Guilty Pleasure - Georgette Heyer and other Historical Romance

Oops. Zombie thread.

I’ve just suggested these on another thread, but if you don’t mind a bit of fantasy, Garth Nix’s Newt’s Emerald, for which he freely admits Georgette Heyer as an influence. And Carolyn Stevermer’s Cecelia and Kate novels.

Jodi Taylor wrote a pretty good regency A Bachelor Establishment, originally published as by Isabella Barclay.

The sadly, late Jo Beverley wrote some good regencies, and she was a huge Heyer fan.

And for witty dialogue, I would really recommend Loretta Chase - I think her earlier books are more Georgian than Regency from memory, but try Lord of Scoundrels and see if you can resist her.

From memory her more recent series are Regency.

@MarshaBrady Would that be the Reluctant Widow? It is a Regency detective story, and Cousin Francis makes some hilarious snide remarks. But I can't remember what colour his hair was. He was certrainly obsessed with his appearance :-)

@edam, I've read the same thing (that GH apparently got the plots for her detective stories from her barrister husband) in the biographical blurb about GH on the first page of many of her books. So you're quite right. She may well have based some of these stories on her husband's cases which he told her about, but there's nothing wrong with that, is there?

@dreamofwhitehorses, your comment was posted years ago but I'd still like to respond. I love G. Heyer too. My gran had The Grand Sophy and I read it avidly at age 8-ish. Now, decades later, I have the entire collection of Heyer's Regency books and re-read them at regular intervals. As you rightly point out, there's no need to be ashamed of enjoying her books. I have to deal with very heavy legal texts for work, so I like to read lighter stuff to relax in my leisure hours. Have you read any Jean Plaidy? She wrote a whole series about the Hannover kings, starting with George I's parents' marriage and continuing up to Queen Victoria. This series includes 3 or 4 about George IV as Prince of Wales and Regent, which are pretty good, but nowhere near as good as Heyer. Obviously I like some Heyer books more than others, and quite a few of her characters get on my nerves (including Léonie de St.-Vire, Lady Fanny Alastair, and Eustacie from The Talisman Ring). Favourites include Regency Buck, Civil Contract, Quiet Gentleman, Reluctant Widow, Cotillion, Arabella, Venetia ... plus loads more. But I disliked Friday's Child, Tollgate, Cousin Kate (which is really awful!) Talisman Ring and Charity Girl: only 5 out of 34 books, which isn't bad. I wasn't keen on the Unknown Ajax, but the hilarious character of Cousin Claude saves it from being a 'dislike'. GH writes excellent English, and her stories are highly entertaining and often very funny. Some recurring themes occur, such as wild and fiery young Viscounts with dimwitted friends, and young females in marriages of convenience whose brothers are wild and fiery young Viscounts, etc. What I really do find peculiar is the fact that these GH Regency and Georgian romances have never been televised. You'd thjink the BBC would have leapt on them. Strange!

Ooh yes, do try Heyer, Galaxy - she is beyond compare as a writer of historical romance.

Dreamof, I think I read somewhere that she saw her romantic fiction as fairly trashy (as if!) and wanted to do serious history. She spent years working on what was intended to be a trilogy, IIRC, but didn't complete it - think Lord John is the only book that survives of the intended work. BUT her romances were incredibly good history - her description of the Battle of Waterloo was apparently used at Sandhurst. Have read that somewhere and had it confirmed by an officer (who would have been at Sandhurst in the 50s, no idea whether Heyer has fallen out of favour since then). It is both accurate and incredibly moving - rings home the fact that these were real people (and horses) who really suffered.

I've never tried Georgette Heyer but feeling very tempted with all the recommendations. I do love historical fiction with strong social detail. I enjoyed My Last Duchess and didn't think I would. I think I'll have a go with one of the popular titles.

Jane Austen??

My favourite Georgette Heyer books are These Old Shades, Devil's Cub, Venetia, Sylvester, The Unknown Ajax, The Masqueraders, Faro's Daughter, The Grand Sophy, Regency Buck, Arabella and the first one I read when I was 12, Frederica.

I just love reading them and they are my comfort books in times of stress.

Sounds great, am going to read some more.

Friday's child is lovely. Georgette Heyer has a real affection for and understanding of boys and young men (in a nice way) - look at Felix in Frederica.

Hello, can I join in? I'm a massive fan too.

I think part of the snobbery towards GH is to do with the volume of her output - people assumed that she was churning them out a la Barbara Cartland. And they were cheap paperbacks, therefore not 'literature'.

I bloody love them. The Grand Sophy and Friday's Child are my all time favourites. I have yet to find an alternative though, so shall watch this thread with interest.

Sorry, not the sleeve notes, that would be daft. Some contemporaneous stuff I've read somewhere....

passthe, I'm especially fond of Frederica, personally, try that.

Marsha, the critics were even more sexist and patronising about her detective stories - the original sleeve notes claim she got the plots from her barrister husband. Which I doubt - real life isn't like classic mid-20 Century detective stories, for heaven's sake! (Although her detective stories aren't as superb as the romantic fiction, tbh, they are still v. amusing.)

Thanks Edam . I realise now the one I read must have been a detective one. There was a wealthy cousin with black hair and his sneering ripostes were brilliant.

Hello all, another Armitage Heyer fan here! I adored the audiobooks and they were my first introduction to Heyer. I liked them so much that I have got the books and am working my way through them (the audiobooks are abridged so it's nice to read the bits they missed). I've read The Convenient Marriage and am halfway through Venetia but once that and Sylvester are done, which would you recommend next?

Heyer fan here, out and proud. Will be taking all these suggestions on board but am not optimistic about finding even an approximation. And Venetia is my present favourite.

Marsha - because she wrote romantic fiction which was (and still is to some extent) sneered at by people who think they can divide books into 'literature' and 'mere entertainment for people who are not as smug clever as us'. These people are not half as bright as they want everyone to think.

Oops - sussed out !

Tbh my forays into historical literature have been very recent and a result of spending lots of time on this thread which you may also appreciate!

Oh DumSpiroSpero there's bit of a theme going on here isn't there!
But I would second North and South the book, plus getting the DVD , just because then you can compare Elizabeth Gaskell's literary classic with the BBC adaptation and nothing to do with the fact Richard Armitage is playing the hero ( thankfully without a Yorkshire pudding in sight.)

On a more literary note - would North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell be worth a try. It's Victorian rather than regency and a bit grittier than Heyers but a good story.

Why is Georgette Heyer a guilty pleasure? I think she writes well, does she have a reputation for being inferior or trashy? (obv not you as you write you are not ashamed etc, but I've seen this said a few times on mn and am curious).

Although I have to confess, I could listen to Richard Armitage read Caravaner's Weekly and still enjoy it.

Well, yes. I have even sat through 10 discs of Bernard Cornwell's 'Lords of the North's purely in the name of comparative research of course!

As for your yorkshire pudding theory - you'd have to beat me to it !