These Old Shades

These Old Shades (1926) is a Georgian (set around 1756) romance novel written by British novelist Georgette Heyer (1902-1974). It was an instant success, and established her as a writer.

Plot summary

The wealthy and powerful British Duke of Avon buys a young boy, Leon, suspecting that the child is being mistreated by his older brother; the Duke is also struck by the boy's unusual colouring, which reminds him of his enemy's red hair and dark brows. Making the boy his page, the Duke wins the child's devotion, much to the amusement of his friends, who find the Duke forbidding, selfish, and sometimes cruel. When it is revealed that Leon is actually Leonie, the Duke adopts the spirited, winsome girl as his ward and introduces her into society. Intrigue, romance, and the trademark Heyer wit ensue. Devil's Cub follows up where These Old Shades left off. An Infamous Army completes the story with the Duke of Avon's great-granddaughter marrying the Hero of An Infamous Army. An Infamous Army is itself a sequel to Regency Buck. These Old Shades is itself a sequel. Heyer's first novel The Black Moth was a melodrama and as a 'sequel' per se would not work in with the plot, she renamed many characters and made them 'shades' of their former selves for These Old Shades.