Nathaniel Perry survived the Battle of Waterloo, despite the odds: two thirds of his unit have answered the last post and call, but he got through with just a bullet through the calf. Newly promoted to Major, he’s contemplating his future: with peace breaking out there’s no place for him in England, and he can’t survive on a major’s pension: if he stays with the Army, the only opportunity for advancement is India. Enter the lawyers, though, with interesting news: Perry’s grandfather, a man he never met, is close to dying and wants to see his son. Turns out Pops is a lord, the 11th of something-or-other, and while his estate is poor he’s worth nearly a million pounds and has numerous business interests, including the opium trade. No more Indian fever for the major, here, now he has another battle: gorse and high society.

The Half Blood Heir is an odd book for me: I’ve read Andrew Wareham’s military fiction and enjoyed them, but this is a much different story. It’s …..extremely low key. We follow Nat as he learns of his inheritance and begins tending to practicalities: finding a valet, kitting himself out in a fashion that won’t offend his new peers, thinking about the upcoming season and finding a wife, assessing issues with the land, meeting tenants, etc: think of the sort of thing Robert, Matthew, and Lady Mary do when they’re tending to estate matters and you’ll have the idea. A plot does happen eventually, as Nat discovers that there are some legal issues with debt and dodgy loans, but mostly the attraction here is the sheer amount of historical details crammed in — the vagaries of seasonal fashion, of matters, the different types of horses. If you’re a history nut, that’s interesting: if you’re here for story, though, ehm…there’s not all that much. There’s not even any romantic drama: Nat literally marries his cousin and doesn’t even go to the Season to enjoy being fussed at by great lords’ daughters who want to reel him in! The main reason I kept reading, to be honest, was that I enjoyed the language — which you can preview in the quotes below.

Highlights:

“Marry inside the realms of nobility would be my advice, Major. Look for a clever young lady. Brains will outlast beauty, in my experience.”
“I might even look for love, my lord.”
“Don’t recommend that, Major. Your father did so, and look where that landed him!”

“I see a number of articles arriving from Scott, Samways.”
“Country wear, sir. The colours and cut are a little different. It will be wise, I suspect, to be better dressed than my lord, and perhaps to match Lord Alderley, who will likely be a Town Smart. Not in terms of height of fashion, I am sure, but simply in quality, Major, we should be the equal of any.”
“If that is so, should we not turn up in a phaeton, as is the habit of the young men of the Ton?”
“No, sir. We are not to imitate the foolish idlers, those who habitually dwell in Town the year round, unable to face the so-called hardships of country existence. We do not have to go to great lengths in our attire and behaviour to draw attention to us. It is already the case that we are known to be born to a title, and to possess wealth that places us within the upper one hundred of Society. When the Season commences, sir, you will be inundated with invitations. You are the most eligible bachelor in England, sir, courtesy of inheritance and birth. As such, we may ignore the habits of other, lesser mortals.”
“I stand rebuked, Samways. Are you serious in that last statement, by the way?”

She preferred coffee but there were those who thought it unsuitable for a young maiden, the bean apparently liable to inflame the passions.

“She enquired whether I was yet with child and if she should produce maternity wear! I did explain we were less than a fortnight wed!” “Possibly she is used to rural habits among her clientele, my love. Not at all uncommon for the lesser mortals to show an excess of enthusiasm in such matters.”

“He is a rigorously honest gentleman.”
“Makes a change, Lawyer. Not too many of them about, these days.”