A taste of Georgette Heyer

It's about time one of my favourite writers got her own post.
Georgette Heyer was one of the most prolific writers of her time. Her novels are mostly based in England's Regency era (generally between 1790 and 1820) and she's also written detective and historical fiction.

The first Georgette Heyer that I read was Sprig Muslin. I found it in an old wooden cupboard at home and it was almost falling apart.
I was hooked after two pages.
Luckily, the library I used to go to had almost all of her regency romance novels. I quickly devoured These Old Shades, laughed all through Frederica and decided Grand Sophy was my favourite. And she's written loads more. They don't call her prolific for nothing.


One of my friends (KD) and I were avid Georgettte Heyer fans through most of high school and through all of college and we still think that she's one of the best authors we've ever read. I was totally crushed when the library that I went to closed down and the owner sold all the books to a home delivery library service.

Georgette Heyer (1902-1974) wrote her first book, The Black Moth when she was in her teens, for her convalescing brother. Apparently, her father was very impressed and published it for her while she was still in her teens.

The depth of detail in her books will indicate the kind of knowledge she had about the Regency period. More than just that, it's her humour, wit and her wonderful gift of bringing characters to life. It's incredibly funny, very witty and extremely vivid. You can almost see it happening.

Another thing about Heyer is that her books are romantic but not too much. There's a strong vein of common sense running through all her plots, however flamboyant those plots may be. There are none of those passionate scenes, stereotypes and the provocative covers of your average romance novels. She has style and she didn't need to descend to that (considering that it wasn't exactly de rigeur back then) to sell her books.

I've gone to every second hand shop in Moore market, asking for something by Heyer and no one's heard of it. The original books at Landmark and Crossword cost quite a bit (around Rs.300 and it is expensive because I can't be satisfied with just one).
Thank God for my E-reader. I must have read most of her regency novels around fifty times already.

P.S: She shares something with another one of my favourite writers, J.D.Salinger. Neither of them have ever given an interview with the Press and they're both very private people despite being famous for their work. That's very classy when most people these days with a fraction of their talent and style hanker after fame and publicity.