YMMV / Belgravia

• Ho Yay: Discussed in the novel where Susan Trenchard says that if she didn't know any better she would have sworn that her father-in-law James was in love with his protege Charles Pope.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Susan Trenchard is James Trenchard's daughter-in-law and as much of a Social Climber as her father-in-law. Persuading her mother-in-law Anne to have her invited to a reception hosted by the Countess of Brockenhurst, Susan catches the eye of the Countess's nephew John Bellasis and has an affair with him, concocting one lie after another to conceal her trysts. Accompanying her in-laws to their estate at John's behest, Susan tricks Anne into revealing that James' dealings with his business partner Charles Pope are about more than just money. Learning she is pregnant with John's child, Susan suggests they marry after she divorces James' son Oliver. When John rejects her, Susan steals papers about Charles' true history as the Brockenhursts' grandson in hopes of ruining John. Making arrangements for her child's future at the family estate, Susan gets Oliver to comply with her plan by telling him she's giving him the life he's always wanted, a life that wouldn't be possible without her infidelity.
  • Speer is Susan Trenchard's shrewd and observant personal maid. Learning of her mistress's interest in John Bellasis, Speer ferments the idea of Susan and John having an affair, intending to take advantage of a possible connection and always having an alibi ready whenever Susan met John. When John asks her for information about the Trenchards, Speer points him in the direction of other servants who might know more, keeping her own hands clean. After Susan shows Speer the papers about Charles Pope, Speer creates a cover story on the spot about how Susan acquired them, helping to get the guilty servants sacked, and blackmailing one about his black market deals, declaring that if she leaves, she'll be walking away with money and glowing praise.
• Moral Event Horizon: John Bellasis crosses it when he attempts to murder Charles Pope in the hopes of regaining his inheritance. He follows this up with trying to persuade Oliver to leave his father James and Pope to drown.
• Narm Charm: John Bellasis's declarations of love for his fiancée Maria Grey are stilted and forced (at one point John struggles to find the right words) and that's the whole point; he doesn't feel anything for her and is trying to keep up appearances.
• Tear Jerker:
  • At the Duchess of Bedford's tea, Lady Brockenhurst and Anne Trenchard discuss their long-dead children and the Duchess of Richmond's ball years ago. Caroline notes sadly that in a few years there will be nothing left of either woman.
  • Lady Brockenhurst's husband Lord Peregrine muses bitterly about what his son would be like had he survived Waterloo and the fact that Peregrine's worthless brother has his children making fine marriages and grandchildren crowding round his chair while Peregrine's only son is dead.