Black Sheep (Heyer novel)

First published in 1966, Black Sheet is one of Georgette Heyer's signature Regency romance novels. An ebook of this novel can be borrowed via OverDrive.

The novel is set in Bath, Somerset, a watering hole primarily visited by elderly persons needing to "take the waters" of springs that are believed to have healing capabilities. The main character is Miss Abigail Wendover, who at 28 years of age considers herself well past the age of seeking a husband, and has a handsome income of her own. In Bath, Abigail has set up a household with an older, spinster sister as chaperone, and together they are raising an orphaned niece (Fanny) who is seventeen and will inherit a fortune one day when she reaches 25 years of age. While Abigail's conservative brother James, as head of the Wendover family, dislikes the women being in a separate household not under his direct control, it is also expedient for him that they are not in his own household, since his wife does not really want them, and he has his own children to contend with.

A crisis arises after the young niece, Fanny, falls madly in love with a sophisticated London buck, whom literally everyone except the young girl believes to be a fortune hunter. In attempting to figure out how to separate her niece from this hazard without alienating her, Abigail comes into the orbit of the London buck's older uncle, who while not a fortune hunter, has a checkered past and (in some quarters) an extremely bad reputation. Abigail finds herself attracted to the apparently ineligible uncle due to his wit and unconventionality but must hide her inclination from all her family and acquaintances.