The Toll-Gate

Name: The Toll-Gate
Rating: 3.6666666666666665 (3 reviews)
Author: Georgette Heyer
ISBN: 9780061002199

by Georgette Heyer

3.7

(3 ratings)

10 pages1995Harpercollins (Mm)ISBN 9780061002199

Fiction, Romance, Historical, Regency Great Britain, fiction England, fiction Social life and customs, fiction England in fictionLove storiesEnglish fiction Fiction, religious Chicago (ill.), fictionLarge print booksMissing personsMan-woman relationships, fiction Abandoned children, fictionEnglish Love storiesDetective and mystery stories Nobility, fictionRomans, nouvellesMœurs et coutumesManners and customs, fiction

About this book

His great adventures were legendary... Captain John Staple's exploits in the Peninsula and Waterloo had earned him the sobriquet Crazy Jack amongst his fellows in the Dragoon Guards. Back from the battlefront, he is planning to settle down after a brave military career, and searches for the ideal bride to complement his earldom. But life in peacetime is rather dull for the adventure-loving Captain, who had enjoyed active service too much ever to settle for a life of humdrum respectability. When he finds himself mired on the moors--on a dark and stormy night, no less!--John hardly expects to find a young, frightened boy who's been left alone to tend a toll gatehouse. He has stumbled upon a mystery involving the boy's disappearing father, the toll-gate keeper, nothing could keep he from investigating. Undercover as the new keeper of the turnpike toll-house in the Pennines, John investigates the suspicious disappearance, he begins to unravel a far more complex mystery. But the post of gate-keeper appeared to offer certain unexpected and agreeable diversions. The plot thickens when he finds orphaned Nell Stornaway, granddaughter of Sir Peter Stornaway, squire of the village. The enigmatic lady, an outspoken beauty who is an unwitting pawn in a treacherous scheme. Soon he learns that rescuing her from her unsavory relatives makes even the most ferocious cavalry charge look like a particularly tame hand of loo. And he discovers that she is the only woman who can to tame John's reckless spirit. Could Nell love John, before his true identity is discovered? Between hiding his true identity from Nell and the arrival in the neighborhood of some distinctly shady characters, Captain Staple finds himself embarked on the adventure-and romance-of a lifetime and despite he finds himself lost and benighted, his soldiering days suddenly pale away. And winning her will be his greatest yet...

Publication Details

Publisher: Harpercollins (Mm)
Published: 1995
Pages: 10
ISBN: 9780061002199
Language: en

About Georgette Heyer

Georgette Heyer was born on 16 August 1902 in Wimbledon, London, England, UK. She was the eldest child of Sylvia Watkins and George Heyer; her brother George Boris was born four years later, and her brother Frank nine years later. During her childhood, the family lived also in Paris, France, but they returned to England before World War I. During the war, her father served as a requisitions officer for the British Army in France. Her father encouraged her to read, he never forbade her any book. At 17, she began a serial story to amuse her brother Boris, who suffered from a form of haemophilia and was often weak. Her father enjoyed listening to her story and asked her to prepare it for publication. His agent found a publisher for her book, and "The Black Moth" was released in 1921. In December 1920, she met George Ronald Rougier, a young man two years older than she, who studied at the Royal School of Mines to become a mining engineer. They became engaged the spring of 1925. By then she had published five novels. Only one month later, her father died of a heart attack, and, as he left no pension for his family, she assumed financial responsibility for her brothers, aged 19 and 14. On 18 August 1925, Georgette married George Ronald, but two months later, he was sent to Caucasus Mountains, and she remained at home and continued to write. She released "These Old Shades", during the midst of the UK General Strike of 1926; as a result, the novel received no newspaper coverage, reviews, or advertising. The novel sold 190,000 copies, and she refused for the rest of her life to promote her novels. Her husband was sent to the East African territory of Tanganyika, and she joined him in 1927. They moved to Macedonia in 1928, where she almost died after a dentist improperly administered an anaesthetic. She insisted they return to England before starting a family, and the following year they returned to England. In England, her husband started different businesses, but she