent writing could not redeem it. From the "hero's" abusive behavior, to the "heroine's" harebrained schemes for revenge, everything in this novel seemed designed to set my teeth on edge. Miss Grantham is so incensed at the slight to her honor that she determines upon a dishonorable course of action, and Ravenscar so enraged that a woman of her "stamp" should defy him that he set out to blackmail her. In short: I did not like these characters, I was not convinced that they liked one another, and I was happy to have done with them!
    • 4/5
      An entertaining and fun read. Although not one of Heyer's greatest novels, the plot is very predictable, the joy is in the dialogue. I particularly loved the exchanges between Max and Deb, especially the ones in the cellar which Heyer manages to contrive to be simultaneously very silly (the use of the cellar as a plot device feels quite lazy) and important as they really begin to get the measure of each other. The minor characters are joy, I particularly loved Max's relationship with his half-sister, and Deb's subtle manipulation of Adrian - the moment she 'discovers' him with Miss Laxton is priceless. A wonderful comfort read.
    • 2/5
      Two days ago, I finished Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer, another one-off from browsing the library shelves. It was a quick read and moderately entertaining. It is a straightforward predictable plot involving a masterful and sporting hero who has never faced resistance and a beautiful, upright, and smart heroine. Of course he misunderstands her and assumes the worst, of course she is deeply insulted and decides to play on his prejudices and have her revenge, of course they loathe and despise each other right up to the end. Our heroine Deborah, is forced by circumstances to work as a dealer in her aunt's gambling parlor, so tastefully run in a private home, but barely respectable. And of course she cannot afford to alienate the men who patronize the establishment, including the college boy who wants to marry her and the requisite middle-aged painted roue who wants her to become his mistress. When our hero Ravenscar, the boy's tall, dark, handsome, and very rich uncle, comes to disentangle him from his infatuation, he of course assumes that she must be sleeping around and intentionally seducing the boy--what other sort of woman would be in a place like this and encouraging the attention of more than one gentleman? The old roue is not a villain so much as a plot device to demonstrate our hero's masterful cardplaying, apply leverage to the heroine, and finally provide some insight into her fine, upstanding moral qualities.
    • 4/5
      Max Ravenscar is a gamester and claims that he is uninterested in romance. Deborah Grantham is planning to marry his young cousin Adrian and when they meet sparks fly. Fun read from Heyer.
    • 4/5
      Deb Grantham is twenty five years old, beautiful, feisty and unmarried. She lives with her aunt who has opened a gambling establishment in their home in order to cover their living costs. Needless to say, polite society does not approve. Deb presides over some of the tables and is very popular with the clientele. Several men have less than honorable intentions but one young man, Lord Adrian Mablethorpe, is madly in love with her and has proposed marriage.Adrian's mother is horrified. How can he think to marry a hussy from a gambling den? She sends Adrian's uncle, Max Ravenscar, to buy Deb off. They take an instant dislike to one another and he soon discovers that Deb is more than she seems. Not only will she not take his money, she comes up with an inventive feminine battle plan, determined to best him.I have heard about Georgette Heyer books for years but this is the first time I have ever read one. I don't know what was keeping me away, maybe they seemed a bit old fashioned. When I first started Faro's Daughter, I wasn't sure that I was going to like it. The use of period slang does take a little getting used to but it adds such atmosphere to the book that it soon seemed a perfectly natural part of the narrative.This is a witty, light story with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, set in a flawlessly evoked Regency London. Now I see why this author has had legions of fans for well over half a century. I'm thrilled to know that there are fifty more titles to choose from, I will be reading Georgette Heyer books for many years to come.
    • 5/5
      Deborah Grantham is a heroine delightfully reminiscent of Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennet. Orphaned and left in the care of her aunt since childhood, she works in the family gambling establishment. (By the way, faro of the title is a card game that was popular in England and France during the 18th century.) Despite her family's less-than-respectable business, Deb is beautiful, smart, independent, loyal and kind. Max Ravenscar is Deb's Mr. Darcy. Enormously wealthy, gruff, completely lacking in social graces, yet full of integrity, and perhaps even a little kindness beneath that prickly exterior. The dialogue between Deb and Max felt very authentic to the time period in which the book was set, and at the same time was absolutely delicious, fast-paced and clever.I loved the fact that this novel reminded me so much of Pride and Prejudice. Besides time and place similarities, the writing style and dialogue between characters are pleasantly Austen-esque. There were enough differences, however, to make Faro's Daughter fresh and surprising. Sourcebooks Casablanca has recently re-released a number of Heyer's Regency romances. (Regency romance is a sub-genre of romance set in England between the years 1795-1837.) Though it took a few chapters to get into the groove of this book's style, it was well worth it and I look forward to reading more from this prolific and talented writer.
    • 3/5
      I really, really want to like Georgette Heyer - mainly because it's written in stone somewhere that everyone must - but her heroines are incredibly irritating! 'Deb' is the dictionary definition of that non-adjective 'feisty' (because a strong woman is so rare that labels are required): a bitter and matronly spinster, patronising men and women alike, who is prone to inexplicable fits of mad, St Trinian's-style scheming just to prove a point. I'm not even sure why she was so incensed with the hero to begin with - from all outward appearances, he had her pegged pretty accurately, and only when Heyer started protesting Deb's innocence (yes, she does work in her aunt's gaming house, but there are Extenuating Circumstances and she is really Not That Kind of Girl) did I lose all interest in the tedious woman. When we meet Deb, she is stringing along two men, one very old and one very young, with not the least intention of giving in to either - and yet when she is called on this, she erupts and starts a chain of ridiculous events. The hero, Ravenscar, was suitably dashing and intriguing - until he fell for the infantile antics of the frustrated spinster (I wouldn't call her 'remarkable' - more 'deranged'). All good, light fun, like Carry On movies, but then, I don't like them, either. And the overuse of 'ma'am' as a term of address - not even the more correct 'madam' - is highly irksome; surely a writer of Miss Heyer's calibre, as demonstrated by her otherwise impeccable historical research, could have thought up a few alternative titles?
    • 4/5
      This is not a bad book. Indeed, the writing is charming, the characters are well developed and interesting, and the plot is fun and enjoyable. The problem with this book is the same problem I had with The Corinthian - you don't get any idea that the two central characters have any feelings for each other until the very end. They honestly seem to hate each other until suddenly they're declaring their undying love (or he is, anyway). It just seemed to come out of nowhere. Other than that, this is a cute enough book.
    • 3/5
      This was my first experience reading Heyer, an author I learned about on LT. I'd say I liked it and would read more by her in the future, though I wasn't as blown away as I hoped to be. This is one of Heyer's romances. There is the feisty female heroine in unfortunate financial situations and the rich, young nobleman who is infatuated with her. His cousin and guardian sets out to save him from this woman and of course ends up falling in love with her himself. There is lots of action and some witty dialogue. I found it all very predictable, but I still enjoyed it. It's a fun book if you're in the right mood for it.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed the story, but the "hero", like many of Heuer's heroes, truly sucks.
    • 5/5
      This heroine is me - her rage, her sense of justice, her stubbornness. I LOVED her! The hero is great fun too, of course!
    • 3/5
      Two and a half stars for Heyer? Yes, I am afraid it's true. Faro's Daughter is definitely one of her more "paint-by-the-numbers" Regency romances. It tells the story of Deborah Grantham, a spirited (and naturally very beautiful) young woman who helps/plays/is employed (?) at her aunt's gaming house. Though she is well bred, this is not a respectable position and so it is with great distress that Lady Mablethorpe hears of her son Anthony's infatuation with Deborah's manifold charms. In steps young Lord Mablethorpe's cousin, the worldly-wise Max Ravenscar who will stop at nothing to prevent the marriage. Only, Deborah won't stop at anything herself to take revenge on a man who misconstrues her motives and goals so badly. You can see where this is going; it's hardly a spoiler to say that over the course of several unconventional escapades Max of course falls for Deborah himself. He's a stock Heyer character, the hard-headed, rich, physically superb, untouchably skilled whip who has evaded matrimony thus far until he meets his match in another Heyer stock character, the sassy, attractive, smart, stylish heroine. Heyer wrote to pay the bills and among her many wonderful novels there are several that show this more than others. She is often predictable but you don't read her Regency novels for the plot twists or lack thereof; you're there for the fun. So even as I mentally rolled my eyes just the tiniest bit at all the reused characters and situations, Faro's Daughter still an enjoyable read — and I still finished it in two nights.
    • 4/5
       Amusing adventure that has a few farfetched developments. The theme is an enjoyable 'vintage Heyer'.
    • 5/5
      love it. amazing writer
    • 4/5
      Max sets out to rescue his cousin Adrain from - as he sees it - the toils of a scheming girl from a gaming house. However the girl turns out to be strong-willed and obstinate. A delightful battle of wills ensues. Good historical background exposing some class prejudice, with an exciting ending.

      A little stressful in places, and I don't think I enjoyed it quite so much on re-reading, six years after the last time, but still a good story.
    • 4/5
      Maybe just 3.5 stars for this unabridged audiobook edition as I found Laura Paton's voice for some of the characters jarred on me. In particular, I didn't like the voice for Max Ravenscar... but the story is so much fun that I soon was able to ignore that!
    • 3/5
      Some quality humour features throughout this title, as you'd expect from a Heyer novel, but I don't feel the author's at her best here. The plot reminds me of a tamer version of several other works she wrote that are set in the late 1700s/early 1800s, while on a similar note the characters come across as watered-down interpretations of the type one usually finds in Ms Heyer's books.The last two chapters I found brilliant, so it's a pity the previous 20-odd weren't up to the same standard. In short, I don't consider this a Heyer classic but it's still well worth checking out.
    • 4/5
      Max Ravenscar and Deborah Grantham don't meet cute--they meet angry. From the moment they first encounter each other in Deb's aunt's gambling establishment, they are determined to take each other down. Ravenscar comes to Lady Bellingham's gaming house to end the romance between Deb and his young cousin Adrian; even though Deb is the orphaned daughter of a gentleman, massive family debts have led her aunt to start the gambling business to stay afloat, and beautiful Deb is one of its main draws. Ravenscar is convinced that Deb is encouraging Adrian's affections because she assumes the family will pay her handsomely to abandon the relationship, but in fact, Deb has no intention of marrying Adrian--she sees his schoolboy crush for what it is. She's too proud to tell Ravenscar this, however, and the battle between the two escalates in typically absurd Heyer fashion until they realize--of course--that they love each other madly.The characters are well-drawn here; Deb is another of Heyer's smart, stubborn, high-spirited heroines. I found her refusal to tell the truth about her intentions maddening, however, and frankly, the passion with which Deb and Max try to destroy each other is more than a little bit creepy. They're avowed sadists--at least toward each other--so maybe it really is a match made in heaven, but I found their repartee more disturbing than charming. Not my cup of tea, but if you like couples who have to break each other's will before they can fall in love, then you're welcome to it.
    • 3/5
      This is not a bad book. Indeed, the writing is charming, the characters are well developed and interesting, and the plot is fun and enjoyable. The problem with this book is the same problem I had with The Corinthian - you don't get any idea that the two central characters have any feelings for each other until the very end. They honestly seem to hate each other until suddenly they're declaring their undying love (or he is, anyway). It just seemed to come out of nowhere. Other than that, this is a cute enough book.
    • 3/5
      Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer was the first novel by Heyer I have read, and I can hope that it was not one of her best, given her reputation. It wasn't bad, and the writing was, in fact, rather clever, but the characters were not particularly likeable or well developed and once again the characters' actions often seemed inexplicable.
    • 4/5
      Not my favorite Heyer novel but still a good read. Deborah Grantham comes from a good family but they lost most of their money and now she helps them run a gambling establishment. A young Lord has fallen hopelessly in love with Ms. Grantham and so Max Ravenscar, brother of the young Lord swoops in to help, certain that Deborah seeks to get the young man's fortune. Obviously, Max finds himself interested in Ms. Grantham but she wants nothing to do with either of them.
    • 4/5
      Entertaining Heyer as always. Both the H and h vow to get revenge on the other and it becomes a giant game of one-upmanship. That is until Ravenscar realizes how much he initially misjudged Deborah. In terms of stubbornness, temper and pride - they are a perfect match for one another.
    • 5/5
      I suppose its fitting that what I've deemed "the year of Georgette Heyer" ends with a Heyer, and what a fantastic one to end on! Nothing gets me more than a good Heyer hero.
    • 5/5
      A dollop of Regency silliness. I listened to a Chivers audiobook which delivered the witty dialogue well. It was on cassettes. I'm wondering if much Heyer is available on CD's or downloads. Anyway it was a dollar well spent on my library's discard.

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