These Old Shades

One of Georgette Heyer’s best-loved novels, this 1926 romance revives the villain of her debut and recasts him as a hero. Justin Alastair, Duke of Avon, jaded and dangerous enough to be nicknamed Satanas, buys a red-headed urchin off a Paris street to serve as his page, then discovers the boy is a girl, Leonie. He grooms her toward an elaborate revenge on an old enemy, the Comte de Saint-Vire, only to find his cold heart engaged in spite of himself. Moving between the salons of Paris and the drawing rooms of London, Heyer delivers elegance, wit, and a thoroughly satisfying reckoning. It opens the Alastair family saga. Free to read as a PDF and EPUB edition.