Oh damnit.
Someone just recommended me two regency-era books by the same author and I have just looked her up. Georgette Heyer. Prolific. Apparently helped to define the genre. Recommended by all as superb in the romance and plotting departments.
Oh, damn it. There goes my summer ( Read more... )
Oh, damn it. There goes my summer ( Read more... )
Georgette Heyer did not DEFINE the genre, she CREATED IT. *____*
she's amazing, I read my first Heyer when I was in 8th grade and just. LITERALLY MY ENTIRE LITERARY LIFE WAS STOOD ON ITS EAR. I'd never *read* a standard romance novel like that before, and how was I to know that I was reading *the* best of *the* best my first time off? I love Heyer so much - in Austen fan lit circles she is revered, but I didn't know that until I got to college and found tons of Heyer fans online after I'd spent years reading the books. I've never read Regency romances by anyone else because i don't think anyone on earth can ever compare.
I actually am in possession of almost all of the Heyer romances because of the generosity of a fandom friend who gave them to me when she moved out of the country. (sadness. :( )
It sucks that more aren't available at your library, but many *more* have been recently released over the last few years by Harlequin, so ideally you can go to any Borders and be able to find at least one or two there on the shelves. Though the covers aren't anywhere near as fantastic as the old school ones, it's still Heyer, and still amazing.
I WANT TO TALK TO YOU WHEN YOU HAVE READ. :D If you're a history buff, Heyer was also a *huge* history buff - she wrote mysteries as well, and was totally into Napoleon. I think she published her first book when she was like 23 and then wrote like 70 novels over the next 40 years? She was seriously, seriously amazing. I think you will love her.
Also, The Grand Sophy is one of my favorites - but the one I read, the first one I read and the one I still cherish the most to this day (which is also one of her popular ones, and apparently the novel that spawned a thousand similar ripoffs in romance cliche-land according to a recent post that cimorene111 made on the subject) is Arabella. *___* sadkfdsj; The Nonpareil. Oh.
Reply
I never got a rec for Arabella! My tentative list of "multiple recommendations, read now!" after trawling through Amazon lists and some of the Heyer community were The Grand Sophy, Regency Buck, Lady of Quality, Frederica, The Convenient Marriage, Cotillion, The Unknown Ajax and the series (These Old Shades, Devil's Cub, Infamous Army). I just looked it up and Arabella sounds lovely! This just goes to show that I simply won't be able to stop until I've read them all. ;)
Recommend more, please!
Reply
adsfjladsf WELL SINCE YOU ASKED *rolls up sleeves!*
I tend to love the ones where the heroine is really feisty and/or the hero is unconventional. Here are my favorites :D :D :D
1. The Grand Sophy! Which really is I think on everybody's favorites list, and quite rightly. I always think of it as Georgette's take on Mary Poppins. Or perhaps Mary Sue. I LOVE SOPHY SO MUCH. *_*
[Another one on everyone's favorites list is False Colors which I actually have never read but which apparently is a huge huge favorite among slash fans. :)) Another slash favorite is The Foundling - haha, this one is also my mom's favorite. :)) ]
2. Arabella, as previously discussed! Also, I deeply love Arabella herself. Cim was talking about how much she disliked Bertram but HOW CAN ANYONE DISLIKE BERTRAM. OH MAN AND ULYSSES ADSKLFJS;ADJFDSKL. *___* BOOKS WITH PETS!!!!!!!
3. The Masqueraders! <--- OH MAN I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. It's set about 30 years earlier than her typical novel and thus is Jacobian rather than Regency, with POLITICAL INTRIGUES, ADVENTURES, and SIBLINGS DISGUISING THEMSELVES BY CROSSDRESSING! SO MUCH LOVE.
4. Venetia. <--- I LOVE Venetia in this. The plot's a bit thin but the characterizations are all ACE.
5. Sylvester, or, The Wicked Uncle! Our heroine as the author of a scandalous roman a clef! The ton all in uproar! Our hero the evil villain of the hit of the Season! Can the harm his Corinthian name has suffered at the hands of her poison pen be repaired?
6. Lady of Quality! I LOVE this one, and Regency Buck if memory serves, because they both deal with older women just past the age of eligibility. The heroines both have that kind of quiet Anne Elliot dignity that I love.
7. The Unknown Ajax! HE'S A RUSTIC WITH OAFISH WAYS AND NOTHING TO RECOMMEND HIM EXCEPT HIS AIR OF QUIET GRACE. CAN HE SAVE HIS DESTITUTE BUT NOBLE FAMILY FROM THEIR BLACK SHEEP SON'S DALLIANCES WITH RUM RUNNERS AND NAPOLEONITES? *________*
8. The Corinthian! More crossdressing! Escapes into the country! and STAGECOACHES AND HIGHWAYMEN! :D :D :D
9. Frederica! Crazy heroines and their crazy families and HOT AIR BALLOOOOOOOONS :D :D :D
10. The Reluctant Widow! Setting out to become a governess, our heroine takes a wrong turn that leads her to a surprise marriage of convenience - only not to the hero! GUNS AND INTRIGUE AND PLOTS TO STEAL FORTUNES AND MORE NAPOLEONITES!!!!!
(Georgette really really loved Napoleonic intrigue, it makes me so happy.)
The Convenient Marriage and A Civil Contract are probably among the two must-read Heyers to understand the ways in which she was important for her time in taking a look at marriage as a social contract. I say this without ever having read either of them because I am a wuss. adsk;lfj. But here they sit on my shelf, to be read. Perhaps I will read them when you will, for fun.
Um, others: Cotillion is something of a ghost story/mystery, as is the Talisman Ring and Cousin Kate. Bath Tangle is a straight up mystery/romance. There are some others that are also just mysteries, like Behold, Here's Poison and Beauvallet, haha, which i honestly found hilarious. I think of Sprig Muslin and April Lady to be reverse sides of an identical coin in the "which lady will the heroine choose" department. I think it's a personal bias that I prefer April Lady to Sprig Muslin. Hahaha, i think I also loved The Black Moth but I don't remember WHY, which means I need to reread. And I could go on about others I've liked, but then I'd just wind up telling you to read everything, and I think you've gotten that impression anyway. :))
Reply
ALSO! I FORGOT TO TALK ABOUT REGENCY BUCK, I DON'T KNOW WHY. IN REGENCY BUCK, THE HEROINE MAKES FRIENDS WITH BEAU BRUMMELL DURING HER SEASON OUT AND SUBSEQUENTLY GETS HIT ON BY PRINNY HIMSELF, AHAHA. IT'S AWESOME AND IT TAKES PLACE IN BATH AND, UH, PRINNY'S DRUNK AND UNCOUTH AND IT'S SO AWESOME AND YOU'RE JUST LIKE, YEAH!!!! because only Georgette could plop the Prince Regent down into a romance novel as a fat drunken womanizer and have you be all I'M SO IMPRESSED BY HER HISTORICAL DETAIL!
Have I mentioned she also wrote just straight up Napoleonic history and things? About like the battle of Waterloo. WAR! oh i love her.
Reply
AHAHA ALSO IN REGENCY BUCK (FORGET WHAT I SAID ABOUT LADIES OF DIGNITY, THAT'S MOSTLY JUST RESERVED FOR LADY OF QUALITY AND FREDERICA) I THINK THE HEROINE RACES HER PHAETON FROM LONDON TO BATH JUST BECAUSE SHE *CAN* AND THE HERO'S ALL :O :O HOW COULD YOU BE SO UNCOUTH IT'S *DANGEROUS* FOR A LADY TO RACE HER HORSES ALONE THROUGH THE STREETS OF BATH LDSKAFDS;LD >:0! AND SHE'S ALL, HMPH, WHATEVER *GETS INVITED TO VISIT BRUMMELL IN THE PUMP ROOMS*
Reply
THIS IS GOING TO BE AN AWESOME SUMMER.
Reply
Leave a comment