Bestselling author Georgette Heyer, the Queen of Regency Romance, proves once again that love can always triumph. Abigail Wendover, 'on the shelf' at twenty-eight…is determined to prevent her pretty and high-spirited niece from becoming attached to a good-looking town-beau and an acknowledged fortune-hunter of shocking reputation. Unfortunately, that means a confrontation with his scandalous uncle. Miles Calverleigh, the black sheep of his family, is enormously rich from a long sojourn in India, has a scandalous past, and is not at all inclined toward good manners. Miles turns out to be the most provoking creature Abigail has ever met―with a disconcerting ability to throw her into giggles at quite the wrong moment… Could he be Abby's most important ally in keeping her niece from a most unfortunate match? Praise for Georgette Heyer: "Reading Georgette Heyer is the next best thing to reading Jane Austen."― Publishers Weekly "A writer of great wit and style… I've read her books to ragged shreds."―Kate Fenton, Daily Telegraph "Her books are always bestsellers, but none has dominated the rest of the field quite like this one."― Sunday Express "Hope never dies in a Georgette Heyer novel, and love is always triumphant." ― Journal of the Lincoln Heights Literary Society "This will not be my last Georgette Heyer novel. I look forward to reading some of her other books, but Black Sheep has definitely found its way onto my keeper-shelf." ― Queue My Review " I finished the book feeling the complete satisfaction that only a good read can leave you with." ― Once Upon a Bookshelf "And the end? It’s perfect. I don’t think that I’ve enjoyed a Heyer ending more, and that’s saying a lot since they’re all good. Black Sheep is now one of my all time favorites and even though I’ve just finished it I think I might have to read it again. It’s that good." ― Blog Critics " Black Sheep is a very entertaining and humorous regency romance filled with unique characters and great period flare. Georgette Heyer brings the regency period to life and makes the reader fill as though, she has stepped through time into regency Bath..." ― Once Upon a Romance Abigail Wendover is adept at managing her silly sister, her lively niece, and a host of admirers, but with the arrival at Bath of Miles Caverleigh, an outrageous cynic with a scandalous past, she has less success at managing her own unruly heart. Georgette Heyer's novels have charmed and delighted millions of readers for decades. English Heritage has awarded Georgette Heyer one of their prestigious Blue Plaques, designating her Wimbledon home as the residence of an important figure in British history. She was born in Wimbledon in August 1902. She wrote her first novel, The Black Moth, at the age of seventeen to amuse her convalescent brother; it was published in 1921 and became an instant success. Heyer published 56 books over the next 53 years, until her death from lung cancer in 1974. Her last book, My Lord John, was published posthumously in 1975. A very private woman, she rarely reached out to the public to discuss her works or personal life. Her work included Regency romances, mysteries and historical fiction. Known as the Queen of Regency romance, Heyer was legendary for her research, historical accuracy and her extraordinary plots and characterizations. She was married to George Ronald Rougier, a barrister, and they had one son, Richard. One A little before eight o'clock, at the close of a damp autumn day, a post-chaise entered Bath, on the London Road, and presently drew up outside a house in Sydney Place. It was a hired vehicle, but it was drawn by four horses, and there was nothing in the appearance of the lady who occupied it to suggest that a private chaise, with her own postilions, would have been rather beyond her touch. She was accompanied by a middle-aged maid; and she was attired in an olive-green redingote of twilled silk which so exactly fitted her admirable figure that any female, beholding it, would have recognised at a glance that it had been made for her by a modiste of the first stare. It combined the simplicity of a garment designed for travel with an elegance only rivalled by the hat which becomingly framed Miss Abigail Wendover's face. No curled plumes or bunches of flowers adorned this confection: it was made of gros de Naples, bound with a satin ribbon; its poke was moderate, and its crown shallow; but it was as fashionable as the redingote. The face beneath it was neither that of a girl in her first bloom, nor that of an accredited beauty, but it held an elusive charm which was centred in the lady's eyes, and the shy laughter which lurked in them. They were gray, and they held a great deal of intelligence; but her other features were not remarkable, her mouth being too large for beauty, her nose too far removed from the classical, and her chin rather too resolute. Her hair was neither fashionably dark nor angelically fair, but of a soft brow