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The Wrong Mr. Right
When first we practice to deceive...
All Morwenna Beaugard wanted was to be able to give gifts to the other business-girls that worked with her at Frith Chambers without giving away her shameful secret: she was not as poor as they were but was a lady of private means!
So when she invents a beau for herself, a Mr. Paul Wright, and pretends that the gifts she dispenses like Lady Bountiful are from him, she never realizes what a tangled web will result, and how, worst of all, she may end up with...
The Wrong Mr. Right.
Praise for Berta Ruck:
"One can always depend on finding an interesting plot, strongly tinged with originality, in any novel by this author."
– The New York Times, April 23, 1922
All Morwenna Beaugard wanted was to be able to give gifts to the other business-girls that worked with her at Frith Chambers without giving away her shameful secret: she was not as poor as they were but was a lady of private means!
So when she invents a beau for herself, a Mr. Paul Wright, and pretends that the gifts she dispenses like Lady Bountiful are from him, she never realizes what a tangled web will result, and how, worst of all, she may end up with...
The Wrong Mr. Right.
Praise for Berta Ruck:
"One can always depend on finding an interesting plot, strongly tinged with originality, in any novel by this author."
– The New York Times, April 23, 1922
309 pages, Hardcover
First published January 7, 1922
2 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Berta Ruck
132 books16 followersAmy Roberta Ruck was born on 2 August 1878 in Murree, Punjab, India, one of eight children by Eleanor D'Arcy and Colonel Arthur Ashley Ruck, a British army officer. Her family moved to Wales, where she went to school in Bangor. On 1909, she married novelist (George) Oliver Onions (1873-1961), and they had two sons: Arthur (b. 1912) and William (b. 1913). Berta died only nine days after her 100th birthday.
From 1905, she began to contribute short stories and serials to magazines, and on 1914, her first novel "His Official Fiancée" was published. She wrote over eighty romance novels. She also wrote an autobiography and two memoir-style works.
From 1905, she began to contribute short stories and serials to magazines, and on 1914, her first novel "His Official Fiancée" was published. She wrote over eighty romance novels. She also wrote an autobiography and two memoir-style works.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 13, 2018
A reviewer compared His Official Fiancee to the movie The Proposal. I like that analogy and would extend it here, except with While You Were Sleeping.
AKA...Berta Ruck wrote chick flicks before it was cool.
This is probably my favorite Berta Ruck novel so far. It is fluffy, fun, and full of misunderstandings and miscommunications.
Morwenna Beaugard wants to give gifts to her fellow 'working girls' but also doesn't want to reveal her small independent income. To get around it, she invents a boyfriend. What could be more natural than sharing his flowers and chocolates and matinee tickets with her friends? To make it more convincing, she even adds a business card she stumbled upon in the park to one of her gifts to give the gentleman a name...
Turns out, the business card doesn't below to a charming old gentleman like she expected but someone a little closer to home!
My main complaint is the writing style. Her parenthetical foreshadowing often jarred me out of the story. Otherwise, though, charming!
AKA...Berta Ruck wrote chick flicks before it was cool.
This is probably my favorite Berta Ruck novel so far. It is fluffy, fun, and full of misunderstandings and miscommunications.
Morwenna Beaugard wants to give gifts to her fellow 'working girls' but also doesn't want to reveal her small independent income. To get around it, she invents a boyfriend. What could be more natural than sharing his flowers and chocolates and matinee tickets with her friends? To make it more convincing, she even adds a business card she stumbled upon in the park to one of her gifts to give the gentleman a name...
Turns out, the business card doesn't below to a charming old gentleman like she expected but someone a little closer to home!
My main complaint is the writing style. Her parenthetical foreshadowing often jarred me out of the story. Otherwise, though, charming!
vintage-longings
January 22, 2019Ebook here https://archive.org/details/wrongmrri...
April 23, 2021
Man, the main character was a bit of a pushover! That said, nothing in the plot would have been at all plausible if she hadn't been...so I'm not sure what to say.
It was entertaining, however the condescending way the male characters talked to Morwenna really got on my nerves by the end. For some reason I feel like there was more of it in this book compared to Berta Ruck's other books.
The love story was alright. It really really bothered me that Morwenna never took an active part in righting the misunderstandings she found herself in. Even at the very end, when she finally understands how she can't marry this other guy she never breaks the relationship off herself. Instead it conveniently is ended for her by the guy!
Because of this I felt like there wasn't a whole lot of character development, Morwenna never really seems to learn from her mistakes or grow or change in any meaningful way. She changes in small ways, she realizes why she made a mistake, but she never gets the gumption to fix her mistakes!
It was entertaining, however the condescending way the male characters talked to Morwenna really got on my nerves by the end. For some reason I feel like there was more of it in this book compared to Berta Ruck's other books.
The love story was alright. It really really bothered me that Morwenna never took an active part in righting the misunderstandings she found herself in. Even at the very end, when she finally understands how she can't marry this other guy she never breaks the relationship off herself. Instead it conveniently is ended for her by the guy!
Because of this I felt like there wasn't a whole lot of character development, Morwenna never really seems to learn from her mistakes or grow or change in any meaningful way. She changes in small ways, she realizes why she made a mistake, but she never gets the gumption to fix her mistakes!
December 25, 2015
3 and 1/2 stars. Delightful, romantic comedy of errors. Things come together a little too conveniently at the end. All in all, it was a quick, fun read.
June 4, 2018
I had enjoyed Berta Ruck's His Official Fiancee and wanted to give this a try even though the description sounded outlandish. The writing was good but the plot was right out of the imagination of a particularly silly ten year old girl. So over the top unbelievable that I couldn't get lost in the story to enjoy it.
January 23, 2024
Very screwball-esque, but the voice unnecessary elongated the story at times. There was less depth to her characters than the others that I have read from this author(and the ones in her other two books were not wells, either). If this had been my first by Ruck I probably wouldn't have tried another. But the fun of the prior two will carry me through at least two more.
I did appreciate that the main character had a weakness and a unique voice. Her growth was fun to experience. It just took a little too long.
I did appreciate that the main character had a weakness and a unique voice. Her growth was fun to experience. It just took a little too long.
June 29, 2024
"The Wrong Mr. Right" is my first Berta Ruck novel which was a romantic read with many misunderstandings and misguided steps which keeps entangling Morweena more and more to the wrong man and forfeit any possible love with her "real" Mr. Right. While reading Rachel Ferguson's "A Harp in Lowndes Square", she mentioned Berta Ruck, so I was excited about this romantic read. This story is a bit melodramatic and unlikely in a sense but for the romantic, it hit all the markers for an enjoyable read.
Story in short- Morweena not wanting to marry the rector's son, seeks her fortune in working in London. She soon finds the one for her but keeps getting farther away from him with her actions.
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 32
To me, Morwenna Beaugard, it came to mean Georgie Settle, the son of the Rector in the next village from the one in which I had been brought up. In that quiet country rectory my great-uncle and guardian arranged to put me—as a paying guest—when my aunt, with whom I’d lived, died.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 34
She had left me two hundred a year of my own, which was a good deal—in those days! Quite enough for me to be very comfortable on, said my guardian, until I married. I told him I didn’t mean to marry. I didn’t like men. At that time I had met very few;
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 42
I took my business training at Mrs. Herrick-Henderson’s, in the City, determined to get it over, obtain a post, and be well in the way of my independent life in London before my brother came home on leave from the East.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 90
This was my first application for a situation. I knew some girls applied half a dozen times before they
Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Location 91
were taken on; but I had a queer, agonised feeling that if I did not get this post I should get nothing! I should have to say good-bye to my chances of independence in London!
*** Morweena Beaugard is 22 & after her aunt died, her great uncle Joseph thinks she should marry the rector's son Georgie but she does not want to give up her independence and hates to marry him... she takes a business class in London.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 121
I did think they were most frightfully important. Georgie Settle once told me he had fallen in love with me almost entirely because mine were the first silk ’tockies he’d seen worn
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 122
in that part of the country. I had always had dozens of pairs, of all sorts and all colours.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert
Like a movie when characters keep doing the wrong thing thinking that is the only path, Morweena keeps making missteps. Why did not Paul Lancaster tell of his love right away? It maybe he was uncertain that she would want to give up her job, and they only first met. I was shocked when Paul Wright, Lancaster's cousin returns from the dead, not really dead but pretending, I had thought this might be Paul Lancaster acting the part of his cousin to win Morweena's love, since she told all she was engaged to his dead cousin but I was wrong. Paul Wright was attracted to Morweena not only for his grandmother's money but she was the only woman who did not react to his charms. I thought this all strange because he was supposedly in love with one woman before he went away. The grandmother and the strange relationship with her grandsons, it seems like she did not care for them at times. I found that Morweena staying in the house and the inheritance very unsettling, it was a good thing that Paul Wright gambled all the money away. I was happy that Morweena and Lancaster finally ended up together. Happy ending following, a happy ending to Nurse Sybil and Paul Wright, if he can stay good and not stray or gamble.
Story in short- Morweena not wanting to marry the rector's son, seeks her fortune in working in London. She soon finds the one for her but keeps getting farther away from him with her actions.
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 32
To me, Morwenna Beaugard, it came to mean Georgie Settle, the son of the Rector in the next village from the one in which I had been brought up. In that quiet country rectory my great-uncle and guardian arranged to put me—as a paying guest—when my aunt, with whom I’d lived, died.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 34
She had left me two hundred a year of my own, which was a good deal—in those days! Quite enough for me to be very comfortable on, said my guardian, until I married. I told him I didn’t mean to marry. I didn’t like men. At that time I had met very few;
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 42
I took my business training at Mrs. Herrick-Henderson’s, in the City, determined to get it over, obtain a post, and be well in the way of my independent life in London before my brother came home on leave from the East.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 90
This was my first application for a situation. I knew some girls applied half a dozen times before they
Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Location 91
were taken on; but I had a queer, agonised feeling that if I did not get this post I should get nothing! I should have to say good-bye to my chances of independence in London!
*** Morweena Beaugard is 22 & after her aunt died, her great uncle Joseph thinks she should marry the rector's son Georgie but she does not want to give up her independence and hates to marry him... she takes a business class in London.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 121
I did think they were most frightfully important. Georgie Settle once told me he had fallen in love with me almost entirely because mine were the first silk ’tockies he’d seen worn
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 122
in that part of the country. I had always had dozens of pairs, of all sorts and all colours.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert
Like a movie when characters keep doing the wrong thing thinking that is the only path, Morweena keeps making missteps. Why did not Paul Lancaster tell of his love right away? It maybe he was uncertain that she would want to give up her job, and they only first met. I was shocked when Paul Wright, Lancaster's cousin returns from the dead, not really dead but pretending, I had thought this might be Paul Lancaster acting the part of his cousin to win Morweena's love, since she told all she was engaged to his dead cousin but I was wrong. Paul Wright was attracted to Morweena not only for his grandmother's money but she was the only woman who did not react to his charms. I thought this all strange because he was supposedly in love with one woman before he went away. The grandmother and the strange relationship with her grandsons, it seems like she did not care for them at times. I found that Morweena staying in the house and the inheritance very unsettling, it was a good thing that Paul Wright gambled all the money away. I was happy that Morweena and Lancaster finally ended up together. Happy ending following, a happy ending to Nurse Sybil and Paul Wright, if he can stay good and not stray or gamble.
September 16, 2024
This vintage book is just plain fun without any apologies. With every chapter, there is a new plot twist for Morwenna “Baby” Beaugard. She doesn’t want to settle for the Mr Right her guardian has chosen for her. She’s not a raving feminist, or a man-hater — she just wants to live as a normal, young working girl and has a little money to do so on her own, without risk. She takes a business training course and sets out for London, and the fun begins.
She is as innocent as her name sounds, and she gets into one scrape after another as she tries to navigate the unspoken rules of the working class. Every idea she has for making friends and helping others backfires and her tangled life gets crazier with every page.
In the end, Berta Ruck rescues her heroine and the book leaves you smiling.
She is as innocent as her name sounds, and she gets into one scrape after another as she tries to navigate the unspoken rules of the working class. Every idea she has for making friends and helping others backfires and her tangled life gets crazier with every page.
In the end, Berta Ruck rescues her heroine and the book leaves you smiling.
June 7, 2010
Another delightful book by Berta Ruck.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews