A Civil Contract

A Civil Contract

infobox Book |
name = A Civil Contract
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Georgette Heyer
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
genre = Regency, Romance
publisher = William Heinemann
release_date = 1961
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 384 pp
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"A Civil Contract" is a 1961 romance novel by English author Georgette Heyer. Set in Regency Britain, it is also a historical novel and follows the general pattern of storytelling of Heyer's other novels. The romantic plot centers on a viscount who reluctantly enters a marriage of convenience with a wealthy commoner's daughter.

Plot summary

Viscount Lynton comes home to find himself the heir to debts after the death of his father. Having no means of restoring his family home he contemplates selling it. The family lawyer, however, suggests a marriage of convenience as an alternative. Linley meets with Mr Chawleigh, a common Cit, and with Jenny, his plain and exquisitely shy daughter, and eventually agrees to be married. However he remains in love with Julia Oversley who is the exact opposite of Jenny. While Julia is ethereally beautiful and elegant, Jenny is plain and dowdy. The marriage is not a very happy one, although Jenny, who has been in love with Linley for a long time, tries to make his life as comfortable as she can. Mr Chawleigh makes it difficult for Linley to forget he is in his debt and the young man often wishes he were free of his obligations to him.

A veteran of the Peninsular War (1808-1814), Linley has followed the exile and return of Napoleon with keen interest. Having read about the forthcoming battle in Belgium, he decides to gamble on the stock exchange. As he had foreseen, shares plummet down, only to soar again at the news of Wellington's victory at Waterloo (1815). Linley no longer needs his father in law's financial support.

In the meantime, Julia has married an older and wealthy suitor, whom she flaunts on a visit to Linley's. The latter realizes with a guilty feeling that he will probably be much happier and comfortable with devoted Jenny than he would ever have been with beautiful but self-centered Julia.


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