An Infamous Army

I’m a huge admirer of Georgette Heyer, who single-handedly created the Regency historical romance genre. Her research and knowledge of the time, including aspects of dress, manners, etc., are unsurpassed.

An Infamous Army tells the story of Waterloo from the British perspective, and its battle scenes are so accurate that the novel is actually taught at the British military academy, Sandhurst. Heyer includes characters from her other books in this novel, and it was a surprise and a joy to meet them in this wide-ranging narrative.   

Georgette Heyer’s frothy Regency romances are the sort of books you want to read when you have flu – chicken soup for the soul, if you like.

They’re all beautifully researched and wittily written – and they have a Happy Ending that makes you sigh with satisfaction. This is one of her rare serious books, set in Brussels in June, 1815 – the eve of Waterloo.

Yes, there is romance – but it is only part of a serious and gritty examination of warfare at the time.

What to choose from this unique writer, who brought the Regency back into 21st century fashion with her large catalogue of novels? I love them all. They’re uniformly hilarious, adventurous, and full of mind-boggling, funny dialogue. Her detailed research is never more brilliantly revealed than in this novel, which is still highly prized by senior military figures as the greatest account of the Battle of Waterloo. All this, in a novel which succeeds on its own terms as a story. What more could one want?