I'd read that Ferguson was heir to Georgette Heyer, an author I had warm nostalgic memories of reading in my teens. So, I decided to venture down Memory Lane and judge for myself. But time has a way of spoiling one's attempts to recapture past joys, even when they're ersatz.

Nothing against the author, but I am too removed by advanced age from experiencing the same kind of fascination with love stories set 200 years in the past, especially when I avoid contemporary love stories for lack of interest in romantic entanglements in my own time frame, much less in Jane Austen's. And Feguson, even Heyer, are neither Jane Austen.

The story is formulaic. Girl meets boy/meets girl. Sexual tension builds as they spar verbally. Outside events complicate the relationship. Events are cleverly overcome. Happily ever after ensues. However, this novel rises slightly above its cohort because the hero is a landscape architect a la Capability Brown. I found the passages in the novel that dwelt on details of his profession the most interesting. The novel sinks below average in the thin individualization of its female characters who tend to be representative rather than personalized to the degree that will allow them to linger in the literate memory.

Still, the reader could choose a worse book on which to waste a couple of vacation afternoons or commuting hours. If you've read all of Heyer and Austen and still crave more of this genre, then Quiet Meg is a safe choice. ( )