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    The Spanish Bride
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    The Spanish Bride
    Unavailable
    The Spanish Bride
    Audiobook15 hours

    The Spanish Bride

    Written by Georgette Heyer

    Narrated by David Collins

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    When Brigade-Major Harry Smith met the beautiful Juana María, an instant spark formed between the two fiery, energetic souls. The two fell deeply in love with one another from the first moment and the Spanish bride accompanied him throughout all his campaigns, where she rode freely among the troops. The intensity of their marriage is made all the more gripping as it is played out against the Peninsular War of Napoleon versus Wellington; The Spanish Bride is both an endearing true love story and a detailed account of Wellington’s battles and strategies, which Heyer studied intensely for this unforgettable novel.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNaxos Audiobooks
    Release dateAug 14, 2014
    ISBN9781843798545
    Unavailable
    The Spanish Bride
    Author

    Georgette Heyer

    Georgette Heyer (1902-1974) was an English writer of historical romance and detective fiction. Born in London, Heyer was raised as the eldest of three children by a distinguished British Army officer and a mother who excelled as a cellist and pianist at the Royal College of Music. Encouraged to read from a young age, she began writing stories at 17 to entertain her brother Boris, who suffered from hemophilia. Impressed by her natural talent, Heyer’s father sought publication for her work, eventually helping her to release The Black Moth (1921), a detective novel. Heyer then began publishing her stories in various magazines, establishing herself as a promising young voice in English literature. Following her father’s death, Heyer became responsible for the care of her brothers and shortly thereafter married mining engineer George Ronald Rougier. In 1926, Heyer publisher her second novel, These Old Shades, a work of historical romance. Over the next several decades, she published consistently and frequently, excelling with romance and detective stories and establishing herself as a bestselling author.

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    Reviews for The Spanish Bride

    3.5/5

    160 ratings10 reviews

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    • 5/5
      A wonderful narration of the peninsular wars and Waterloo held together by an affecting love story.
    • 2/5
      Alas, although I generally love Heyer, I couldn't get into this one. I think it's because it was too focused on the historical battle details. Battles -- especially *excruciatingly detailed battles* don't really do it for me. But if you like that sort of thing, you'll be all over this book.

      Maybe. After all, I gave up about 30 pages in.
    • 3/5
      This is the true life story of Harry Smith, an officer in the Rifles in Wellington's army in the Peninsular war that meets and marries a Spanish lady after the siege of Badajos. Juana Smith (yes, that does sound very odd) then follows Harry through Spain and the defeat of Napoleon. He is then sent to America, while she stays in England and then returns to jion Wellington at Waterloo. The period of Harry's time in America dragged somewhat, as it is when the two principles are together and lighting sparks off each other that the book is at its livliest. I can't quite tell if my OK response to this book is the book or the current situaiton we find ourselves in,when the wprld seems to have been turned upside down. I suppose I can only think that at least we're not facing Boney and I'm not likely to be shot.
    • 5/5
      For those who have avoided The Spanish Bride out of fear that it might be too different from other Georgette Heyer novels, we have done her a great injustice. This is a brilliant account of war and valor, love, resilience, and thestrength of the human spirit. Brilliantly performed, this story captivates and charms; all the while not losing sight of the horrors of war. Above it all, floats a lovely endearing cast of characters who shine.
    • 3/5
      This a Georgian era story and not a Regency romance. A lot of Peninsular War history is related and I felt that the main theme of the young bride and her soldier-husband was often swamped by the historical review of many famous battles. Since I don't know this history at all, a few maps and indications of troop movements would have improved my reading.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I’ve no record of when and where I bought this paperback, but I remember buying half a dozen or so secondhand Heyer paperbacks when I was in Great Malvern for a Novacon. That was back in 1997… So, um, two decades ago. I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to read The Spanish Bride, or if that was indeed when I bought the book, given that I’ve read all the other Heyer books I own – all thirty of them – and some I’ve even read multiple times. I suspect it is because it’s a war novel, rather than a frothy Regency romance or eighteenth-century adventure. If the cover doesn’t make it plain, the first chapter certainly does, as it describes the Siege of Badajoz in quite gruesome detail. In fact, as a novel of the Peninsular War, The Spanish Bride does a pretty good job. Its hero, Brigade-Major Harry Smith of the Light Division, is perhaps a bit too much of a paragon – if not in his intent or actions, certainly in his ability to avoid harm – and its eponymous heroine is also far too chirpy and accepting and… well, only fourteen when she marries to Smith… and it’s hard to read the book without that fact floating about in the back of your mind. Heyer makes an excellent fist of describing the Spanish landscape, and while the blow-by-blow accounts of the various battles seem both accurately- and carefully-phrased, I often had trouble picturing the progress of the fighting. I wanted to see maps, or wargaming tableaux, or something that indicated how the oft-professed tactical genius of the various English officers actually manifested. I know Heyer for her Regency romance novels and, skeevy sexual politics of the time (or of her depiction of the time) aside, I had expected that element of The Spanish Bride‘s plot to be uppermost. But it isn’t. It is, as I wrote earlier, a war novel. If anything, “English officer marries underage Spanish hidalgo heiress” is merely subplot. And yet, having said that, Heyer’s prose has a clarity and wit few these days can match, and it’s readily evident here. The Spanish Bride is not a fun book, but then I don’t think it was intended to be. It’s almost cefrtainly going to be the Heyer novel I reread the least number of times – assuming I ever do reread it, which is unlikely – but I’m nonetheless glad I did read it.
    • 3/5
      During the Napoleonic wars, Brigade-Major Harry Smith falls in love with a fourteen year old Spanish gentlewoman. They marry immediately, and Juana follows the army around, being adorable and very brave. For someone who has read a good number of Heyer books, this is an odd turn from the usual. Harry and Juana were real people, and all the supporting cast and plot is a matter of historical record. Heyer has clearly exhaustively researched their lives and the battles they were involved in. In fact, she seems more interested in the war than in her ostensible main characters--whole pages go by that are purely about troop movements. It's not as much frothy fun as her usual Regency romps, but it was actually a refreshing change to read a Heyer hero who isn't a paragon, a heroine who isn't perfection, and a reasonably plausible plot.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Eh. I don't much like Heyer's historicals (historical romance, yes. Books aimed at telling the story of a period, no). Inasmuch as it's a history of Wellington's campaigns in Portugal and Spain, it spends way too much time focused on this random made-up couple*; inasmuch as it's a romance between these two (I have problems with that anyway, see below), it spends way too much time on the campaign and battles and marching and so on. The romance is problematic on two or three levels - for one thing, they meet in the first chapter and are married at the beginning of the second. Everything after that is either minor spats or (oh, horrible!) they're separated for a while and each convinced the other's likely to be dead. Which is heartrending but somehow rather mechanical, especially after the second or third time. There's also the problem of True Love at first sight - between a man in his twenties and a fourteen-year-old girl who's just seen horrors. She focuses on him utterly - and it's presented as lovely and charming and aren't they beautifully in love, but.... Admittedly, he's nearly as focused on her as she is on him, aside from the fact that he has a job to do and she basically doesn't (she takes on various responsibilities, but if she didn't it wouldn't be a problem). I did find the story of Wellington's campaigns mildly interesting - but every time that story got moving we'd cut to Juana and Harry doing something cute. Not a winner for me. It was a little better than An Infamous Army, if only because I actually liked both the principals (though I admit I like them better as characters in a book than if I had to deal with either of them in real life). Also I could mostly remember who people were, though the assorted Rosses and Charlies near the end got confusing. Not to mention Smyth. Overall, not bad - I did read it, and I'm glad I did - but I don't think I'll bother to reread. *OK, looking at the other reviews here, then checking the tiny and overlooked foreword in my copy of the book - not a random made-up couple, a real couple. So I guess all those cute scenes actually happened. Makes me slightly happier with the book, though I still don't think I'll reread.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Brigade-Major Harry Smith, serving in Wellington’s army during the Peninsular Wars, seemed immune to all the dangers of campaigning. Never ill, or seriously wounded, he appeared at twenty-five to be invincible. But his encounter with a young Spanish aristocrat, Juana María de los Dolores de León, after the siege of Badajos, proved that he was not invulnerable to love. Married a few days later, Harry and Juana began their tempestuous marriage amid all the confusion and danger of life in the 95th Rifles.Based upon the life-story of two real people, Heyer’s The Spanish Bride is somewhat reminiscent of An Infamous Army, her other historical novel set amidst the Napoleonic Wars. I found it enlightening and entertaining by turns, but sadly, never both at the same time. While it was fascinating to learn more about life in the British Army during this time, the descriptions of battle positions and movements were a little too involved for me, and I found myself wishing either for a map or diagram, or for the scene to end. I found it difficult to visualize the military engagements, and consequently enjoyed the personal narrative involving Harry and Juana much more.The main characters are both engaging, and I came away with a desire to know more about them. What happened after Waterloo? Were Harry and Juana ever separated again, or did they keep their promise? I think I will have to find a copy of Smith’s autobiography, which was the basis of Heyer’s novel.
    • 4/5
      Fun read, even if I did have some moments of wonder about her age. Apparently based on the true life story of Harry Smith and the love of his life Juana, cited in wikipedia as being quite accurate. Juana accompanied him during his campaigns and was quite a hardy trooper. This is a charming story of their early days.