For Spring Break this year I went to visit my sister in Dallas, and among the number of fun things we did was watch the BBC’s 2004 adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, which abounds with smoldering glances from the misunderstood John Thornton, played by Richard Armitage.

I had already seen and admired Mr. Armitage on the BBC series “Spooks”, which they play here in the U.S. as “MI-5”.  In that series, like in North and South, he plays a tortured soul, haunted by memories of his past.  Someday, perhaps, I will understand what exactly it is that makes the tortured soul so attractive.

I’ve also recently discovered the novels of Georgette Heyer, and while my appreciation for these novels is somewhat more reserved than my appreciation for the smoldering glances of immensely good-looking tortured souls, I have certainly enjoyed becoming acquainted with them.  They are a delightful distraction from the day-to-day.

Imagine my joy upon discovering that Richard Armitage recently recorded three of Georgette Heyer’s novels for Naxos AudioBooks (The Convenient Marriage, Sylvester, and Venetia)!

It would also appear that these are available from Amazon.

I’m just saying…I do have a birthday.  In July.