Monday, June 14, 2010

Heidelberg Wedding--1984

I almost never re-read Heidelberg Wedding. The cover art bothers me. Eugenia looks like Isabella Rossellini in choir robes (and not in a good way), Heidelberg (behind them) appears as if it's been invaded by a barbarian horde, systematically lit on fire and left to smolder, and Gerard looks as though he's about to deliver devastating news about an accident on the M6 involving all her nearest loved ones and an articulated lorry. Epic fail, Harlequin. And then there's the end which I thought I hated. This is the book I'm about to bestow a Queen of Puddings rating on? Heck yes.





Sister Eugenia Smith, 26, Ward Sister at St. Clare's, has been walking sedately down the center aisle of her ward towards her Destiny for three years. Each meeting, she fetches up before it with an unruffled air, hands it her notes and precedes to do a round with it all to the lament of her stalwart right hand, Hatty. 'What a waste of all that attractiveness,' thinks Hatty. 'They ought to have fallen in love at first sight.'
Hatty the Handmaiden also thinks that Senior Consultant Surgeon Gerard "Destiny" Grenfell (36-ish) and Eugenia are both throwing themselves away on unsuitable fiancees. Eugenia has been engaged for one and a half parsimonious years to Humphrey Parsons, a man whose very name mirrors his smug and retentive nature. Hatty dismisses Gerard's fiancee' Miriam (yet another Miriam villainess! What gives, Betty?) as 'a beanpole of a blonde'. You, gentle reader, may also dismiss her. She speaks not one word anywhere and, if one takes into account her black sheath clothing and shadowy persona, there is a slim possibility that she might also be a ninja assassin.
Humphrey has been spending the last several years making Eugenia feel bad about spending her own money and feeding her on a steady diet of chicken and chips and beer. He has a deathly fear of the cheap, living-in-a-flatlet, Ikea phase of married life (Allenwrenchaphobia) which has turned him into a miser. His placemats will match and his reproduction Victorian furniture will shout in decorous tones "I have arrived and am running to fat already" but life with him will be un-fun. And then he has the cheek to tell her she's a bit heavy. (Oh no he didn't!) Not only does Eugenia need a Tums, she also needs to offload that ball and chain.
So when, one day, after a quiet ward round, Gerard (not Butler, but you're welcome) rips up the diet sheet that Humphrey painstakingly copied down with a 'Bunkum and balderdash!' she sits up and takes notice. When he follows that with a cryptic sounding, "Two safely engaged people, aren't we, Sister?...There is, of course, many a slip between the cup and the lip" we take notice. Where was the triggering event? What made him figure out, after meeting her sedately in the aisle for three long years that she was the girl for him--because that's what we've just learned. Neels implies that something set things in motion off-stage and that his dawning realization has already and recently occurred. This will be a follow-up post all its own.
Gerard, who, as established, is already smitten, is playing the long game. He invites her to accompany him to the Algarve to assist him on a V.I.P. surgery. Of course she will but when she drops the bomb on Humphrey (which I am tempted to spell Harumph-rey...okay, now I have to) he sulks. 'Mother wouldn't like it at all', he points out. If you're tempted to adopt a nasal-y baby-like voice and mutter 'Mother wouldn't like it at all' under your breath, you would find yourself in charity with Eugenia who is not much pleased with him.
The Algarve:
They save a woman's life. Calloo-Callay!
They visit many tourist attractions together.
He asks her to call him Gerard which in Neels-land is definitely First Base. (In the world-at-large calling someone by their Christian name is more like warming up in the Bullpen but The Mighty Neels weights it fairly heavily in the trajectory of a relationship.)
He continues making delightful comments, chock-a-block with double-meaning: "I can assure you that Eugenia will not be wasted."
They save the life of another young man who has slipped and fallen into a cave. Gerard has just declared that he found heaven when they hear a moaning in the rocks. He laughingly pops down the hole and she pops down after him. That's when she hears the skittering in the dark. Eeek! One is tempted to mis-quote Indiana Jones. Rats. I hate rats. Why did it have to be rats? But some cajoling insults and one shredded belt later find them back on solid ground again where she quickly apologizes for her mild case of fear-of-having-her-limbs-chewed-to-bloody-stumps-by-rodents. "I'm sorry, Mr. Grenfell, what a wretched little beast I am. Shall I take his legs?" Is that aplomb I see? I know. You love her too.
Later that evening she runs into him again as she's leaving the dining room. "I considered taking you to supper, but decided against it...I think that in the circumstances it would be a stupid thing to do." Naturally she gets into a snit. She had rather hoped that he would want to take her to dinner after heaving her bodily up through a hole. (I know I'd expect dinner.) And she's puzzled to pinpoint the moment when her view of him changed from a benign lack of interest (and faint pity, as he was going to marry a ninja assassin) to being piqued by his desertion.
Still, when she returns to London she can't wait to find Harumph-rey. But like opening the last can of Root Beer and discovering it's gone flat, Eugenia's eager anticipation fizzles. Harumph-rey has to be coaxed and managed and ego-massaged back into good humor--or what passes for good humor--with more chicken and chips and beer.
The Pay Packet:
When Eugenia receives an unexpected wind-fall, she knows just what she ought to do. She ought to take it straight away to the bank where it can carefully, prudently, cautiously accrue interest which she will withdraw only on the eve of her wedding to pay, in-full, for a tumble-dryer or stiff-backed parlor couch in a distressing shade of powder blue. But Gerard tells her to blow it on a dress for the Spring Ball. Even Father and the twins (oh, did I not mention them?) tell her to blow it. How can Harumph-rey mind when it isn't even part of her regular salary?
So she buys a dream of a dress with a distant neckline and a full skirt and slippers to match. Mr. Grenfell will be dazzled. Harumph-rey is predictably scandalized. Any good ladies-man worth his stipend will tell you that it is impolitic to begin a compliment with a question. i.e. 'Where did you get that?' 'What on earth are you wearing?' 'How much did it cost?' etc. It leaves so little room for retrenchment.
She all but beans him with a slipper and marches off to the dance where Mr. Grenfell, there with his black-sheathed Little String-Bean, wastes no time whisking her off to dance and dine. A lovely night.
Mother:
Harumph-rey is not only suffering under the handicap of Bad-Personality Disorder (BPD--'If you or any of your loved ones are suffering from BPD...Side effects include nausea, vomiting, incontinence, loss of spine...') but also from Suffocating Mother Syndrome. Mrs. Parsons flutters and twitters over her boy like a rescue chopper over a ship wreck. Eugenia loathes it but endures silently until the day she finds out that Mother intends to move in with them after they marry. (Comesaywha...?) So, let me just get this right, Harumph-rey. (pinches forehead) Eugenia has been scrimping not only for her beans-on-toast future you offer but for a cozy retirement for Mother as well?
Cast into turmoil and gloom, Eugenia turns to her father for advice. It's original, I'll give him that. But pinning your marital happiness on the death of a close relative might lead one to being marched off to the clink and having late-night interrogations regarding accidentally fatal drug interactions.
And where is Gerard during all of this? Just when she needs a vast, attractive shoulder to cry on he's gone missing. Though I am editorializing a bit, I think it's clear that he's decided to let her work out her own salvation without his interference.
But that doesn't last too long. Soon he's back again, captivating her family, walking her through his bluebell wood and violently flirting with her. Lovely bits, each.
Harumph-rey continues his (to quote The Founders) 'long train of abuses and usurpations' when he barges into her ward during an emergency to demand that she come to the theatre with him as their free (ugh) theatre tickets expire in 30 minutes. (I'm seeing a three-year-old having a very noisy tantrum in the candy aisle here.) It is the perfect storm of parsimony, selfishness, and disregard for her career. A Trifecta of Ruin.
Later, after a typically awful visit with his mother, she walks smack into Gerard. Seeing she is in a bad temper, he suggests a moonlit drive and takes her to his cottage where he fills her arms with lilacs. (Pause. Deep cleansing breaths. In. Out.) Lilacs.
By now, it is clear to her that her life is upside down and in one last bid to right it again she makes a scandalous proposition to Harumph-rey.
BRIGHTON! (dum, dum, dum, dum!)
'This is that one!' Betty Keira shouted to her confused Mijnheer van Voorhees. 'This is the one where she asks him to go away for the weekend to have implied non-conjugal relations!' This means that Heidelberg Wedding qualifies, hands down, as the raciest novel in the entire Neels canon. Harumph-rey's only response is, 'I don't agree with pre-marital relationships. I'm glad Mother didn't hear you say that, she would have been profoundly shocked!'
'I'm a bit shocked myself,'
replies Eugenia, who, if she were running a shop, would be reported to the Better Business Bureau for fraud. False advertising at least. She isn't that kind of girl and she knew Harumph-rey isn't that kind of boy. It was a safe offer and would be safely rejected. Still, he brought up his mother! Uncool, dude.
Gerard asks her, since she seems interested in a holiday, to go to his cottage with his housekeeper (who is recovering from an illness). She agrees and sees neither hide nor hair of Harumph-rey (which doesn't fuss her much) or Gerard (which does).
When he collects her at the end of the week, she is rested and bonny and almost...almost swimming into the rocky shoals of dawning realization.
She endures one more tortuous date with Harumph-rey wherein his discussion of lowered interest rates extended by his building society kill any withering feelings of love stone dead. The blight of his insufficiency has ruined her potato crop for the last time.
Only days later, she sees Mr. Grenfell and knows that a bony String Bean would not do him at all. If anyone is going to love him to distraction, Eugenia would rather it be herself.
Which makes breaking her engagement a necessity. "I'm not surprised," commented Mr. Grenfell placidly. "You're not a girl to marry one of the Humphrey's of this world." I'll say.
Heidelberg:
And so we come to Heidelberg at last--evidently the Las Vegas of Europe. They save a life, nursing techniques are discussed, and castle ruins are explored. While in the castle chapel he leads her into a discussion about weddings and adds how easy, if you have the money (150 pounds), it is to get married in this Wee Chapel of Love...
He also finds out that pomp and circumstance is not important to her when she marries--that she loves the small-ish chapel enough to daydream a little.
Her:"Why do you look like that?"
Him:"Like what?"
"Smug! As though you'd thought of something nice."
"Nice, nice--what an inadequate word, rather let's say shatteringly delightful!"
He tells her later that Miriam the Silent Assassin has been dispatched by an American Tycoon (the best kind of tycoon for taking String Beans off a fellow's hands), then surprises her with a proposal and abrupt (3 minutes later!) walk down the aisle. I used to hate that ending but find that, upon re-reading, it's grown on me. Gerard is awesome enough to carry it off and I rather like the idea of the news of their nuptials springing on Harumph-rey with the speed and ferocity of a mountain wolverine.
The End

Rating: I loved Gerard--everything about him. The change jingling in his pocket, his paperback thrillers, his career enthusiasm for changing things around in the ward, his stealthy courtship of her family...He is so fleshed out and so awesome. He laughs all the time (though he trots out the bland face too) and has a ton of fun. We get so much more of his perspective than an occasional glint in his eye so that when he does haul her off unceremoniously to the alter it is easy to forgive him. I loved her too. She takes a long time to figure out her feelings but The Great Betty has handled the transition from Harumph-rey to Gerard so deftly that Eugenia doesn't seem inconstant or lame. Father and the twins, though in a lot of scenes, still feel shadowy to me and La Neels doesn't wrap their story up at all--they still live in London, where they don't want to live, at the end. Shrug. Queen of Puddings! I left so so so much wonderful material from this book out of the review because there was too much. This one will get a much better rotation from me in the future.

Fashion: The rich burgundy taffeta with the neckline that Harumph-rey hates (and Gerard loves). Miriam in the predictable black satin sheath. Nurse's uniforms. A jersey dress and cardigan.

Food: chicken Marengo, chicken and chips and beer (with Humphrey), octopus in tomato sauce (that he doesn't tell her about until she pronounces it good--dirty pool, I say), Madronho, boiled cod and shrimp sauce, Yorkshire pudding and roast beef (with Humphrey's unimaginative mother), chocolate cake oozing cream, rhubarb jam, custard tarts, shepherd pie, bacon and eggs, fishcakes, roast chicken, bread sauce (???), baked potatoes

16 comments:

  1. Betty Barbara here--
    I REALLY enjoyed this book.
    I liked the father and the twins-at least they were emotionally engaged with our Eugenia (unlike so many of the ignore the daughter for the antiques fathers that Neels has done). And they didn't spend all their time moping about dear old Whatsits Manor that they had to sell.
    I was really surprised at how long Eugenia put up with the verbal abuse from Harumph-rey. Because, let's face it, that is what it was (and a whole lot of passive/aggressive too). Another topic for another day is why the Olivias often have such pathetic taste in men (before they fall for the RDD, of course).
    And I loved the rescue scene in Portugal, and then the way Betty just writes off the poor boy once he's delivered to the hospital! She doesn't even have Eugenia ask Gerard if he had any news about the kid!
    As for the cover, the reissue cover is much better that the original, that's for sure!
    So much to enjoy here.

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  2. Her attachment with Harumph-rey would feel a lot more unbelievable to me if I hadn't dated and received a proposal from a Harumph-rey of this world. While not verbally abusive, he was (I realized after the break and a little distance) cranky, moody and petulant. I came this close (squeezing fingers perilously close together) to marrying him and still wake in a cold sweat when I think about how I would be in prison right now for homicide.

    I loved her family too. Dad and sis were more fleshed out than the brother but they all were so much fun.

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  3. Cover as you say, border-line creepy, and Gerard looks like he's wearing a wig. He looks like he's trying to hypnotize her into submission, so let's not even consider the cover.

    Agreed about everything else, though I would have liked Eugenia to have dispensed with Harumph-rey about 2/3 of the book earlier. So vastly annoying on the written page, one can only imagine how horrible in real life... sigh.

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  4. Well, Heidelburg does kind of look like that. I saw the castle last summer and was all "Betty set a book here!"

    If anyone wonders where people like Hannah's mom came from, her parents were undoubtably like Humphrey and whatever fool he convinces to marry him.

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  5. Betty Barbara here--
    In your food list you have ???? next to bread sauce. Bread sauce is basically a white sauce (milk, butter) that is thickened with bread crumbs rather than plain flour.
    In answer to previous ???s about 'game chips', the recipes that I can find on line make them sound like skinny french fries (matchstick cut potatoes, deep fried until golden/--sounds like French Fries to me!!)
    Ah, the interwebz, font of all food knowledge, too

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  6. Game chips sound like flakes of venison jerky to me rather than plain french fries and bread sauce (thanks for looking this up) doesn't sound appetizing but I think the name is throwing me off more than anything.

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  7. Trying to catch up with the blog--Been occupied getting the two Van der Hertenzoon heirs off with Prof. van der Hertenzoon the Elder (79 and brave) to join Prof. van der Hertenzoon the Younger, who has been in Japan since June 1.

    The Younger had his own Eugenia moment--raw octopus (tomato sauce to drown it would have helped--he had to make do with tons of soy sauce and wasabi).

    The natives are thrilled that the first time asked, "Japanese or Western food?" he answered "Japanese" so they never asked him again and he has been plied with every kind of raw fish known to the Pacific. He thinks Gerard (BTW, I knew I could count on the Founding Bettys for a Gerard Butler--thanks, it's been lonely for three weeks) has the right idea--don't tell till afterwards.

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  8. I might have liked this book more when I first read it 30 years ago, but this time it annoyed me. Harumph-rey should have been dispatched a good 50 pages earlier, although I personally would have stuffed that diet sheet down his throat and ended things right there in chapter one.

    True, I loved Gerard, but what did trigger his Dawning Realization? It's a mystery -- maybe Hattie blushing did the trick. (I like that snippet of her POV.)

    But I can reassure you on one point: Gerard buys their old house back for dad & the twins. There's a moment of Great Significance when Becky (or was it Bruce) mentions the village and Gerard's ears perk up. Then the twin says, "We're going to buy it back," and the deed is as good as in dad's hands.

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  9. Kit said: "If anyone wonders where people like Hannah's mom came from, her parents were undoubtably like Humphrey and whatever fool he convinces to marry him."

    Please explain?

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  10. Just finished this one today... this is the first time I've read a "fresh" BN book since discovering the blog... How fun to read the review just after the first time I ever read the book! Great review. I think the thing I love most about this book is that the conflict in the story comes from the mutually unsuitable engagements (which, I imagine, is why we don't ditch Haruph-ry 50 pages sooner). That means the principles spend almost all the time getting along and not arguing... the arguing that goes on is between Olivia and slimeball, and she's entirely reasonable. A DIET SHEET?! I think I fell in love with Gerard when he said Bunkum and tore it up. Even funnier is the fact that it was triggered by bean pole Miriam (Harumphry admired her figure at the hospital ball while her fiance admired HIS fiance's MUCH nicer figure in the gorgeous red dress.
    This was was wonderful! I agree to Queen of Puddings. Would have liked more at the end (yes, he will certainly by the manor back, but couldn't he have said so)? Also, shouldn't he fly in her family or smething? Loving family should get to go to the wedding. Those, however, are my only complaints.
    Sigh.... a new (to me) Neels. I think I'm in heaven.

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  11. As I proceed on my merry re-reading way, I too realized that this book had hidden depths. Gerard is simply a peach of a man, let Harumprey marry his meek little soul, who will no doubt rise up one day and hit both he and Mother with a frying pan!

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  12. Hattie deserves her own book.

    It is a bit disturbing that her father was willing to let her sleepwalk into a marriage that certainly would have been financially abusive. It is a relief that Eugenia finally recognises this, "I can't go on like this any longer, saving to get married and never getting any nearer to it, and even if we ever got married we'd still go on saving, because it's become a habit—a new car, some new gadget we simply had to have, and then planning the exact amount we needed before I could have a baby!"

    We recognise that Gerrard marrying Eugenia out of hand is supposed to be terribly romantic, we found it (a bit) controlling. She is one of the few heroines who would have appreciated her family in attendance. Also, not allowing her the opportunity to pick a new dress after a courtship that prohibited the purchase of new clothes is cruel.

    The jury is out on this one.

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    Replies
    1. My husband and I eloped (well, got married at a Justice of the Peace). We did it one evening after work, no special clothes, and forgot about witnesses, so my "bridesmaid" and his "best man" were both there on DWI/speeding charges. When they started comparing notes on miles per hour & number of shots taken, we both smelled new romance in the air.

      I really do have a point here . . . I dreaded even the thought of having to plan a wedding. There was NOTHING about a wedding that I wanted, except the cake. And that would have been chocolate, with chocolate frosting. Having the man I love say "I love you", "Let's get married", "Right now -- I've got the $150" would just sweep me off my feet. Especially if I felt he'd be good for a nice dinner afterwards. Controlling? Nope! Just anxious to get to the good stuff. After all that waiting for Harumph-ry, hopefully Eugenia not only appreciated Gerard's eagerness, but also his willingness to spend the money spur-of-the-moment.

      BTW, our mad dash to the altar was 40 years ago, and going. And, as my husband loves to boast, only cost $5 for the license. (Plus a good dinner afterwards.)

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    2. "After all that waiting for Harumph-ry, hopefully Eugenia not only appreciated Gerard's eagerness, but also his willingness to spend the money spur-of-the-moment."
      Totally agree! She was thrilled! Her family was pretty laid back, they wouldn't really care about the ceremony but Gerard and Eugenia could have a reception back in England which everyone would enjoy. (Except Harumphrey and his Mumsy.)

      My husband proposed on our third date, even presented me with the ring. I made him wait two days before saying yes (which still bothers me, but he was ok with it), but made up for it by agreeing to get married in less than 2 months (in our circles, practically an elopement).

      B. Baersma

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    3. That's a lovely engagement story (even with the two day wait)! When I think up romances in my head, the hero always falls in love right away, and the length of time between meeting & proposing keeps getting shorter.

      I'm so happy you replied -- I wasn't sure if the comment sections were still active.

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  13. 40+ years--that's wonderful. Many more, happy and healthy!
    In "Stars through the Mist," (which I liked and plan to comment on eventually, and which also has a hero Gerard) the couple gets married in a church where "the vicar was waiting for them with two people--his wife, apparently, and someone who might have been the daily help, pressed into the more romantic role of witness."
    No best man, it seems.

    As for the comment section: the facebook page is where most of the current action takes place, but the lovely administrators of this blog keep this site going for posterity and for those of us without facebook, for which we are monumentally grateful.

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