Georgette Heyer

[rainbowskittle]

I love Georgette Heyer's Regency Romances (no laughing please!) and I've read them all so many times now. Can anyone recommend any similar authors/books? Whenever I've tried to find something similar I've always found them a bit too "Mills & Boon" (no offense to M & B fans, just not my cup of tea!). Thanks a lot.

The only author who can match GH is Jane Austen. And even then I think only Emma and P&P really.

Another GH freak here! I'd read all her historical novels and most of the crime stories by the time I was 14.

I also collect GH 1st edition Heinemann hardbacks - the pale green ones with the Barbosa cover illustrations. DH calls them my pension plan!

I'll second the Poldark series for a cracking good read. Dorothy Dunnett is also a brilliant writer of historical fiction IMO but the settings are Renaissance not Regency.

And for something from a contemporary writer, (although her books are set in the 1970s) I can really recommend Victoria Clayton. Her books are a sort of cross between Nancy Mitford and Joanna Trollope and v.v. funny.

I love Heyer, best comfort reading you can have.

Another vote for Anne Perry, such brilliant evocation of period and excellent political insight. I think C J Sansom will join my 'can't give aways', I really await the new ones with bated breath and save them for 'no interuption' reading.

What else is on your 'keep' shelves?

Mine are:- (after quick check)
Jonathan Kellerman
Sara Paretsky
Ian Rankin
Sheri Tepper
His Highness Sir Pratchett of Discworld
Tad Williams
Ms Heyer (of course)
Elizabeth George
Daphne du Maurier
Nora Roberts/J D Robb
Storm Constantine
Jane Austen
Peter Robinson
Graham Hurley
Margaret Drabble

Can you see why the EarthyHome is in danger of being featured in a decluttering special? (What was that TV prog where a woman tore people's prized possessions out of their imploring hands?) DD's eyes always lit up when it was on........

dorothygale, i agree about My Lord John and Simon the Coldheart - the other one I have trouble going back to is The Royal Escape (about Prince Charles).

But I have never had a problem with An Infamous Army - although I do sometimes skip a few of the more graphic pages - I quite like the love story between Barbara and Charles. But then, These Old Shades and Devil's Cub are two of my favourites anyway, and although I am not so very keen on Regency Buck, I like the way she weaves them all together.

According to Georgette Heyer's biographer Jane Aiken Hodge, she regarded the medieval fiction as her most important work, which she hoped would establish her reputation as a writer of serious historical fiction. She never completed what what was supposed to be a heavyweight trilogy starting with My Lord John, although she had made extensive research notes.

The fact that these books are so unpopular with her fans indicates just how little she was able to capture the feel and language of the period. Apparently she could never get into the medieval mindset because she didn't "do" God and religion.

The slang of the time comes across as unwittingly hilarious because she mixes it with contemporary speech which just doesn't work. There is also little scope in the books based on historical fact (such as Royal Escape and The Conqueror) for the social comedy of the Regency novels which won her so many admirers.