"Charity Girl" by Georgetter Heyer {Books}

I found the story to be weak and unmoving. But, lets first see the plot summary. You may decide for yourself then.

Viscount Ashley Dsford is visiting his aunt and is taken to an informal ball on his last day of the visit. There, by some accident, he meets Charity. Charity is the niece of the hostess of the ball who is extremely detestable woman and she ill-treats Charity by getting all her work done by Charity and gives her old clothes in return. Charity is fed up of her ill-treatment and runs away from her aunt's house. The moment of her presence on the road and Ashley's leaving the place coincide and he sees her running away so he decides to take her with him lest she be in any trouble. A little farther, they stop at an inn for refreshments where he tries to counsel her to go back to her aunt's house but she resolutely defies his counsel and asks him to take her to her grandfather in London. He accepts it, albeit, reluctantly. 

Here, I should talk a little about Charity's background. Her mother and father run away and they make a unwanted match. Charity's mother dies and she is left at a boarding school in Bath when her father leaves the country. Then, Charity's teacher writes to her (Charity's) grandfather asking her to pay the fees of the education. Now, this grandfather is a very bad character. He doesn't care for his sons, he is loaded with money but is a miser and is altogether a completely hateful person. So, obviously, he doesn't end up paying Charity's fee or even acknowledging Charity to be his granddaughter. That was when Charity's aunt takes her home and treats her like a servant making her do every chore she and her daughters need to get done. So, overall, Charity's life wasn't very nice till now and she is not even an intelligent girl even though she might be called pretty. 

Now, Ashley takes her to her grandfather's house but they find no one there so he decides to leave her with his best friend, Henrietta, while he searches for her grand father. While Desford is on that business, here, Charity's father tuns up and tries to point out that his daughter was compromised by Ashley and tries to get her married to Ashley. This, however, is vehemently opposed by Ashley's brother and Henrietta. So, at the end of all this engaging drama, Charity ends up receiving an offer from one of Henrietta's suitors and of course, Ashley and Henrietta get together.

A nice story with a lot of hilarity but the novel is not as engaging as some of the others from the same author. Can be given a skip.