Set in the Georgian period, about 20 years before the Regency, These Old Shades is considered to be the book that launched Heyer's career. It features two of Heyer's most memorable characters: Justin Alastair, the Duke of Avon, and Leonie, whom he rescues from a life of ignomy and comes to love and marry. The Duke is known for his coldness of manner, his remarkable omniscience, and his debauched lifestyle. Late one evening, he is accosted by a young person dressed in ragged boy's clothing running away from a brutal rustic guardian. The Duke buys "Leon" and makes the child his page. "Leon" is in fact Leonie, and she serves the Duke with deep devotion. When he uncovers the true story of her birth, he wreaks an unforgettable revenge on her sinister father in a chilling scene of public humiliation. PRAISE FOR GEORGETTE HEYER: "Our Georgette Heyer display of the Sourcebooks reprints has been a huge success, not only to those early fans like myself, but to many new readers who appreciate her style and wit." Nancy Olson, Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh, NC "Reading Georgette Heyer is the next best thing to reading Jane Austen." Publishers Weekly "Wonderful characters, elegant, witty writing, perfect period detail, and rapturously romantic. Georgette Heyer achieves what the rest of us only aspire to." Katie Fforde "Absolute monarch of the Regency romance." Kirkus Reviews

喬吉特·海爾是二十世紀英國女小說傢。她一生寫瞭近三十部以十八世紀歐洲為背景的曆史傳奇小說，頗受英國讀者的喜愛且經久不衰。《愛與恨的抉擇》（原名《這些古老的風俗畫》）是她的成名作，自1926年齣版後直到七十年代末作傢去世時，幾乎年年再版，有時甚至一年再版兩三次，是英國的一本暢銷小說。它講述聖維雷伯爵的棄女萊奧妮的坎坷遭際和埃文公爵同聖維雷伯爵間勾心鬥角的麯摺故事。整部作品清新、活潑、機智，帶有王政復闢時期喜劇的輕鬆格調，特彆是作品中的對話，具有奧斯丁那種簡潔、幽默的風格。