All for Love

All for Love was originally published as Savannah Purchase in 1971 and seems to have been out of print for a little while. I'm very glad that Agora Books have brought it back, and kindly allowed me a copy via Netgalley, because it was a real romp of a read - I stayed up late and then finished it in one blissful gulp this morning, as part of my mini Aikenfest.
Juliet and Josephine are cousins so alike that they've often, in childhood, swapped roles. They've been apart for some years, though both have moved to Savannah from France, where both had been involved in the French-English war that saw Napoleon exiled to St Helena. As their story begins their circumstances are very different - Juliet has just lost her father and is living in miserable poverty, while Josephine has married a wealthy landowner, Hyde Purchis. (This is in fact the third book in a Purchis family saga but since, I think, it introduces Juliet and Josephine as new characters, can perfectly well be read as a standalone.)
Josephine, we learn, was rescued by her husband from an unspecified-but-dire situation in France where they conducted a mariage de convenance. Thus she has little compunction about persuading her cousin to take her place while she sets off on a wild scheme to rescue her hero Napoleon. Juliet reluctantly allows herself to be drawn into this plot on condition that she will be able to return to France to start a new life. Once in the Purchis household, of course, she faces a series of challenges, since however alike the cousins look, it is impossible to predict all eventualities. Josephine's wayward habits and extravagance contrast with Juliet's quiet and caring manners, though at times she manages a bravura performance as her selfish cousin. How it all plays out I leave the reader to discover.
Having just read and reviewed Maulever Hall, a typically English Regency bit of gothic fun, I enjoyed the shift to Southern Gothic in All for Love. It's a sort of Georgette Heyer-meets-Anya Seton kind of book. Some years ago I re-read Dragonwyck, which I had remembered from my teens as a dark and brooding sort of affair, and on re-acquaintance was struck by how much the hot southern sun kept intruding to lighten the atmosphere. It's the same here - to my surprise I almost wanted more histrionics. Perhaps you can't do Southern Gothic without vampires? But that notwithstanding, I enjoyed All for Love very much, and boy, but I'm loving some of the Agora reprints - through them I've discovered such writers George Bellairs and Richard Hull, filled some Allingham gaps, and have a feast of Jane Aiken Hodge's books still to come. In fact, I have a feeling that their list is going to keep me pretty busy for the next 12 months or so, and use up most of my book budget.

This was a great read, as it was easy to picture the tie period due to the author's detailed writing.  The characters were well developed and the plot flowed.

Although I’ve read books by Jane Aiken Hodge, I didn’t realise she had written so many regency romances. This one is set in Savannah in the early nineteenth century. Two cousins, Josephine and Juliet, as alike as twins, have moved to America from France. Josephine has married a rich man, while Juliet is destitute after the death of her father. Josephine has a hare- brained scheme which leads to many unforeseen complications. The setting is unusual and the book is frothy fun. I’d like to read some more of these.

A Georgian RomCom of the Georgette Heyer ilk. Two French almost identical cousins living under very different circumstances. One, Josephine, is theoretically married to a southern gentleman and now living the life of luxury. The other, Juliet, is penniless after the death of her reprobate father. Josephine is set on a course to return to Europe, rescue Napoleon and save France. She determines that Juliet will take her place and the reader can imagine the ensuing story. The two girls may look alike but are very different characters of course. The one headstrong, self serving and arrogant with the other the complete opposite. The main characters are all built well and one can imagine the Savannah Society of the day. The servants add to the mix and support Juliet nicely. The sight and sounds and social nuances of the southern States are well written and the author has clearly done her homework. Of course it all ends happily for both girls and although the ending is predictable the route to it was not so much. I well remember reading these books in the late 60s and early 70s. I'm sure that there will be a new, or perhaps not so new, readership for these re-issues. Light reading for a grey rainy day. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher fro a review copy in return for my personal thoughts about the book.