The Trouble with Henry

I've finished Henry Esmond last week. It was really funny. I can't explain why without spoiling the ending for anyone who wants to read it but NO-ONE reads Thackeray anymore so I guess it doesn't matter... that much...

All right. Sigh...

SPOILER ALERT:
Towards the end of Queen Anne's reign, there was all this manoeuvring between about who should inherit the throne: a distant relative from Germany called George or her brother who was Catholic who would have been crowned James III. The main characters in the book were hugely loyal to James and instigated a cunning plot to bring him over from France to be on the spot when Queen Anne was ill so she could name him her heir (sidestepping Parliament etc) but he was a MOST unpleasant young man and, having nothing better to go while lying low in a mansion, propositioned the young lady of the house. To protect her virtue, her rellies sent her to the country but he found out where she was and followed. He was still trying to get his wicked way the day several hundred armed followers assembled to march on Parliament or the Tower or somewhere important and declare him the King the minute Queen Anne died. Which she promptly did. Without James being there to stake his claim, the other guy's supporters declared him King George I. James's supporters disappeated, James felt like a right wally and the young woman (who probably encouraged him) preserved her vitue. And the Esmonds were much happier about the new King than they would have been if they hadn't started the whole treasonous enterprise.

END SPOILER

The trouble with the book was that I think he started off thinking he was going to get his hero to America about halfway through it and then got sidetracked by some plot developments. So we never quite work out how they get on carving a plantation out of Virginia or anything. Oh and he make an extremely improbable marriage! But it was funny in places and I enjoyed it enough to keep looking for books of his I haven't read.