Lady Whistledown...

Continuing with my plans to reread old favourites I am now in the middle of The Viscount Who Loved Me.

One of the things I loved the most about Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series was the news that Lady Whistledown wrote and how we were kept guessing at her identity on the first books. Whatever flaws I may now find in Quinn's work with Lady Whistledown she managed to create in her readers such a big expectation that I remember when the several groups I was a part of at the time were all trying to guess at the lady's identity and if it would be revealed in the next book. I never came across such enthusiasm again!

In TWLM Lady Whistledown begins by writing about the nature of rakes:

The topic of rakes has, of course, been previously discussed in this column, and This Author has come to the conclusion that there are rakes, and there are Rakes.

Anthony Bridgerton is a Rake.

A rake (lower-case) is youthful and immature. He flaunts his exploits, behaves with utmost idiocy, and thinks himself dangerous to women.

A Rake (upper-case) knows he is dangerous to women.

He doesn't flaunt his exploits because he doesn't need to. He knows he will be whispered about by men and
women alike, and in fact, he'd rather they didn't whisper about him at all. He knows who he is and what he has done; further recountings are, to him, redundant.

He doesn't behave like an idiot for the simple reason that he isn't an idiot (any moreso than must be expected among all members of the male gender). He has little patience for the foibles of society, and quite frankly, most
of the time This Author cannot say she blames him.

(...)

This Author Thinks... Not.

LadyWhistledown's Society Papers, 20 April 1814

I could not agree more! I have a soft spot for Rakes you see but I just can not abide rakes! And I can't wait to get to her book and read about how she is found out once again!