Oh, the gems that one can uncover in the Kindle public domain romance listings. I also discover my ignorance of the history of romance novels this way. Sure, I know all about Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters and LORNA DOONE (See, can't even remember that author's name), etc., but who knew about Jeffrey Farnol (1878-1952)? And yet a cursory Google search tells me he wrote more than 40 romances, some formulaic Georgian or Regency novels and some swashbucklers and that he, along with Georgette Heyer, is credited with founding the Regency romantic genre.
This particular book is not one of those. It's a contemporary romance, one of the few CRs Farnol wrote, but, of course, now it's a historical romance read since it takes place in the very late 1890s or the very early 1900s and was released for publication in 1911 (the year my father was born so that should tell you how very old I am). At the beginning of the story American millionaire (really rich, like a billionaire today) living in England at the time, is nursing a broken heart at being dumped by his English "true love" Sylvia (for whom he's even named his yacht in which he traveled from America to follow her) so she can marry a duke.
So millionaire George Bellew sets out on a walking tour of England to try to get over his "Haunting Spectre of the Might Have Been." Well, George may have truckloads of money but it seems he just inherited it b/c he has spent most of his life rather indolently enjoying himself, traveling the world. No mention is made of making money, just enjoying it. This is not to say that George is an unpleasant, spoiled sort. Far from it, he's rather adorably charismatic.
But the point is that this indolence leads him to tire of walking on his walking tour and he sneaks a ride in a wagon. When he discovers George sleeping on the wagon, the waggoner is enraged and the two get into fisticuffs, with George the winner and an unlikely friendship strikes up. This also leads George to continuing his ride on the wagon as far as he can go. And that leads him to accidentally meeting a delightful child also of the name George, AKA Georgy-Porgy, who's off to Africa (you know how kids are) to seek a fortune so that his aunt Anthea can keep the farm she's about to lose.
And that leads George Bellow, now to be referred to as Uncle Porges, to go home with young Georgy-Porgy, now to be referred to as Small Porges, where Bellow meets lovely Anthea. Of course we know what's going to happen in this romance. It's not the plot that matters. It's the really delightful people, not only H, h and Small Porges, but many secondaries, such as Bellow's valet, Anthea's housekeeper, an old soldier with one arm who's been pining after the housekeeper for years, a handsome but unpleasant suitor for Anthea's hand, the waggoner mentioned earlier in this review, and even more.
This has some really witty dialogue and chuckle-worthy moments in it. It's a delightful romantic comedy that needs to be read slowly to savor it all. It's a rather superficial plot but it has many humorous and many touching moments. I love the relationship of Bellew and his valet, the romance between the soldier and the housekeeper and the relationship of Uncle Porges and Small Porges perhaps as much as the budding love between Bellew and Anthea.
This was a great find for me. But you have to enjoy old-fashioned writing style and vocabulary to fully appreciate it so I'm not recommending it across the board. It will probably appeal more to the "mature" (read "old" here) reader