A review by katdid
Banishment by M.C. Beaton

3.0

I read a LOT of Marion Chesney as a youngster, because even then I loved the Regency period and because her books were available to me at the local libraries. Are they good? Not really, like Heyer Lite (VERY lite) and extremely formulaic: there's always some kind of older (not always wiser) character who either provides a crutch to the heroine (the males) or is a figure of fun (the females); there's usually six somethings (sisters; consecutive inhabitants of a house; etc.); and -- SPOILER! -- the last of them will trump them all and end up marrying a duke!!1! This series has the dependable male figure (servant Barry); the six beautiful sisters; and increasingly high-status marriages. One thing that cracked me up was villainous Judd talking about pulling down the temple at Mannerling, building a ruin, and making John the servant pretend to be a hermit to amuse visitors (and also because John was a bit too uppity) -- I gather that was actually a thing during the period, but the cavalier way it was thrown in was quite funny.