Georgette Heyer

[Kate Mary]

I’ve been a fan of Georgette Heyer’s novels for over fifty years and I’m currently reading “The Toll-Gate”. I wouldn’t mind betting that Enid read them too, Georgette Heyer was hugely popular from the 1920s and still is today, I believe that Stephen Fry is also a fan.

The Toll-Gate is the story of Captain John Staple, late of the 3rd Dragoon Guards who is finding life dull after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. On his way to visit a friend he becomes lost on a night of wind and rain on a lonely road in Derbyshire. He comes across a toll-gate attended only by a terrified ten year old boy, to get out of the weather he stops for the night. He stays on trying to solve the mystery of the missing gatekeeper and gets involved with a highwayman, a Bow Street Runner and the Squire’s beautiful grand-daughter. It’s brilliantly written and wonderful fun.

[Katharine]

I didn't realise her books were written so long ago.

I have a couple of her books which were given to me by a neighbour who is a big fan, but had duplicates. As I didn't know anything about the author, they've just been sat on a shelf and I wasn't in any great hurry to read them, but maybe I should make them a higher priority.

And Pete - I know exactly where these 2 books are.

[Kate Mary]

Georgette Heyer’s first novel “The Black Moth” was first published in 1921 and was written when the author was just seventeen. Her final unfinished novel “My Lord John” was published in 1975. Georgette Heyer’s novels are well worth seeking out, if you are new to them try The Talisman Ring, The Reluctant Widow, The Unknown Ajax, The Quiet Gentleman or any of the Regency/Georgian romances. She also wrote serious historical novels such as The Spanish Bride, An Infamous Army and Royal Escape. Her detective stories are pretty good too.

[Judith Crabb]

Katharine you have some real treats ahead of you. The optimal time to read Georgette Heyer is adolescence just as the optimal time for Enid Blyton is childhood, but it's never too late to start. My mother introduced me to Georgette Heyer novels and I can still visualise the Pan paperback covers on two favourites - The Talisman Ring (the heroine was my fantasy ideal - masses of dark curly hair and a sweeping emerald gown) and The Reluctant Widow 'Married at Midnight, a Widow at Dawn, and Heiress to a House of Secrets'). Yes Kate Mary, Heyer's forte was Regency so avoid in particular The Great Roxhythe and My Lord John. Listening to my mother retell some of the stories to me before I was old enough to read them myself I got the impression that 'The Black Moth' was the start of a series (which I loved and which included 'These Old Shades', 'Devil's Cub' and 'The Infamous Army') but not so. For some reason Heyer developed some of the ideas from 'The Black Moth' into the series which had different characters. An historian I knew told me that 'The Infamous Army' about Wellington and Waterloo was excellent history and also highly esteemed 'A Civil Contract'. Like Blyton, Heyer was a great storyteller (and amusing). Regency Buck, The Quiet Gentleman, Sylvester or The Wicked Uncle.... how I loved them. I remember hearing an account of a woman in a ghastly World War Two POW camp. She had been an inveterate reader of Heyer novels and had a detailed memory of the plots which she narrated to the other prisoners over many months. She believed the stories kept her and the other women sane and alive during their ordeal.

[Kate Mary]

Thank you for your lovely post Judith. The Reluctant Widow was the first Heyer I ever read and it remains a favourite, I was about 14 when I first read it. I have My Lord John on my bookshelves but I have never read it although I keep telling myself I should just once. I don’t have The Great Roxhythe or any of the other suppressed novels and I don’t intend to seek them out, I believe they haven’t been in print in the UK for many decades but they seem to be reprinted in the USA from time to time. A couple of other titles I’m not keen on are The Conqueror and Penhallow, but that still leaves about fifty other books to enjoy.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I've never read any of Georgette Heyer's books but I'm enjoying the discussion. Why were some of her novels suppressed?

[Kate Mary]

Georgette Heyer expressed a wish that some of her early novels would never be reprinted, these included four contemporary novels (i.e. 1920s) Instead of the Thorn (1923), Helen (1928), Pastel (1929) and Barren Corn (1930). And a couple of historical novels The Great Roxhythe (1923) and Simon the Coldheart (1925). She also deleted the final chapter of The Transformation of Philip Jettan (1923), this has ever since been published as Powder and Patch (1930) with the last chapter missing. Simon the Coldheart was reprinted at the request of her son after Georgette Heyer’s death as he thought it wasn’t a bad novel, it is a prequel to Beauvallet (1929) which is set in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

I imagine that Heyer suppressed them because she thought they weren’t very good but I think I read somewhere that she felt the contemporary novels revealed too much of her inner thoughts and character. Georgette Heyer was an intensely private person, she wouldn’t allow any biographical information or photographs on the jackets of her books, she never did a book signing, gave an interview or made any public appearances. She very rarely answered fan letters and then only if they made an interesting historical point.

I would be interested to know if Judith has read The Great Roxhythe or any of the contemporary novels and her opinion of them. The best place to start reading Georgette Heyer is with one of the Regency novels such as Arabella, Frederica, The Nonesuch or any of the other titles mentioned above by Judith or in my earlier post.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks, Kate. That's very interesting indeed.

[Bertie]

...Georgette Heyer was an intensely private person, she wouldn’t allow any biographical information or photographs on the jackets of her books, she never did a book signing, gave an interview or made any public appearances. She very rarely answered fan letters and then only if they made an interesting historical point.

I'm getting the suspicion that, if she was around nowadays, she probably wouldn't be posting selfies up on Instagram or going on Big Brother or I'm A Celebrity?

[Judith Crabb]

No, Kate Mary, I've read none of Heyer's contemporary novels (i.e. 1920s), though all are sitting on my shelves in case I live long enough, nor any of her detective novels, which is a bit strange because when I was reading her historical novels for the first time I was reading Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh. Maybe her detective fiction was no longer in print by then. The Great Roxhythe is also on my shelf along with the other historical fiction. (As a second-hand bookseller I sold many copies as it was always out of print!) I believe that it was Heyer's father's favourite and I did read the first chapter but was underwhelmed.
At the moment I'm half-way through Anthony Powell's (pronounced Pole I discovered recently) Dance to the Music of Time. I took on Proust when first I retired and I suspect that I am enjoying Powell even more.