Guest Post by Sassymonkey - Discovering Georgette Heyer

Today's guest post is by Sassymonkey, who blogs about books at Sassymonkey Reads, and also at Blogher. Thanks Sassymonkey!

It was a chilly and rainy Sunday afternoon. My boyfriend was out running errands and going to church. I wandered around the new apartment determined to ignore the boxes waiting to be unpacked. It was reading time. I wanted to read something fun. Something light. Something that I knew would end well and make me laugh. I scanned the bookshelves (because of course the books are all unpacked). My eyes gravitated to the top row of the first bookcase. "Perfect," I said. I took down a book, made a pot of tea and retreated to my new sun-room with a blanket, a thick pair of socks and the cat. It was time to get lost in a Regency romance with Georgette Heyer.

About a year ago a friend asked me if I had read any of Georgette Heyer's novels. I told her that I hadn't but that I was vaguely familiar with them having seen one of two mentioned on book blogs. A few months later when I moved into a new apartment (yeah, yeah I move a lot) she send me a small selection of them as a house-warming gift. The very first one I read, my friend's favourite, was The Grand Sophy. I loved it. It was witty, had a strong-willed female protagonist and the main male character was no slouch either. It reminded me of Jane Austen but wasn't quite so serious as Austen. And unlike Austen it gave us a glimpse into the frequently amusing (at least as Heyer writes it) male mind and world.

I had some concerns because my friend said The Grand Sophy was her favourite. Would the others be as good? I picked up another one of the selections she sent me flew through it. And then another. And then I went online and ordered five more. It was official - I was nutty for Heyer. The best part about reading Heyer novels is that I know there are lots of them and that some selection of them is frequently available in libraries. And after years of being out of print they are being reissued so they are available with online booksellers and frequently at my local brick and mortar. The bad part is that I know there is a finite amount of Heyer's out there and while the existing ones will continue to be new to me, there will never be another brand spanking new Heyer.

After I started reading Heyer I started to see her pop up more frequently on book blogs thanks to those reissues I mentioned above. Fans of Jane Austen seem to particularly love Heyer's work. Vic at Jane Austen's World recently reviewed her Lady of Quality and discussed what lured her into Heyer's world.

I reveled in Georgette’s world filled with bored aristocratic gentlemen who, usually as they traveled by coach or horse to a country inn or walked the streets in London in the middle of the night, stumbled across an innocent and disarming chit who needed rescuing. This plot device was a popular one with the author. Another one of Georgette’s plots was that of the “older” beautiful, rich, and independent spinster (almost on the shelf, but not quite) who is determined to live her life as she likes it, and skirt convention when she can. Because she has independent means, she rules her roost and will brook no interference from any man.

It is true that many of Georgette Heyer's novels follow similar paths. The women and men are witty. There are daft/interfering/judgmental family members. Women often need "saving" although they also sometimes turn around and save the men. There may be a military plotline (after all, we are in the age of Napoleon here). For some the repetitiveness is part of the Heyer charm. Others, like Kim, would like to see a bit more variety. She reviewed Black Sheep at Good, Clean Reads and deducted a quarter star because it was too similar to the last Heyer she read.

Thanks to Heyer having been a prolific and popular writer in the twentieth century most libraries carry at least one Heyer book.

There are also books written about Georgette Heyer and her Regency world. One of the most recent books is by Jennifer Kloester, Georgette Heyer's Regency World. The Historical Romance UK blog snagged Ms. Kloester as a guest blogger of the month awhile back.

Now you must excuse me, I have a half finished Heyer novel calling my name.

Cover Story: Royal Escape by Georgette Heyer

Another one of Heyer's works of historical fiction Royal Escape is entitled to more discreet covers. The old ones are a bit bland but the 2 more recent covers seem really nice. Because of it's theme designers seemed to have focused more on neutral motifs and only in the recent covers we have more detailed illustrations.



Royal Escape is the story of how Charles II escaped to France after the Battle of Worcester in which the royalist forces were defeated by Cromwell.



The action takes place only two years after his father's execution in 1649. Charles II landed in Scotland in 1650 to try to regain his crown and country. He was crowned Kind of Scotland in 1651 but after Worcester he is forced to flee once more.



Heyer tells us where and how he spent those days after loosing the battle and before reaching France again. He would only return to english soil 9 years after that in 1660.





This last cover is of the Source book edition we are giving away. Which one is your favourite?

Giveaway Reminder!

Don't forget that at the moment we have two contests going as part of the Georgette Heyer Season. Entries for the first contest close in a few days, so leave a content and go into the draw to win!

There is also still time to send us a guest post, and go into the draw to win the Heyer book of your choice!

LEAVE A COMMENT BOOK GIVEAWAY

We have 3 books to offer to everyone who leaves a comment in one of the "Georgette Heyer Season" posts between May 17th and June 10th. The winners names will be announced on June 11th.

The books are:

April Lady
The Spanish Bride
Royal Escape

April Lady is an Arrow Books edition and the other two books are part of the rerelease of books from the good people at Sourcebooks.

Blog about Georgette Heyer Season and you will receive a second entry into the contest. Just leave us with a comment with a link.


GUEST BLOGGER GIVEAWAY

Write a post for us about Heyer (it could be a review of your favourite Heyer book(s), or a post about why you love to read Heyer) and we will post it here. You will be automatically entered in a contest to win a Heyer book of your choice. We have 3 more books to offer for this contest. Names will be drawn from a hat on June 14th and announced here on June 15th. The only limitation is that the book that you choose must be available from either Amazon US or The Book Depository - other than that you can choose whatever Heyer book you like!

Good luck!!

Guest Post by Li - Heyer Favourites

Today we have another guess post, this time by Li from Me and My Books. Thanks Li!

I've been a romance reader for years, yet I'm a relatively new Heyer fan.I'd always seen her books around, and sort of knew that she had a massive fan base, but I had never really been inspired to pick up any of her books.I think I'd somehow mentally categorised her books as boring and old-fashioned - gosh, was I wrong!

So what changed my mind?

I was browsing in the bookstore one day and saw her books (the then newly-released Arrow editions) taking up a couple of shelves. Needing to kill some time, I selected one at random, opened it to the first page and started reading... when I was still there ten minutes later, I figured that I should actually buy the book.

That book was The Grand Sophy and it kick-started a major Heyer glom. I was incredibly lucky that my new-found obsession with Heyer coincided with Arrow re-releasing all her books - thank you Arrow! Yes, it took a while, but now I'm pretty sure that I'm the proud owner of every single book Heyer wrote - and that includes her mysteries and a biography. Her books have intricate plotting, fascinating characters, wonderful dialogue, and beautifully-drawn settings - what more could you ask for?

Some of my favourite Heyers:

The Grand Sophy - This obviously holds a special spot in my heart because it's the first Heyer I ever read. But leaving that aside, this is a totally engrossing and fun read. Nicknamed "The Grand Sophy" for her habit of managing and organising people and events, Sophy arrives at her aunt's house for an extended stay and promptly gets involved in her cousins' madcap exploits. The romance is slow-blossoming in this one, but perfectly suited to the main characters, IMO.

These Old Shades - This is one of the few Heyers set in Georgian times. The Duke of Avon shows an unusual interest in Leon, a charming urchin he rescues from the street. I don't think it's giving much away to say it's a girl-in-disguise plot,and a story full of intrigue and drama. And I've a thing for stories set in the Georgian time period - you know, jewels, lace, high heels, and that's just the men!

Piece of trivia: These Old Shades is actually a follow-on from the first book she wrote to entertain her brother when he was sick (The Black Moth), but with the characters renamed.

The Masqueraders - Again, another cross-dressing plot, but very different from These Old Shades. Prudence and her brother are travelling in disguise to evade the authorities (following the failed Jacobite revolution), but end up drawing attention to themselves when they rescue a damsel in distress on their way to London. Heyer carries off this slightly implausible plot with panache, and as for the hero - swoon. He's neither dashing nor reckless nor rakish, instead he's a quiet capable "man-mountain" who proves that beta heroes can be wonderful.

Frederica - I know, I know, it's an obvious one, but this is probably the first Heyer I recommend when someone asks for a humorous Heyer. The eldest of the Merrivale family, Frederica begs her distant cousin, the Marquis of Alverstoke, to sponsor her sister's coming-out.The growing relationship between the irrepressible Merrivale family members and the world-weary Marquis is depicted brilliantly, and the scene with the dog never fails to make me smile.

I could go on forever! I haven't mentioned False Colours, Cotillion, Arabella, Powder and Patch, or Devil's Cub, but I think I'll let you discover them for yourselves.

An Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer

This is a repost of a review that I originally wrote last year.

IN THE SUMMER OF 1815, with Napolean Bonaparte marching down from the north, Brussels is a whirlwind of parties, balls and soirees. In the swirling social scene surrounding the Duke of Wellington and his noble aides de camp, no one attracts more attention than the beautiful, outrageous young widow Lady Barbara Childe. On their first meeting, dashing Colonel Charles Audley proposes to her, but even their betrothal doesn't calm her wild behavior. Finally, with the Battle of Waterloo raging just miles away, civilians fleeing and the wounded pouring back into the town, Lady Barbara discovers where her heart really lies, and like a true noblewoman, she rises to the occasion, and to the demands of love, life and war...

Just under a year ago I went to the local romance bookstore, and was talking to the girl who worked about authors she recommended. After going through a few different options, she asked me whether I had ever read Georgette Heyer? My response was no, but that I wasn't overly keen to try. After she gushed for about 10 minutes about how fabulous Heyer was, I ended up walking out of the store having bought Venetia. I still haven't read it.

It wasn't so much that I wasn't interested in reading Heyer's books really. It was more that there were so many that I wasn't really sure where to start, and there were so many other books that I KNEW that I wanted to read. Then I was offered An Infamous Army and I figured that it would be just the encouragement I needed to try this author, and then one way or the other I would know whether I wanted to read more or not!

Whatever it was that I was expecting when I started reading this book, it's not what I got! I will confess that I was expecting lots of bodice heaving, and purple prose, but instead what I got was a lovely romance which was set against the much larger portrayal of the Battle of Waterloo. The detail in the book about the movement of troops and the actual battles was impressive, but yet not so overdone that it became monotonous and boring. The colour and pageantry of the various parts of the army that was massing to face Napoleon was impressively depicted and the almost crazed atmosphere of the English in Brussels who seemed to be partying like there was no tomorrow was very finely tuned. The fact that there literally was no tomorrow for many of them only adds to the poignancy of the novel.

The action of the story moved from the ballroom, to the salon, to reviewing the troops and trips on picnics to the countryside adeptly, and yet with all the details about the looming battle and the actual battle, Heyer didn't forget to develop the blooming relationship between our hero and heroine.

I have to confess that at the very beginning of the book I was somewhat concerned at where the journey was going to lead. When Colonel Charles Audley, who works on the staff of the Duke of Wellington, enters into a crowded ballroom and sees the beautiful but somewhat notorious Lady Barbara Childe he instantly falls in love and before too long she is in love with him. Almost immediately, Charles proposes to Babs and she accepts, much to the shock of much of Brussels, including his sister, and to the delight of the gossip mongers, for whom Babs has long been a favourite talking point. Love at first sight....not really my cup of tea.

Babs give Charles a bit of a run around, but her true strength comes to the fore when it is needed as the battle rages. And in the end, it turns out that she is not the only one in her family who might have shocking secrets.

And yet, despite that initial reservation, gradually I found myself fascinated by all the characters, including our lovers. Many of the characters are actual historical figures who were involved in the Battle of Waterloo, and I found myself searching the web looking for websites related to the battle to try and figure out things like exactly how far out of Brussels is Waterloo. I think that if a historical novel that you are reading prompts you to go and find out more information about the events you are reading about, then it's a pretty good sign.

With lively characters, plenty of historical details and a good love story, this is one Heyer that I am definitely glad that I found time to read, and I will be reading more!

Rating 4/5


Thanks to Sourcebooks for the review copy of this book!

Announcing a Georgette Heyer Season!

*****STICKY POST******

Georgette Heyer Season

Here at Historical Tapestry we are very excited to be announcing that for the next month, we are going to be having a Season devoted to Georgette Heyer!

Unlike a Season from the Regency there won't be balls, picnics, rides down Rotten Row or afternoon visits but there will be some reviews that we have already posted reposted, some new reviews, a couple of book giveaways, some guest posts, and whatever else we can think of! Click here to read details of the two ways that you can win a new book.

We will have more details up of the giveaway shortly, but in the meantime, if you are interested in participating in the Season by contributing a post, then let us know either by leaving a comment (and we'll get in contact with you as long as there is an email address in your profile) or by email to historical_tapestry at hotmail dot com. Your guest post could be a review of a favourite Heyer novel, or a post about why you love to read Heyer...anything..as long as it is Heyer related!

We will also continue to bring you posts about other Historical Fiction novels we are reading, upcoming releases and anything else that captures out attention during this time as well, so be sure to visit, and visit often!

Guest Post by Janicu - Black Sheep

Today we have a guest post from Janicu from Janicu's Book Blog. Janicu is now in the draw to win a Heyer book of her choice. If you too would like to be in the draw then contact us about doing a guest post for Georgette Heyer Season.

I've been a long time lurker here at Historical Tapestry - this is a blog that has introduced me to a lot of authors and increased the size of my "to be read" pile. I'm also a fan of Ana's other group blog - "Lights, Camera...History!", so I'm really pleased to do a guest post! Especially since I just read my first ever Georgette Heyer novel this month. This guest post is a review of that book - Black Sheep which I originally put in my blog (janicu.livejournal.com) and have edited a bit for here.

I won this in a contest at the Misadventures of Super Librarian blog, and I'm glad because I'd never read a Georgette Heyer book but I kept hearing about them. Mostly about how great and well-researched they are but out of print, and how fans hoard them like treasure and reread them over and over again. I also kept hearing a comparison to Jane Austen since Heyer writes in the regency period - in fact she is considered the person who began the regency romance genre.

I agree with the Jane Austen comparison because Black Sheep was really about characters and society. There is a lot of emphasis on manners and what is considered acceptable to say and do, and the story progresses from one social outing to another, peppered with histronic relatives, town gossips, and "loose fish". The language is very formal and structured, even when characters speak with the regency equivalent of slang, there is a great deal of formality in it. There is also a great deal of subtle humor. I discovered after reading this book that Heyer did a lot of detailed research for her stories, and a lot of unusual language that she uses came from correspondence from that period which she bought. This means that a lot of the phrases I was unfamiliar with are unique to Heyer, since many of them were only ever recorded in the letters she owned. This point has been brought up as proof of plagarism - a couple of instances it was said that she came close to suing, but never actually did.

In Black Sheep, the basic premise is that the main character, Abigail (Abby) Wendover, "on the shelf" at 28, is concerned for her niece Fanny. She's heard that Fanny, who is only seventeen, has attracted the attentions of a young man, Stacy Calverleigh, who is likely after Fanny's inheritance, nothing more. Abby is put in a situation where she can't forbid Fanny to see Stacy because she fears Fanny will consider herself a martyr and run off, but she can't allow Fanny to think the family approves either. Abby meets Stacy's uncle Miles, the black sheep of the Calverleigh family, and tries to get him to help her, but while she finds someone she gets along with very well, in Miles she also meets someone completely unaffected by societal rules. If something doesn't make sense to him, he won't do it. Miles has never met Stacy and he can't be persuaded to care about what Stacy does.

I read this book for a few minutes every night and finished it off when I was on the train. For me, this was a book I had to read slowly because I wasn't used to the language - there were several points where I just didn't understand what a character just said because they used some regency phrase that isn't in use today. So I had to read carefully to absorb it and it took me a lot longer to read 20 pages in this book than in other books. In the end the read was worth it - I felt pretty satisfied with the ending. Even though there is an open ended aspect to it, there was enough for me to feel like there was one, both to what was going on with Abby and Miles but also with Fanny and Stacy and other secondary characters. And now here is someone else to read if you have already read all of Jane Austen.

I highly recommend this as a peek into the past. I was particularly taken by the strict morals that Heyer highlights - I don't think that even Austen made it as clear to me how differently actions back then were seen compared to the present day.

The Georgette Heyer novels being reprinted as trade paperbacks by Sourcebooks. I thought they all had lovely covers, and I'm pleased with the quality of the paper used (nice and thick) - these books will withstand repeated reads!