As for Penhallow, I only read it once (as opposed to the zillions of times I've read, say, Cotillion (my favorite right now) or Venetia (my favorite in my mid-to-late teens) or The Foundling (my favorite in my twenties)), but there are aspects of it that seem to have stayed with me. As for Francis Cheviot, I am not sure he is gay, because (a) I am truly the girl with no gaydar, and (b) he strongly resembles a character in one of the mysteries who is definitely straight. But I think that Francis Cheviot can reasonably be read as being gay (and maybe more than just friends with "poor Louis"), and while I wouldn't call his portrayal sympathetic, exactly, it isn't homophobic, either. He's a highly intelligent force to be reckoned with, he puts the interests of his family and his country first, and in the end I think Carlyon, rightly, respects him.
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momijizukamori
Re: I love Heyer's Regency and 18th-century novels so much
Date: 2009-05-15 03:57 am (UTC)