Recently, there was fast and furious discussion on Twitter DM on the topic of Mary Balogh’s heroines. They have the reputation for being a) too good to be true b) Mary Sues and c) tepid rather than torrid. Janet Webb kicked these canards around with historical writer Miranda Neville, another fan of Balogh’s traditional Regencies. Is the rap on these heroines true, false or somewhere in between?
The books discussed: Tempting Harriet, Snow Angel and The Incurable Matchmaker. If you’d like to refresh your memory on the plots, the following summaries are from Mary Balogh’s website.
Tempting Harriet: Once, when she was a mere lady's companion, Harriet Pope had spurned the attempted seduction of the Duke of Tenby. Now, six years later, she is the wealthy, titled widow of an older man, and she is the one who sets out to seduce* the duke. Yet when she succeeds, it is to the discovery that an affair is not what she wants after all. An affair, though, seems to be all Tenby can offer.
*It may be that this synopsis overstates how much Harriet is the seducer. True, she jumps to the conclusion that he is asking her to become his mistress and agrees, but she doesn’t make the first move.
Snow Angel: When the widowed Rosamund Hunter and the Earl of Wetherby are stranded together in a snow storm, they indulge in a brief affair that neither expects to affect their future. But when they meet unexpectedly again, the earl is betrothed to Rosamund's niece and the affair comes back to haunt them both.
The Incurable Matchmaker,: Diana Ingram is as virtuous as she is beautiful. The Marquess of Kenwood is handsome and charming—and a notorious libertine. There can be no question of any connection between the two—until Kenwood's envious friends and acquaintances goad him into wagering that he can seduce Mrs. Ingram within a month.
Miranda: Diana in The Incurable Matchmaker is no Becky Sharp, but neither is she a Mary Sue. She can be a pain in the ass–as the totally scrumptious hero tells her more than once. As you know, I am not a fan of “perfect” characters.
Janet: Diana is like the heroine of Snow Angel, not ready to face her sexual desires. Diana married safely, at a young age. She admits to herself that she fantasized about a more virile, more sexually accomplished bedmate while having sex with her vicar husband. Kenwood almost *ahem* had his way with Diana.
Miranda: I had forgotten her fantasies. In the scene at the beginning when he gets into bed with her by mistake, she’s half asleep and thinking “ooh, I never thought of that before.” Really hot.
Janet: In my opinion, the most sensual scene in all of Balogh is in Snow Angel when Wetherby puts his hand on Rosamund’s shoulder—the air had just been simmering for a day.
Miranda: They are all terrific, very sexy books. Another thing the three books have in common is that each heroine was previously married to a dull and/or elderly husband. And misses him so much. This is where the Mary Sue thing comes in. In Tempting Harriet, for example, I respect Harriet for marrying money when she had nothing. I don’t need to know she missed him in order to like her.
Janet: You’re right; they were all “good” girls. Perhaps Harriet’s nostalgia about her husband was a momentary wish to be back in safer time. She was leaping off a cliff by sleeping with the duke with no safety net. Perhaps Balogh was afraid Harriet would seem like a gold digger. I figure she gave good value to the old guy.
Miranda: I don’t blame her for being a gold digger. The poor woman had no other option. I wonder if heroines in traditional Regencies weren’t allowed to be flawed. I haven’t read as many as you, but it occurs to me that trad heroines aren’t allowed to be anything but “nice.”
Janet: Yet, even with that nice streak, Balogh showed us women who were ready to tear up the sheets. Sort of not that common at the time. I found Snow Angel weirdly sweet—Rosamund asked her well-into-middle-aged first husband to marry her and he tells her that someday, after his death, she will find the love of her life. It was a hot book. Was it five times the first night!!??
Miranda: Balogh’s heroes don’t lack stamina, heh heh.
Janet: Heh heh. And yet her rep is so pure. Mary Balogh’s trads are full of “why do it once if you can do it four times?” Tempting Harriet—three times in two hours! Whoa, Nelly!
Miranda: In using sexuality explicitly, Balogh broke out of the traditional regency mold. I’m grateful for that!
We went on to discuss the sexy Regency historical and Miranda, whose most recent book is The Importance of Being Wicked, featuring an imperfect heroine who knows more about sex than the hero, posed a question.
Who invented the sexy Regency? McNaught, Balogh, Laurens and Quinn are, I think, the key writers. Quinn popularized the blend of the traditional and sexy regency. McNaught? Coulter? Johanna Lindsay? All “Regency” but more in the old style. And let’s not forget Jo Beverley.
What names would you add to this list?
Read all of Janet Webb's posts on Heroes and Heartbreakers.
Miranda Neville grew up in England before moving to New York City to work in Sotheby's rare books department. After many years as a journalist and editor, she decided that writing fiction was more fun. She lives in Vermont.
