This glowing review — which suggests that The Masqueraders isn’t exactly serious “problem” literature, but sensibly believes that is okay — comes courtesy of England’s New Statesman (September 29, 1928).


If you admit the truth to yourself about your reading, you will confess that stories like Graustark, The Three Musketeers, If I Were King and Alice in Wonderland have stayed with you longer than any problem novel that was ever written. When you are sitting by yourself thinking over all the stories you like best, those four really ought to stand out. Not one of them points to a moral—except perhaps on the subject of courage; not one of them has the underlying purpose of righting wrongs existing in the world. They appeal to your imagination rather than your reason; to your fun loving, adventurous side rather than to your sedate, conventional self. And they are a secret source of constant satisfaction to you whenever you need the companionship of characters who are lively and brave and vivid.

With such a preamble, you will certainly read The Masqueraders, by Georgette Heyer, published by Longmans Green and Company. And that is exactly what we are trying to convince you to do. Miss Heyer’s story is a romance of the eighteenth century. The Merriots, brother and sister, are implicated in the Stewart [sic] rebellion, and masquerade as each other. And though they were in the shadow of Tyburn tree, they enjoyed it enough. After all, what was danger to the Merriots. They were the children of “the old gentleman” who had so many disguises that, when he at last decided to be himself, none either recognised him or believed him.

There are no Dr. Jekylls or Mr. Hydes in the many masquerades which appear on the pages of The Masqueraders. No evil influences the destinies of these young people. They fall in love, get into one scrape after another, voluntarily, and get out of them all gracefully. The love affairs are happy ones, without sordidness or problem, and if those latter characteristics are absent from all but fairy stories, we are willing to admit that The Masqueraders is a fairy story. The style is deft and witty, and the characters are bubbling over with life and ideas. We particularly like the ideas!

Political intrigue, the story of the Stuarts, and the danger of those days form the background for the story, but are not discussed with any longwindedness. In fact the story moves too rapidly for one to grow bored at any moment.

We particularly recommend The Masqueraders to you. It is now the intellectual nor informatory, but we guarantee you a lively two hours. The book is selling very well, although it has just been published this month. Miss Heyer is blessed with a happy faculty of popping surprises at you from the pages of her novel, and of not allowing you to grow sleepy at any time. She has not picked types for her characters. They’re just people with a good sense of humour and in agility in getting out of troubles. Read the book, and pass it on to the next fellow. You will be glad to have read it and so will he.

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