One thing I just don’t understand is why movie/TV people keep making and remaking adaptations of Jane Austen novels when Georgette Heyer exists.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am nothing if not a Jane Austen junkie. We’ve watched multiple adaptations of Emma during quarantine, and I’ll never, ever, ever get sick of the six-hour Pride & Prejudice.

(Sorry, fans of the Kiera Knightley version. It’s just not the same.)

But Jane Austen only published six novels plus Lady Susan, and there are only so many times you can reimagine them before you ruin them.

Georgette Heyer wrote fifty-four novels. She wrote Regency romances! She wrote murder mysteries! She wrote Regency romance murder mysteries! And so far, every single one of her novels I’ve read has been hilarious. Seriously. If I’m having a bad day, a bad week, a bad month, or a 2020, one of the most effective cures is always, always a Georgette Heyer novel. She pretty much established the Regency romance genre, and you can learn all about why she was awesome here.

I had never heard of Heyer until my mom, who is my period drama guru, recommended I read The Talisman Ring. And boy oh boy was my life lacking up to this point.

Cousin Tristram is Not at All Romantic

We begin with Baron Lavenham, who is on his deathbed. Before he dies, he extracts a promise from his great-nephew, Sir Tristram Shield, to marry his French granddaughter, Eustacie de Vauban. 

Eustacie is eighteen and has some extremely romantic notions about how her marriage to her cousin will go. Sir Tristram, who is in his thirties and very sensible, manages to disappoint her at every turn; he wouldn’t even ride through the night to Eustacie’s deathbed! (Never mind that, as Sir Tristram protests, Eustacie is unlikely to find herself dying in childbirth while he is away from home, as she imagines she will). 

Eustacie can’t bear the thought of such a dull, unromantic life, so she gets another idea: she will run away and become a governess! With the help of her maid, Eustacie escapes to put this plan into action.

While on her way to London, Eustacie encounters a smuggler, who turns out to be her cousin Ludovic Lavenham. Ludovic is Baron Lavenham’s heir, but has been on the run to escape sentencing for a murder he did not commit. Eustacie immediately takes to her dashing young cousin and helps him escape from a group of Excisemen. When Ludovic is injured during the chase, he and Eustacie take refuge at a nearby inn. 

At the inn, Ludovic and Eustacie meet Miss Sarah Thane. Eustacie, understanding Ludovic’s need for the utmost secrecy, naturally tells the entire affair to Miss Thane. Sarah declares that it sounds like an adventure, and that she wants to help. 

It doesn’t take long for Sir Tristram to track Eustacie down. When he discovers that Ludovic is with her, Sir Tristram berates the young man for putting himself in danger by coming back into the country. Sir Tristram believes Ludovic is guilty of the murder, because Ludovic was trying to recover a talisman ring from the victim at the time of the murder. When the victim’s body was discovered, the talisman ring was gone. 

When Sir Tristram discovers that Ludovic doesn’t have the talisman ring, he, Ludovic, Eustacie, and Sarah realize that the real murderer must still be at large, and whoever it is must have the ring. They therefore set off to find the ring and the murderer, hoping to clear Ludovic’s name.

Who Has the Talisman Ring?

The Talisman Ring is more romance than murder mystery, so it’s not exactly a whodunnit but a howaretheygonnacatchtheguy sort of story. While the group tries to expose the real murderer, Eustacie and Ludovic will recklessly fall in love, which motivates them all the more to catch the murderer so that Ludovic can inherit his fortune and they can marry. Meanwhile, Sarah and Sir Tristram will try to keep them from doing anything too rash in the pursuit of the murderer. If Ludovic is caught by the authorities before he can prove his innocence, he will be hanged.

Eustacie and Ludovic are both young and romantic, and are well-matched for that, but I liked Sarah and Sir Tristram’s relationship a lot more. They have a witty banter that is much more relatable than Eustacie and Ludovic’s grand star-crossed romance, and because they are a bit older and more level-headed, it’s extremely entertaining to watch them get Eustacie and Ludovic out of various scrapes with their dry humor and quick thinking. They concoct a plan to search the murderer’s house for the ring by pretending Sarah is a talkative architecture enthusiast; send a pair of incompetent Bow Street Runners packing by “pretending” to be in love; and, finally, save Ludovic when in desperation he breaks into the murderer’s home, falling into a trap and nearly getting himself captured. 

The Talisman Ring is also just hilarious and was a definite pick-me-up during 2020. The dialog alone is well-written and very funny, and had me cracking up before anything ridiculous with Bow Street Runners or grand schemes to become a governess had even happened.

Eustacie’s dialog was especially great. She is extremely forthright and tells everyone exactly what she thinks of them, such as when she informs the murderer that she does not like him because he wears a silly hat. This makes it difficult for her to conceal Ludovic’s presence at the inn, but it also makes her one of the most entertaining characters in the book. 

Georgette Heyer was known for the intricate level of detail in her historical novels, and The Talisman Ring is no exception. I was transported back to the era of the French Revolution where gentlemen took snuff and wore quizzing-glasses and framed one another for murder. It was entirely engrossing, and I thought the immense amount of detail was so well-done (to my untrained eye, at least).

Who to Read With

The Talisman Ring is safe to read aloud or listen to with little ears around, but since it is written in the style of Jane Austen and with a high level of historical detail, it might be more dense for younger kids. Teens with an appreciation of Jane Austen and/or historical romance will probably enjoy it. And if you, like me, are lucky enough to have a spouse who likes to read and/or watch period dramas with you, this is definitely one to share.

Listen Together

And, yes, you can listen to this! The audiobook is only available on Audible, but it is so worth it if, like me, you are a busy parent who listens to most of your books. The narrator (Phyllida Nash) is one of my favorite readers of Regency romances and of Heyer’s books in particular. She does different voices for all the characters, including an excellent French accent for Eustacie, and delivers the jokes with a deadpan seriousness that makes them even funnier. If audiobooks are your thing, pick this one up. Maybe if it gets popular enough, someone will finally make us a Georgette Heyer miniseries. BBC? Please????

Pick up your copy of The Talisman Ring on Amazon or Bookshop (which will help support local bookstores).