BS: books: Georgette Heyer

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: keberoxu
Date: 14 Jul 18 - 12:15 PM

A friendly warning about the novel Sylvester:

Heyer wrote her share of boilerplate, I'm Only Doing It For The Money books.
Sylvester is not one of them.
This is one of her more advanced, intricate, lengthy undertakings.

Sylvester must be read either in installments,
putting the book down and coming back when one has the time,
or by setting the equivalent of a long holiday weekend aside.

There are three full dramatic acts, if you like, in this novel.
Act One. The heroine escapes from her wicked stepmother.
Act Two. The heroine seeks refuge with her maternal grandmother.
Act Three. Sylvester's saintly mother rescues everybody from
the predicaments resulting from Act One and Act Two.

Hmmm. That sounds ... sarcastic. Sorry about that.
The sarcasm is unintentional.
The fact remains, this is one complex novel with a large cast.
You have been warned.

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: Morticia
Date: 11 Jul 18 - 06:38 AM

I'll look out for that one, thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Jul 18 - 09:27 PM

There is a site called Fantastic Fiction that does a wonderful job of not only listing the books by each author they list, but doing it in publication order.

Georgette Heyer had a book called A Civil Contract that I was very young when I read. And I remember realizing that there was a lot she wasn't going to describe, like sex lives of her more innocent characters. In that one it was a marriage of convenience, but (if I've found the correct title) it meant everything that goes with a marriage was included, sex and children as part of it. I think it was with this book that I realized one had to read between the lines or look closely at references to know what was going on.

On an unrelated note, if you're interested in a modern story intended to be a rendering of many of the novels of the period of Jane Eyre and those more recently created by Heyer, the film Firelight is constructed around all of those manners yet behind-the-scene machinations. William Nicholson is a writer who researched the period and wrote the screenplay that he hoped would receive a much better response. Unfortunately the only reviews that appeared online were from over-wrought religious groups who found partial nudity and sex to be offensive in a film. It hits all of the bases that the older novels did, and really should have become a modern classic. (PM me and I'll share my file - you can only get the "cropped for your TV" version via Netflix and it loses a lot when the crop the wide format.)

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: keberoxu
Date: 10 Jul 18 - 11:11 AM

"An Infamous Army" is historical fiction, in the sense of both words.
In order to move the action next to the Duke of Wellington,
the author used a fictitious protagonist who was an English officer.
As for the historical part,
one of Heyer's objectives, in writing dialogue
during the Battle of Waterloo for instance,
was that the Duke of Wellington
should speak only those words
which are historically documented in reports from the time.

And as little as I know of the Battle of Waterloo,
even I recognize some of the quotes during the novel.

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 10 Jul 18 - 10:45 AM

I came back from the library with 10 books, & 4 are Heyers (Reluctant Widow & Venetia by her & Georgette Heyer's Regency World &
Georgette Heyer's Regency England by Theresa Chris & published 1989) and I ordered her latest book Snowdrift and Other Stories, published in 2016

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: Vashta Nerada
Date: 10 Jul 18 - 09:44 AM

In the 1970s when I was in college and working my way through doing jobs with lots of free time I picked up the featherweight Barbara Cartland books out of curiosity. At one time I thought I might get into writing some kind of series - if I read enough perhaps I could write some so with the help of a friend who ran a good used book store I read romances of different authors and genres. (It wasn't to be - I got to where I couldn't stand the things.)

I was amused at how Cartland "cleaned up" the romance novels of other writers of the day by barely concealing her stolen plots and characters and how she "Barbaraized" (read "bowdlerized") the stories to tidy any sex out until the marriage was legal.

Like Morticia, I started reading the Heyer novels as a kid, and though I'm pretty sure I read all of them, I don't remember many of the story lines, and I probably wasn't very good at reading between the lines, if Heyer was hinting at things.

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: Senoufou
Date: 10 Jul 18 - 09:37 AM

I like reading them once I get into bed. They have such a gentle, jolly atmosphere about them - very conducive to a tranquil night's sleep!

Husband reads awful French political books about, for instance, the atrocities of Rwanda. Don't know how he doesn't have terrible nightmares!

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: Morticia
Date: 10 Jul 18 - 09:03 AM

one of my favourite authors, I'm pretty sure I have read all her books but as I started when I was a kid, that stretches over a lot of years and I doubt I remember them all now. I wonder if it would be a terrible extravagance to buy them all again?

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: gnomad
Date: 09 Jul 18 - 12:52 PM

I have long been rather fond of her "The Spanish Bride" built on an actual case history, and her researches into the records of the Rifles.
How much of Sharpe is owed to her and how much to Bernard Cornwell's own research into a common set of documents is for others to figure out, but one has to wonder. Either way the novel isn't typical of Heyer, but nonetheless worth reading.

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 Jul 18 - 10:44 AM

I meant to post this beforehand Georgette Heyer's Regency World A must-have guide to the people, places and society in Georgette Heyer's Regency novels

A bestselling novelist since 1921, Georgette Heyer is known across the world for her historical romances set in Regency England. Millions of readers love the outrageous lifestyle, fashion and capricious escapades of the elegant bon ton, and no one has captured that world better than Georgette Heyer, with universally beloved novels such as Regency Buck, The Grand Sophy and Friday's Child.

Georgette Heyer's Regency World is the ultimate, definitive guide to Georgette Heyer's wonderful and enchanting realm: her heroines, her villains and dashing heroes, the shops, clubs and towns they frequented, the parties and seasons they celebrated, how they ate, drank, dressed, socialized, shopped and drove.

An utterly delightful and fun read, beautifully illustrated and compelling in its historical detail, this is a must-have for any Georgette Heyer fan

AS both of my libraries have it, I'll collect it on my next visit!


Georgette Heyer decries plagiarism with her rapier wit Heyer's broadside at Barbara Cartland reveals hell hath no fury like a historical novelist plagiarised

Romancing the Past contains references to her notebooks

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: Murpholly
Date: 09 Jul 18 - 07:57 AM

I too like The Grand Sophy, but also Venetia, The Black Moth and These Old Shades. In fact as its too hot to go out into the garden, I think I shall just go and read a few chapters.

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: Senoufou
Date: 09 Jul 18 - 03:03 AM

For me, her best novel is 'The Grand Sophy'. I think it appeals to me because the heroine is quite an independent woman who manages her own life having travelled abroad with her father in dangerous places.

I love the way Heyer's plots always come right in the end (eg Cotillion, Friday's Child)

She'd evidently researched her Regency period extremely thoroughly. One learns quite a bit about transport, clothing, social norms among the upper classes and so on.

She has been called the poor man's Austen, which is probably a fair assessment!

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: Murpholly
Date: 09 Jul 18 - 02:55 AM

I have everyone of Georgette Heyer's historical novels (not all Regency) including Lord John. I re-read them frequently. I also have some of her mystery novels. Excellent author whose historical facts are mainly correct.

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Jul 18 - 10:27 PM

I have a couple of them I found in audiobook format, but I haven't listened to them yet. I'll report back.

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 08 Jul 18 - 09:51 PM

I'm currently re-reading them, I love them as great examples of their period! which is 1930s to 50s with excellent 18th/19th century period detail. Her characters are 20th century people, wearing perfect period costume on a perfect period stage.

And that is not a criticism, it's the reason I love them.

I've just finished An Infamous Army - amazing research (not just the usual costume & social knowledge) - check out the bibliography at the end.

I also love Jane Austen's books but I haven't re-read them for years. What I dislike is modern authors either re-writing her books or continuing the story - a recent author (name forgotten) was inspired by Pride & Prejudice which was originally written as letters, so decided to do the same. 21st century confessional blogger/facebook style is not the same as 18th/19th century letter writing.

I'm off to the library today to return my books which include Infamous Army, Sprig Muslin, Devil's Cub & Regency Buck & hope to find some I haven't re-read in recent years.

I'll also order in her latest book, Forgotten Georgette Heyer stories to be republished which I didn't know existed. I'm a member of 2 different local library systems & as neither have this book, I just might order it for both, so those fans who only belong to one system can read it.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: books: Georgette Heyer
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 Jul 18 - 06:37 PM

Elsewhere I have commented on "Friday's Child" which is positively played for laughs.

This excerpt is the wedding of Miss Hero Wantage.

Subject: the delights of Georgette Heyer
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 Jul 18 - 06:29 PM

Lately, several of us Mudcatters have been exchanging
posts about the twentieth-century Englishwoman Georgette Heyer
and her entertaining novels taking place
in Regency England.

There are enough of us to have a thread just for this author.

Currently I am re-reading The Talisman Ring.   

The plot of this novel gets a bit tangled up in places.
There are two, count 'em, two pairs of eligible people here.

A marriage of convenience has been arranged, by a dying autocratic grandfather,
between two cousins,
as reported in the opening chapter.
Will that initial pair end up together,
or will they be respectively drawn to
the fugitive from justice
and the adaptable younger sister of a dyed-in-the-wool eccentric baronet?

Oh, and one of the characters is a murderer,
and the murder is unsolved as the book opens.

Actually The Talisman Ring is hilarious.
You can see that if you click on the above link.
While the madcap goings-on keep you turning the page,
what I come back for are the characters and their repartee.

Who else out there has favorites from this author?