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Runaway Bride Joan Aiken Hodge 9780449023594 Books

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Runaway Bride Joan Aiken Hodge 9780449023594 Books

Jane Aiken Hodge was an author whose books I read when they were first published years ago. Most of her books have a more gothic feel, but this one is a Regency romance without any the dark brooding characters.

As a Regency romance of the period when it was written, it was a good one. That spanned the range of someone like Barbara Cartland to the master of Regencies (and who, I believe created the genre), Georgette Heyer. Some would try to put Jane Austen in this list but remember that she was writing stories during the Regency period itself and about her contemporaries rather than a made-up world of balls, intrigue, dashing heroes, and plucky heroines.

In “Runaway Bride”, all of those elements come to play. Jennifer Purchase is an extremely young woman of 17 whose hand is forced to run rather than marry someone she didn’t know. Her age, today, is of rather shocking but when these Regencies were written, it was par for the course. The two other authors I mention used heroines who were both younger and older in various books, as did Ms. Hodge.

Once Ms. Purchas has run away, it seems to become part of her DNA. When confronted with a new situation, the fight or flight takes hold and off she goes. It happens so frequently that it becomes almost Shakespearian comedy. The rest of the characters in the book revolve around her and her flights, as they try to catch up with her only to have her run once again.

The story is what happens when she actually touches down for a time in spot to spot. In that story, you find the meat of the tale. While it isn’t a filling meal of a story, it is a lot of fun to read. My favorites by this author are still the gothic stylings. She must have felt it, too, as this is the only straight up Regency I am aware of in her catalog of books.

As Ms. Hodge is also the author of “The Private World of Georgette Heyer”, a definitive work on the life of Ms. Heyer, I wonder if Ms. Hodge wrote this one Regency romance as a sort of homage to Ms. Heyer. Pure speculation on my part, but it could easily be the case. By the way, the Heyer biography is a wonderful read on its own.

For me, the book was a fun reminder of where and when I began reading books in earnest. For someone new to it today, it may seem a bit dated and perhaps not up the standards of today’s society (given the ages of the heroine 17 and her would-be hero, 35.) Still, a fun and lively romp in the traditional and clean PG-rated Regency style.


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Runaway Bride Joan Aiken Hodge 9780449023594 Books Reviews

Not one of Hodge's best.
Very Georgette Heyer in style, this excellent Regency Romance will delight all. The runaway Bride is a heiress, and the younger son of a Duke is feeling obligated to offer for her due to his friendships with both of her brothers who died at Waterloo. The money is a plus also. Her guardian and Uncle accepts his suit without consulting her or her meeting him. At this point his Father and Brother are killed in a carriage accident and he assumes a title. He prepares to meet his betrothed, while she decides to flee and assumes a new name also. As you can see there will be trouble. Excellent read.
Enjoyed it!
I love the author and she has a way of writing a story that puts you there in the story.
Jane Aiken Hodge is my all-time favorite writer. I own all her books in one form or another and Runaway Bride is one of her best. I love the way she interweaves history and creates an adventure that puts me right in the middle of life in the era and locale. Her stories are passionate without being titillating, with strong heroines and strong, considerate men. It makes me happy to be able to replace some of my worn and falling apart paper copies with .
I used to love Jane Aiken Hodge's books and owned several of them, often devouring them more than once. Reading this book now, I'm embarrassed by my youthful bad taste. I can take some comfort in the fact that this book did not seem at all familiar to me, so maybe it was not one of the ones I treasured. But if Hodge's other books are as commonplace as this one, I should hang my head in shame.

**possible spoilers** (although I'm not sure it's possible to spoil such a hackneyed plot)

Runaway Bride revolves around an heiress, Jennifer, and her would-be suitor, George. The first issue I had with this book is that Jennifer is 17 and George is 35—a significant age difference that is never mentioned in the story (seriously, more than twice her age and no one thinks that's worth a chat?) George is dead set on marrying Jennifer because of a battlefield promise he made to her brother. Jennifer wants nothing to do with him because he waited a year after her brother's death, or because she thinks George was the reason her brother ran into debt, or because the letter he writes seeking her hand is not personal enough, or because she believes George abandoned her brother to die on the battlefield. Hard to pin it down because she gives various reasons for her reluctance, but you'd think that last one would be the overriding reason she doesn't want to marry or even meet him. That would certainly make for more romantic conflict than the story provides, but alas, it's just one of the many reasons she drops along the way. She mentions it once but never again, which illustrates one of the biggest problems with this book, its lack of a coherent plot.

Taking the place of a real plot are a series of astounding coincidences Jennifer runs away to a friend's house to avoid meeting George and decides she will hire out as a governess (of course). The friend, Lucy, happens to have JUST gotten a letter from her cousin lamenting the loss of her governess. Naturally our heroine will take her place, but what will she do for clothes? Wouldn't you know, Lucy's old governess obligingly died of a fever a few years ago leaving all her clothes behind for the heroine to assume. Jennifer shows up unannounced at the cousin's house, is instantly signed on as governess, and steps into her role with no difficulty.

Further implausible events (the book should have been titled Runaway Coincidences) bring the hero and heroine together, without either of them knowing each other, even though it is all too obvious to the reader. By the time the heroine ends up in London living with the hero's grandmother under an assumed name, the story really felt as if it should be wrapping up. Unfortunately, it was only one-third complete, which left a lot of pages to be filled with more coincidences, lots of misunderstandings, some silly shenanigans involving jealous women who want to bring about Jennifer's downfall, and the oblivious hero and heroine missing every flashing neon sign along the way telling them exactly what is happening.

Characterization varied from nonexistent to conveniently malleable. Jennifer is mostly shown as strong and assertive, but when it suits the story, we're told of her "normal bashfulness and uncertainty of her own capacity." The hero comes across as forceful and humorless (although he seems quite petulant at times) but other characters refer to his dandy-ism and wild behavior.

The story lurches along to its inevitable—and oddly unsatisfactory—conclusion, but I had lost interest long before I reached it. Disappointing, but I console myself with the thought that Hodge might have been better with the gothic romances I remember reading than with light Regency such as this.
Jane Aiken Hodge was an author whose books I read when they were first published years ago. Most of her books have a more gothic feel, but this one is a Regency romance without any the dark brooding characters.

As a Regency romance of the period when it was written, it was a good one. That spanned the range of someone like Barbara Cartland to the master of Regencies (and who, I believe created the genre), Georgette Heyer. Some would try to put Jane Austen in this list but remember that she was writing stories during the Regency period itself and about her contemporaries rather than a made-up world of balls, intrigue, dashing heroes, and plucky heroines.

In “Runaway Bride”, all of those elements come to play. Jennifer Purchase is an extremely young woman of 17 whose hand is forced to run rather than marry someone she didn’t know. Her age, today, is of rather shocking but when these Regencies were written, it was par for the course. The two other authors I mention used heroines who were both younger and older in various books, as did Ms. Hodge.

Once Ms. Purchas has run away, it seems to become part of her DNA. When confronted with a new situation, the fight or flight takes hold and off she goes. It happens so frequently that it becomes almost Shakespearian comedy. The rest of the characters in the book revolve around her and her flights, as they try to catch up with her only to have her run once again.

The story is what happens when she actually touches down for a time in spot to spot. In that story, you find the meat of the tale. While it isn’t a filling meal of a story, it is a lot of fun to read. My favorites by this author are still the gothic stylings. She must have felt it, too, as this is the only straight up Regency I am aware of in her catalog of books.

As Ms. Hodge is also the author of “The Private World of Georgette Heyer”, a definitive work on the life of Ms. Heyer, I wonder if Ms. Hodge wrote this one Regency romance as a sort of homage to Ms. Heyer. Pure speculation on my part, but it could easily be the case. By the way, the Heyer biography is a wonderful read on its own.

For me, the book was a fun reminder of where and when I began reading books in earnest. For someone new to it today, it may seem a bit dated and perhaps not up the standards of today’s society (given the ages of the heroine 17 and her would-be hero, 35.) Still, a fun and lively romp in the traditional and clean PG-rated Regency style.