Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Naperville, Ill. : Sourcebooks Casablanca, c2011.
Description
Fiction. Romance. Historical Fiction. HTML: The Queen of Regency Romance, bestselling author Georgette Heyer, enchants readers with what the New Yorker called "a witty cheerful extravaganza." His exploits were legendary... Captain John Staple, back from the battlefront, is already bored with his quiet civilian life in the country. When he stumbles upon a mystery involving a disappearing toll-gate keeper, nothing could keep the adventure-loving captain from investigating. But winning her will be his greatest yet... The plot thickens when John encounters the enigmatic Lady Nell Stornaway and soon learns that rescuing her from her unsavory relatives makes even the most ferocious cavalry charge look like a particularly tame hand of loo. Between hiding his true identity from Nell and the arrival in the neighborhood of some distinctly shady characters, Captain Staple finds himself embarked on the adventure�??and romance�??of a lifetime. Praise for The Toll-Gate: "Spritely and good fun."�??New York Herald Tribune "Once again Georgette Heyer has directed her comic genius along the fictional highway of early nineteenth-century England, but this time...cleaves with refreshing persistence to the commoner levels of life."�??Chicago Sunday Tribune "Told in elegant prose with exceptionally humorous dialogue by the Queen of Regency romance."�??Good… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member ncgraham
The personality of Captain John Staple looms large in this novel, just as he towers over his fellow characters physically. It is hard for me to imagine anyone disliking “Crazy Jack,” a giant of a man with a kind heart and a sparkling sense of fun. I cheered him on from the very beginning.
“Odious boy! The fact is that it is a thousand pities we are not living in archaic times. What you would have liked, my son, is to have rescued some female from a dragon, or an ogre!”
“Famous good sport to have a turn-up with a dragon,” he agreed. “As long as you didn’t find yourself with the girl left on your hands afterwards, which I’ve a strong notion those fellows did.”
“Such girls,” his mother reminded him, “were always very beautiful.”
“To be sure they were! Dead bores too, depend upon it! In fact, I shouldn’t be at all surprised if the dragons were very glad to get rid of them,” said John.
Although part of me wishes we could have seen more of the Staple tribe, particularly John’s mother (“Very true, my dear: all men are odiously provoking”), they are on the whole too dull a crowd for the retired army officer, and he quickly rides off seeking adventure. He finds it in the form of a mysterious toll-gate, manned by a young boy whose father went missing some hours before. John temporarily takes the gatekeeper’s place. Watching after the boy and attempting to solve the mystery of his father’s disappearance, John soon comes in contact with a troubled young heiress, a Bow Street runner, a highwayman, and a pair of crooks.
It seems that some Heyer fans take issue with the fact that the romance between John and Nell Stornaway tends to be subsumed by the humor, adventure, and mystery aspects of the story. This didn’t bother me at all; actually, it’s nice to see Heyer tackle something that’s not quite so centered on the love element. I really liked John and Nell, both individually and as a couple. However, I do have to admit that I thought their relationship went too far, too fast. After seeing each other five times they suddenly begin snogging and declaring their undying love for each other … and, moreover, pointing out the fact that it is only their fifth meeting. My suspension of disbelief took a blow at that point.
Otherwise, this is quite the rollicking yarn. Though the mystery may not be a mindbender worthy of Agatha Christie, it keeps you interested. The story is exciting and the characters delightful (aside from the villains, obviously). Nell’s sardonic grandfather provided a lot of laughs, and it was lovely to see the servants do their best to protect their new mistress. As for John’s friend Wilfred Babbacombe, I dearly wish Heyer had written a spin-off with him as the lead. Doesn’t he just have the greatest name?
Recommended for Heyer fans who are looking for something a little different.
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Witness this sly conversation he has with his mother:“Odious boy! The fact is that it is a thousand pities we are not living in archaic times. What you would have liked, my son, is to have rescued some female from a dragon, or an ogre!”
“Famous good sport to have a turn-up with a dragon,” he agreed. “As long as you didn’t find yourself with the girl left on your hands afterwards, which I’ve a strong notion those fellows did.”
“Such girls,” his mother reminded him, “were always very beautiful.”
“To be sure they were! Dead bores too, depend upon it! In fact, I shouldn’t be at all surprised if the dragons were very glad to get rid of them,” said John.
Although part of me wishes we could have seen more of the Staple tribe, particularly John’s mother (“Very true, my dear: all men are odiously provoking”), they are on the whole too dull a crowd for the retired army officer, and he quickly rides off seeking adventure. He finds it in the form of a mysterious toll-gate, manned by a young boy whose father went missing some hours before. John temporarily takes the gatekeeper’s place. Watching after the boy and attempting to solve the mystery of his father’s disappearance, John soon comes in contact with a troubled young heiress, a Bow Street runner, a highwayman, and a pair of crooks.
It seems that some Heyer fans take issue with the fact that the romance between John and Nell Stornaway tends to be subsumed by the humor, adventure, and mystery aspects of the story. This didn’t bother me at all; actually, it’s nice to see Heyer tackle something that’s not quite so centered on the love element. I really liked John and Nell, both individually and as a couple. However, I do have to admit that I thought their relationship went too far, too fast. After seeing each other five times they suddenly begin snogging and declaring their undying love for each other … and, moreover, pointing out the fact that it is only their fifth meeting. My suspension of disbelief took a blow at that point.
Otherwise, this is quite the rollicking yarn. Though the mystery may not be a mindbender worthy of Agatha Christie, it keeps you interested. The story is exciting and the characters delightful (aside from the villains, obviously). Nell’s sardonic grandfather provided a lot of laughs, and it was lovely to see the servants do their best to protect their new mistress. As for John’s friend Wilfred Babbacombe, I dearly wish Heyer had written a spin-off with him as the lead. Doesn’t he just have the greatest name?
Recommended for Heyer fans who are looking for something a little different.
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LibraryThing member riverwillow
Stopping at a Toll-Gate late one night Captain John Staples is concerned to find that the fate is being manned by a young boy, whose father has disappeared. Determined not to leave the boy alone John decides to stay. When the boy's father still hasn't returned in the morning, he extends his stay,
‘The Captain was spared the necessity of answering this question by the sudden irruption into the tap of Mr Nathaniel Coate, who had ridden into Crowford from the Manor, and now stormed into the Blue Boar, demanding the landlord in his stentorian accents. His fancy had prompted him to sport a striped toilinette waistcoat under a coat of corbeau-cloth, and this combination, worn as it was, with breeches of Angola-cloth and hunting-boots with white tops, so powerfully affected the Captain that for a full minute he sat with his tankard half-way to his mouth, and his gaze riveted to the astonishing vision. He felt stunned, and looked quite as stupid as he would have liked.’
Heyer plays with the genre as her characters fail to conform to expectations, Nell is not a typical ‘damsel in distress’, Chirk, the highwayman, isn’t romanticised in any way. What Heyer does do is set up an exciting adventure as John tries to get to the bottom of the Toll-Gate Keeper’s disappearance and help Nell.
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little knowing the adventures that working a Toll-Gate will bring, including falling in love with Nell, whose grandfather is about to die and leave her penniless and potentially at the mercy of her cousin and his 'up to knocker friend' Coate. An encounter with Coate provides one of the most hilarious moments in the book:‘The Captain was spared the necessity of answering this question by the sudden irruption into the tap of Mr Nathaniel Coate, who had ridden into Crowford from the Manor, and now stormed into the Blue Boar, demanding the landlord in his stentorian accents. His fancy had prompted him to sport a striped toilinette waistcoat under a coat of corbeau-cloth, and this combination, worn as it was, with breeches of Angola-cloth and hunting-boots with white tops, so powerfully affected the Captain that for a full minute he sat with his tankard half-way to his mouth, and his gaze riveted to the astonishing vision. He felt stunned, and looked quite as stupid as he would have liked.’
Heyer plays with the genre as her characters fail to conform to expectations, Nell is not a typical ‘damsel in distress’, Chirk, the highwayman, isn’t romanticised in any way. What Heyer does do is set up an exciting adventure as John tries to get to the bottom of the Toll-Gate Keeper’s disappearance and help Nell.
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LibraryThing member laura1814
Georgette Heyer’s novel The Toll Gate is a little different from her typical Regencies. It is more of a mystery than a romance, and is told primarily from the point of view of the hero.
The hero, Captain John Staple, shares several characteristics with Hugo Darracott of The Unknown Ajax. Like
If you haven’t read this novel before, there is one thing you definitely should know before reading it. The first chapter seems not to fit. It is a large family dinner party where John’s cousin, the Earl of Saltash, has called his relations together to meet his fiancé. Thus the first few pages are full of characters that are hardly thought of again after John escapes the party in Chapter Two. The reason for this is that Heyer initially planned to develop the mystery to involve John’s status as his cousin’s heir presumptive. Instead she went in quite a different direction. So when you read it, don’t worry about keeping any of the characters straight except John, and enjoy the rest as vignettes of Regency life.
Captain Staple, traveling cross-country through Derbyshire to put as many miles as possible between himself and Lord Saltash’s country seat, is caught in rain and darkness and finds himself at an isolated toll gate attended only by a frightened boy. His dad, the boy explains reluctantly, went off saying he’d be back in an hour but hadn’t returned. John decides to stay the night, and look for the gatekeeper in the morning. And from there, finds himself in an adventure, which is much more to his taste than dancing attendance on Lord Saltash and his prospective in-laws.
There is a romance, but it is very lightly handled: quite sweet and satisfying, but not highly developed. There is quite a bit of thieves’ cant, but it is generally intelligible from context (and if it isn’t, provides a wonderful opportunity to delve into a cant dictionary, several of which are freely available online). There are entertaining secondary characters, as in every Heyer novel, including a highwayman and a Bow Street Runner. There are moments of comic relief, but they are not the focus.
Some have criticized Heyer for failing to excise or re-write the first chapter, which hangs unevenly and sets up the expectation of seeing some of the characters again, or at least of the relevance of their existence. But on re-reading, I find that there is very little that could be excised cleanly. John’s interactions with the various family members and guests reveal parts of his history and his own character which are important background for his later actions. So the chapter couldn’t just be chopped out without material loss. It would have to be rewritten, and I think that the labor involved wouldn’t be worth the return.
I give this novel four out of five stars, not for any grievous faults, but because it does not sparkle as some of Heyer’s other novels. I still would rank it higher than most Regency-set novels by other authors, for its wonderful language and well-drawn characters, but for me—and I realize that this is a subjective opinion, but I am the one writing a review—it isn’t a top-tier Heyer novel.
The Sourcebooks edition is lovely, the only possible criticism of it being that the cover photo is eighteenth-century rather than post-Waterloo, but I am happy to report that I did not find a single printing error, not even a scanno!
Note: I wrote this review for Austenprose, where it was publised 9 October 2011.
The hero, Captain John Staple, shares several characteristics with Hugo Darracott of The Unknown Ajax. Like
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Hugo, John is a former army officer who sold out after Napoleon’s defeat—though in John’s case, he sold out after Leipzig, and when Napoleon escaped from Elba and began the Hundred Days, he rejoined and thus (like Hugo) was present at Waterloo. Like Hugo, John is a large man, six-foot-four, with a gentle manner, a sense of humor, and a great deal of intelligence that he sometimes hides behind an intentionally bovine manner. And like Hugo, John prefers to travel cross-country on horseback rather than in a chaise with a servant and piles of baggage. If you haven’t read this novel before, there is one thing you definitely should know before reading it. The first chapter seems not to fit. It is a large family dinner party where John’s cousin, the Earl of Saltash, has called his relations together to meet his fiancé. Thus the first few pages are full of characters that are hardly thought of again after John escapes the party in Chapter Two. The reason for this is that Heyer initially planned to develop the mystery to involve John’s status as his cousin’s heir presumptive. Instead she went in quite a different direction. So when you read it, don’t worry about keeping any of the characters straight except John, and enjoy the rest as vignettes of Regency life.
Captain Staple, traveling cross-country through Derbyshire to put as many miles as possible between himself and Lord Saltash’s country seat, is caught in rain and darkness and finds himself at an isolated toll gate attended only by a frightened boy. His dad, the boy explains reluctantly, went off saying he’d be back in an hour but hadn’t returned. John decides to stay the night, and look for the gatekeeper in the morning. And from there, finds himself in an adventure, which is much more to his taste than dancing attendance on Lord Saltash and his prospective in-laws.
There is a romance, but it is very lightly handled: quite sweet and satisfying, but not highly developed. There is quite a bit of thieves’ cant, but it is generally intelligible from context (and if it isn’t, provides a wonderful opportunity to delve into a cant dictionary, several of which are freely available online). There are entertaining secondary characters, as in every Heyer novel, including a highwayman and a Bow Street Runner. There are moments of comic relief, but they are not the focus.
Some have criticized Heyer for failing to excise or re-write the first chapter, which hangs unevenly and sets up the expectation of seeing some of the characters again, or at least of the relevance of their existence. But on re-reading, I find that there is very little that could be excised cleanly. John’s interactions with the various family members and guests reveal parts of his history and his own character which are important background for his later actions. So the chapter couldn’t just be chopped out without material loss. It would have to be rewritten, and I think that the labor involved wouldn’t be worth the return.
I give this novel four out of five stars, not for any grievous faults, but because it does not sparkle as some of Heyer’s other novels. I still would rank it higher than most Regency-set novels by other authors, for its wonderful language and well-drawn characters, but for me—and I realize that this is a subjective opinion, but I am the one writing a review—it isn’t a top-tier Heyer novel.
The Sourcebooks edition is lovely, the only possible criticism of it being that the cover photo is eighteenth-century rather than post-Waterloo, but I am happy to report that I did not find a single printing error, not even a scanno!
Note: I wrote this review for Austenprose, where it was publised 9 October 2011.
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LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26
Captain John Staple, whose adventurous spirit and uncommon daring had earned him the sobriquet "Crazy Jack," returns to England shortly after seeing action at the battle of Waterloo, but finds the peace somewhat tiresome. Never one to hesitate when a mystery presents itself, Jack finds himself
An entertaining adventure-romance, The Toll-Gate is another of Georgette Heyer's light-hearted romps - well-written and most engrossing. Here the reader will encounter some familiar characters, from the good-hearted highwayman to the faithful family retainers. My only real complaint lies in the fact that Nell Stornaway, who makes a wonderful heroine, is under-utilized. I would have liked to see more of her...
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playing the role of toll-gate keeper when chance takes him to a remote part of Derbyshire... But what had become of the real gate-keeper, Ned Bream? What mischief had Mr. Henry Stornaway and his disreputable companion, Nat Coate, gotten up to? And most of all, how was Jack to protect the dashing and well-proportioned Miss Nell Stornaway, with whom he had fallen instantly in love?An entertaining adventure-romance, The Toll-Gate is another of Georgette Heyer's light-hearted romps - well-written and most engrossing. Here the reader will encounter some familiar characters, from the good-hearted highwayman to the faithful family retainers. My only real complaint lies in the fact that Nell Stornaway, who makes a wonderful heroine, is under-utilized. I would have liked to see more of her...
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LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
That's a great story. It's a romance, and a mystery, and a great story of just ordinary goings-on - Jack dealing with living as a gate-keeper is as much fun and importance to the story as figuring out what Henry and Coates are up to and dealing with the problem. Jack is wonderful, so is Nell (wish
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there were more about them - I'd have liked to see their married life); Bab is a lovely foil, as are Chirk, Rose, Lydd, and even Stogumber. Great characters, great setting, fun story and a lovely ending. Sehr gut. Show Less
LibraryThing member phoebesmum
One of Heyer’s more dramatic offerings: highwaymen, Bow Street Runners, stolen bullion, and a large, phlegmatic former Army officer who is more than a match for all of them
LibraryThing member katekf
The main character of this book is just out of the army where he was known as Crazy Jack because nothing ever goes simply for him. The story starts as he's riding to visit a friend and then stops at a toll in the middle of the night because the gatekeeper's missing and ends up comforting and
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protecting his worried son. There's brilliant use of thieves' cant, a romance between two quite well-suited people, a highwayman that wants to be a farmer, a mystery including something hidden in a cave and an old man who will have things his way. If you've never read Heyer, this is a great way to start as it has all the best elements of her books; believable romance, wonderful feel for the Regency era, humor and beautiful language. Show Less
LibraryThing member shojo_a
I really loved this one. My mother, who I introduced to Heyer a few years ago, read it before me and recommended it, commenting that it was interesting to see things through a man's pov. I agree with her. I've read several Heyers told through the hero's pov, but this one was very refreshing,
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because it doesn't deal with any of the matters of the ton, like usual. I think that John is now my favorite hero of Heyer's, with his matter of fact way of fixing things and his devil for mischief. Show Less
LibraryThing member shojo_a
I really loved this one. My mother, who I introduced to Heyer a few years ago, read it before me and recommended it, commenting that it was interesting to see things through a man's pov. I agree with her. I've read several Heyers told through the hero's pov, but this one was very refreshing,
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because it doesn't deal with any of the matters of the ton, like usual. I think that John is now my favorite hero of Heyer's, with his matter of fact way of fixing things and his devil for mischief. Show Less
LibraryThing member auntieknickers
I think this may be my favorite of the Georgette Heyer books I've read. The love story part is charming, but free of the misunderstandings that so often crop up in Heyer's romances; and there is enough mystery and action in the story to satisfy anyone. The date is approximately 1817; Jack Staple,
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the protagonist (well, let's just call him the hero, which he is), not interested in being in a peacetime army, has sold out his commission and is getting some pressure to marry from his mother and sister. Escaping his cousin the Earl's deadly-dull engagement party, he sets off across-country to visit a friend. Becoming lost, he encounters a toll-gate guarded, most unusually, by a young boy. He ends up staying the night, after young Ben tells him that his father, the gate-keeper, has been unaccountably absent for a few days. That might have been the end, had he not encountered Miss Nell Stornaway, granddaughter of the local Squire, on her way to church, and fallen in love. The combination of love, mystery and adventure is too much for Jack to resist, and (taking Nell into his confidence) he pretends to be the gate-keeper's cousin and takes over the duties, masquerading as an ex-trooper of a much lower social status. There is plenty of excitement and interesting characters, as well as a setting in the wilds of Derbyshire. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member Condorena
This particular book is one of the slow reading ones of the regency tales. There is a mystery in the background but the denouement is what was expected. It was still enjoyable for all that.
LibraryThing member poonamsharma
This hardly seems like a romantic novel. love at first sight. No conflict in romance. Only loose threads have to be tied to preserve reputations in view of an concurrent robbery of new gold currency.
LibraryThing member MusicMom41
Captain John Staple leaves a very dull house party to go visit a friend for hunting. Taking a short cut his horse throws a shoe and then it begins to downpour. By now it is after dark and searching for a farmhouse to take shelter in he comes across a toll gate being manned by a very young,
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frightened boy. His dad is the gate keeper and he has disappeared. John decides to stay the night at the gate house and keep the boy company. In the morning, when she passes through the gate to go to church, John meets the Squire’s granddaughter, a strong and strong minded young woman who has been acting as squire since her grandfather had a stroke and he decides maybe he’ll stay a while and find out what is going on. This is one of Heyer’s most delightful historical stories with both romance and mystery. We have villains and swells and a highwayman (who isn’t a villain) and even a Bow Street Runner on special assignment. Pure escapism with laughs. Show Less
LibraryThing member antiquary
A Napoleonic veteran finds a young boy in charge of a tollgate and is drawn into conflict with smugglers. One of Heyer's very best. There is another of Heyer's deathbed marriage scenes.
LibraryThing member Helenliz
This is not necessarily what you think of when you pick up a Regency Romance. It starts conventionally enough, with an engagement party at the estate of the Earl of Saltash. But from there is rapidly becomes apparent that it's not the Earl that's the focus of the story, it's his dashing,
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devil-may-care cousin John Staples. He starts out to visit a friend, and ends up staying in a Toll-gate house. Ben's father (the gate keeper) has vanshed and the boy is terrified. John - always out for adventure, or at least something out of the ordinary, is intrigued and hangs around for a while to get to the bottom of it. All sorts of characters turn up, the Squire's grandaughter, her maid, the groom, the landlord, the local highwayman, the works really. It's a real ensemble piece. There is a mystery to be got to the bottom of, as well as a romance to resolve. And it all does so in a most satisfactory way. Maybe a little bit too pat on the mystery, but the plot is involved enough for this not to be in the least bit predictable. The only gripe was the use of slang - a lot of which left me somewhat lost. I think I got the gist, but it didn't always make a great deal of sense at the first pass. Show Less
LibraryThing member Murphy-Jacobs
One of my favorite Heyer books, with a rip-roaring adventure and mystery plunked down in the center, with a little love at first sight wrapped around it. I listen to the audio version like one listens to music, and still laugh at the humor and thrill to the danger.
LibraryThing member quiBee
An enjoyable reread of a favourite author, very well narrated
LibraryThing member wealhtheowwylfing
John "Crazy Jack" Staple is rich, well-bred and, since the end of the Napoleonic wars, bored. A chance meeting at a toll-gate with the beautiful granddaughter of the local squire leads Jack to stay in a small village. While he woos Nell, he notices a number of unlikely coincidences...and eventually
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figures out a deadly local plot. Although I liked both Nell and Jack, and thought them well-matched, Nell basically disappears after the first third of the novel. The rest of it is Jack's adventures with the local criminals, which are particularly annoying due to the heavy dose of "theives' cant" they provide. Heyer's novels would have been greatly improved if at least half the Regency slang was removed. This is a better Heyer romance than many, but not the best. Show Less
LibraryThing member PhilSyphe
Found this to be quite serious for a Heyer novel. I missed the type of humour that one normally expects to find. The plot itself was fine but needed more sparkle.
LibraryThing member nbmars
This Regency romance by Georgette Heyer employs a great deal of “flash-patter” slang, which apparently actually originated in Derbyshire, a county in the East Midlands of England and the setting for this novel. [There is an interesting history of how flash patter arose in An Analytic Dictionary
This story is also unusual in that the focus is on the hero rather than the heroine. Twenty-nine-year-old Captain John (called Jack) Staple is tall, handsome, genial, and honorable. He was a Captain in the Dragoon Guards, but now is mustered out and is at loose ends, and loathe to be bored by the strictures of formal society. He is also bored by women who have no spirit and no interests broader than advancing in society, and so he has remained unmarried. But that is all about to change.
Jack, riding off to visit his best friend, gets a bit lost, and ends up staying at a toll-gate house manned only by ten-year-old Ben Brean, acting for his father, who has gone missing. Ben is scared, and Jack agrees to stay and help out, as much for a lark as anything. But before long he is called to take a toll from 26-year-old local Nell Stornaway, clearly as independent as possible for a woman to be at that time, and with no care for propriety. They are both tall, but Jack is taller. It’s love at first sight.
So Jack decides to stay longer, and soon gets embroiled in “an excellent adventure” related to the disappearance of Ben’s father, that is not, however, without mortal peril for Jack. There are some fun side plots involving the humorous character of Jeremy Chirk, who is a highway robber but a good man, and who is in love with Nell’s former nursemaid Rose. There is also the delightful character of Nell’s grandfather, and the rather less savory characters of Nell's cousin Henry and his friend Coates. But they are all entertaining, each in his own way.
Jack devises a way to fix everything aright - that is, unless he is killed.
Evaluation: This book, like others I have read by Heyer, is very fun, and reminiscent of the “screwball comedy/romances” of old movies. My only quibble with this book is that Jack’s declaration of love for Nell was so swift I thought he was having another of his larks. Besides being heralded as the true source of "Regency Romances", Heyer should definitely receive notice for making "InstaLove" a plot feature as well.
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of the English Etymology: An Introduction by Anatoly Liberman.] Heyer provides no glossary for this slang, but it’s easy enough to get the gist of the dialogue. I also remembered some from the books by Lyndsay Faye set in 19th Century New York, where flash patter was the street argot of the era, especially because Faye did include a glossary with her books.This story is also unusual in that the focus is on the hero rather than the heroine. Twenty-nine-year-old Captain John (called Jack) Staple is tall, handsome, genial, and honorable. He was a Captain in the Dragoon Guards, but now is mustered out and is at loose ends, and loathe to be bored by the strictures of formal society. He is also bored by women who have no spirit and no interests broader than advancing in society, and so he has remained unmarried. But that is all about to change.
Jack, riding off to visit his best friend, gets a bit lost, and ends up staying at a toll-gate house manned only by ten-year-old Ben Brean, acting for his father, who has gone missing. Ben is scared, and Jack agrees to stay and help out, as much for a lark as anything. But before long he is called to take a toll from 26-year-old local Nell Stornaway, clearly as independent as possible for a woman to be at that time, and with no care for propriety. They are both tall, but Jack is taller. It’s love at first sight.
So Jack decides to stay longer, and soon gets embroiled in “an excellent adventure” related to the disappearance of Ben’s father, that is not, however, without mortal peril for Jack. There are some fun side plots involving the humorous character of Jeremy Chirk, who is a highway robber but a good man, and who is in love with Nell’s former nursemaid Rose. There is also the delightful character of Nell’s grandfather, and the rather less savory characters of Nell's cousin Henry and his friend Coates. But they are all entertaining, each in his own way.
Jack devises a way to fix everything aright - that is, unless he is killed.
Evaluation: This book, like others I have read by Heyer, is very fun, and reminiscent of the “screwball comedy/romances” of old movies. My only quibble with this book is that Jack’s declaration of love for Nell was so swift I thought he was having another of his larks. Besides being heralded as the true source of "Regency Romances", Heyer should definitely receive notice for making "InstaLove" a plot feature as well.
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LibraryThing member SandyAMcPherson
John Staple, a captain in the Dragoon Guards, is recently discharged after the Battle of Waterloo. He faces a boring civilian life and restlessly travels until he discovers a mystery at a remote toll gate. The story is amusing and rollicking with enough chicanery to be entertaining.
LibraryThing member MelissaLenhardt
I might be biased because I just listened to The Grand Sophy, which is my favorite Heyer, but The Toll-Gate didn't live up to my expectations. The hero and heroine were likable enough, and their romance was nice, though rushed and not as well developed as others. But, The Toll-Gate is more mystery
My biggest problem was with the talking. There was too much wondering and questioning and postulating and speculating about the resolution of the mystery, which is a weakness of many a mystery and is easily skimmable. Then there's the slang. Almost the entire dialogue is written in Regency vernacular. Heyer has her little slang phrases that make it into every novel (numerous times) but there were snatches of dialogue in The Toll-Gate where she strung four or five slang phrases to create a sentence that was absolutely incomprehensible. This book was populated with more of the working class, which explains her choice, but there is a fine line between writing era appropriate dialogue and confusing your reader. Heyer went with confusion.
The Toll-Gate isn't terrible, but of her Regency Romances I wouldn't recommend it first.
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than romance, and one where the who is never in question, only the what and how. It all came together well enough, and the climactic scene was truly nail-biting, but I'm not reading a Heyer Regency for mystery, but the romance.My biggest problem was with the talking. There was too much wondering and questioning and postulating and speculating about the resolution of the mystery, which is a weakness of many a mystery and is easily skimmable. Then there's the slang. Almost the entire dialogue is written in Regency vernacular. Heyer has her little slang phrases that make it into every novel (numerous times) but there were snatches of dialogue in The Toll-Gate where she strung four or five slang phrases to create a sentence that was absolutely incomprehensible. This book was populated with more of the working class, which explains her choice, but there is a fine line between writing era appropriate dialogue and confusing your reader. Heyer went with confusion.
The Toll-Gate isn't terrible, but of her Regency Romances I wouldn't recommend it first.
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LibraryThing member shadrachanki
While I enjoyed reading this book, I found it to be somewhat slow going. Captain John Staple was very entertaining, but I felt like I never got a particularly good feel for Miss Nell. Certainly their relationship came about rather faster than I really think is possible, but that's likely as not a
The mystery (or rather, mysteries) within the book was interesting, but I did get a bit frustrated when it seemed like certain facts were being withheld from the reader in order to increase the mystery. There was enough to piece things together at the end, but during the process of the story I felt as though I was being led about.
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reflection of the genre.The mystery (or rather, mysteries) within the book was interesting, but I did get a bit frustrated when it seemed like certain facts were being withheld from the reader in order to increase the mystery. There was enough to piece things together at the end, but during the process of the story I felt as though I was being led about.
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LibraryThing member murderbydeath
Well, that was a fun, funny, and tedious read. I was both entertained and exasperated, and not a little impatient, the entire time I read it. I’m not quite sure how that works; it’s a first for me.
The book starts off at a house party to celebrate the 6th Earl of Saltash’s engagement. Other
Staple gets a late start, and gets caught in a storm that leaves him lost in the moors, until he finds himself at a toll-gate, late at night, being run by a terrified 10 year old boy. Looking for a place to shelter, Staple stops, and learns that the boy’s father, the real toll-keeper, was only supposed to be gone an hour but never came back. The next morning, Staple experiences love at first sight when he lays eyes on a woman, the squire’s daughter, passing through the gate on her way to church. Needing an excuse to stay, Staple tells the boy he’ll stick around to figure out what happened to his father, intending to woo the squire’s daughter at the same time.
What unfolds is a bit of a rollicking adventure that was almost entirely ruined by Heyer’s heavy use of obscure British slang and vernacular.
“Prigged his tattler, too, but I sold that. I’m a great one for a pinch o’ merry-go-up, and this little box just happened to take my fancy, and I’ve kept it. I daresay I’d get a double finnup for it, too,” he added.”
In context, I can ascertain the speaker is referencing a theft, but the entire book is written like this, which is what makes this well-plotted adventure so damn tedious. By midway through the book, I got the impression that Heyer was purposefully laying it on as thickly as possible, either to prove something to herself, or torture her editors and readers. Perhaps at the time of publication, readers wouldn’t have struggled with the senseless dialog, but I’d have appreciated a glossary – or perhaps just a great deal less verisimilitude.
The book starts off at a house party to celebrate the 6th Earl of Saltash’s engagement. Other
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than the fact that Captain Staple is at the party, it and all the details and characters involved have absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the book and never again come into play. So the first chapter and half of the second are entirely irrelevant. It’s only once Captain Staple leaves the house party that the story really begins.Staple gets a late start, and gets caught in a storm that leaves him lost in the moors, until he finds himself at a toll-gate, late at night, being run by a terrified 10 year old boy. Looking for a place to shelter, Staple stops, and learns that the boy’s father, the real toll-keeper, was only supposed to be gone an hour but never came back. The next morning, Staple experiences love at first sight when he lays eyes on a woman, the squire’s daughter, passing through the gate on her way to church. Needing an excuse to stay, Staple tells the boy he’ll stick around to figure out what happened to his father, intending to woo the squire’s daughter at the same time.
What unfolds is a bit of a rollicking adventure that was almost entirely ruined by Heyer’s heavy use of obscure British slang and vernacular.
“Prigged his tattler, too, but I sold that. I’m a great one for a pinch o’ merry-go-up, and this little box just happened to take my fancy, and I’ve kept it. I daresay I’d get a double finnup for it, too,” he added.”
In context, I can ascertain the speaker is referencing a theft, but the entire book is written like this, which is what makes this well-plotted adventure so damn tedious. By midway through the book, I got the impression that Heyer was purposefully laying it on as thickly as possible, either to prove something to herself, or torture her editors and readers. Perhaps at the time of publication, readers wouldn’t have struggled with the senseless dialog, but I’d have appreciated a glossary – or perhaps just a great deal less verisimilitude.
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LibraryThing member Figgles
At work we do the Guardian Crossword together at lunch and recently the answer to one clue was "toll gate" and that set two of us off reminiscing about this charming book. So, I've re-read it and found my memory not at fault. A lovely romance between two unfashionably large (but delightful) people
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set against a mystery, with lots of thieves' cant to enliven the dialog -and a lovelorn highwayman amongst the characters - makes for great fun (although an alarmingly high body count at the end is brushed off lightly to facilitate a happy ending!) Show Less
Language
Original publication date
1954
Physical description
313 p.; 21 cm
ISBN
1402238819 / 9781402238819