Narrated by Davina Porter

I read lots of Victoria Holt’s gothic romances when I was in my twenties.  I still have several battered old paperbacks sitting on my shelves, of which The Devil on Horseback is one, although I haven’t read it for quite some time. But when I saw it was one of the – sadly few – titles available in audiobook format, I pounced on it eagerly. The Devil on Horseback is narrated by Davina Porter, who I am sure many will recognize as the voice of the Outlander series (although I confess this is my first time listening to her). But I liked her voice in the sample I listened to; her precise delivery seemed perfect for a young, well-bred English lady of the eighteenth century, and I was intrigued to learn how she would handle the rest of the characters, the majority of whom are French.

The protagonist is nineteen-year-old Minella Maddox, daughter of a widowed schoolmistress. She and her mother run a small girls’ school near the estate of Sir John Derringham and his family. Minella helps her mother with the teaching and befriends one of the pupils, Margot, daughter of the enigmatic Comte Fontaine-Delibes. Minella also attracts the attention of Joel Derringham, heir to the Derringham estate, something which thrills her mother, but which is not welcomed by the young man’s parents. Davina Porter does a good job in differentiating the voices of the two Derringham men, and of Joel’s two sisters, one of whom is clearly a lot friendlier than the other. She gives Margot a slightly husky quality and I could actually see her facial expressions in my mind on those occasions she was being dismissive (oh, the utility of the wonderful Gallic shrug) or mischievous.

When Minella’s mother dies and the school begins to fail, she realizes she is going to have to find some other way to support herself financially. Joel is sent away on the Grand Tour, but a lifeline is thrown to her in a roundabout way by Margot, who has disgraced herself by having an affair with one of the estate workers and is going to have his child. The Comte offers Minella a solution to her dilemma – travel to France with Margot and remain with her in seclusion until the baby is born, and then accompany her to Castle Sylvain as her companion.

Minella accepts, somewhat reluctantly. The Comte is already a figure of fascination for her, with his air of danger and handsome, dark looks – but he is married and, although she is aware of his interest in her, has no desire to become his mistress. (I feel I should point out that although the Comte is Margot’s father, she is a couple of years younger than Minella – he was seventeen when she was born; so although there’s a fourteen or fifteen year age gap between them, it’s no bigger than that found in many other historical romances.)

It soon becomes clear that the Comte’s feelings for Minella run deeper than she suspects and when his wife dies unexpectedly, he falls immediately under suspicion. Minella is torn and even though she has fallen in love with him, she cannot quite believe in his innocence, especially in the face of the constant gibes and comments of the members of the household.

The story is long, complex and incredibly entertaining, all set against the backdrop of the highly-charged undercurrents that are running through French society – and given the story is set mostly in 1789, it’s not difficult to work out where things are heading.

Holt’s gothics are told in the first person and are very heroine-centric. By that I mean that although there is a strong romantic element in her books, the hero is often a rather distanced, enigmatic figure. If you’re someone who doesn’t like it when the central couple spends quite a lot of time apart, then her books might not be for you.

But what Holt does so well is to gradually build up a fascinating and detailed picture of the heroine’s life and the events in which she takes part. She takes the time to set the scene and bring the reader/listener fully into the heroine’s world, through her attention to period detail and her ability to tell a good story. At the risk of making a sweeping generalization, the majority of romance novels today tend to introduce the hero and heroine to the story (and to each other) fairly quickly, and stories are often told from both their points of view. By limiting herself to the heroine’s point of view only, Holt’s heroes tend to remain rather peripheral, even though her skill as a writer still enables us to learn something about their thoughts and motivations.

The use of first person narration also means that the choice of performer for an audiobook of one of Holt’s titles is crucial, as there is a lot of description and introspection in the books, which need to be voiced consistently and naturally – and most importantly in a way that remains engaging to the listener.

Overall, I enjoyed Ms. Porter’s performance. She did an excellent job with the female characters and the proliferation of French accents; and Minella came across with just the right degree of youth and backbone. She sustained the narrative passages with aplomb and really bought them to life, but I felt she was less successful with the male voices. She took the Comte to such a low register that it sounded almost as though she was struggling to sustain it at that pitch, although I do think that she caught his sardonic nature rather well for the most part, and brought a pleasant softness to his tone when flirting with Minella. I also found it difficult to immediately recognize which of the other male characters was speaking when there was more than one in any particular scene.

My biggest problem with the story was with the way that Minella kept asking the Comte for “more time” to make her decision as to whether to marry him, even though it was clear she loved him and she was secure about his feelings for her. It takes a cataclysmic event – the storming of the Bastille (the advent of the French Revolution) for her to admit to herself that she had been stupid to deny them even a little time together and that it’s something she will regret for the rest of her life. Help, however, comes from a very unexpected quarter… and that’s all I’ll say about the plot, because the end is a real nail-biter!

But even with the reservations I’ve expressed, The Devil on Horseback was entertaining and suspenseful and I have no hesitation in recommending it to listeners who enjoy well-crafted stories packed with engaging characters, adventure and period flavour.

Caz

Narration:  A-

Book Content:  B+

Steam Factor:  You can play it out loud

Violence:  None

Genre:  Historical Romance

Publisher:  Recorded Books