Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander

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Ann Herendeen
Harpercollins, 2007

It’s safe to say Ann Herendeen has written a Regency novel unlike any that has come before. Oh, all the outward elements are there: the feisty, penniless heroine, a debauched, wealthy scion of the nobility, a host of engaging secondary characters, and all the glittering finery of the ton. Any reader even vaguely familiar with this particular sub-genre of romance will feel confident plotting the thing’s conclusion: feisty heroine wins wastrel scion’s heart and achieves the Holy Grail of all Regency romances – a good match.

This is Herendeen’s first novel, but even so, she clearly has no intention of doing what long-time Regency romance readers expect. She has the feisty, penniless heroine, Phyllida Lewis, as assured and laugh-inducing creation as anything Kathleen Woodiwiss ever dreamt up. And she has the debauched heir to an earldom, Andrew Carrington. She has the host of interesting secondary characters, and she’s done a great deal of research on the Regency period. But there, quite delightfully, it ends.

Phyllida makes her match, but it’s on Carrington’s terms – and Carrington, a thorough-going member of the eponymous Brotherhood of Philander, has ideas endemic to that society, and they don’t exactly include having sex with women. Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander comes bursting through a door in Regency romance that previously Diana Gabaldon’s Lord John books had only knocked upon politely:

Richard Carrington was worried, and he didn’t enjoy the feeling. It wasn’t like Andrew to be evasive and polite; it wasn’t like Phyllida, what he knew of her, to hide in her budoir and not receive callers; that weaselly secretary of Andrew’s got on his nerves; and he was tired of living on credit. He dressed with unusual attention to fashion, had his man spend a good half hour on his hair and gave him free rein with the cravat. Having prepared as best he could, he walked slowly to Park Lane and then presented his card to the suspicious heavyweight on the door. The damn brute made him wait.

Impossibly, wonderfully, the book has a happy ending. Read Herendeen to find out how, and then keep an eye on her.

–Steve Donoghue