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Georgette Heyer (1902–1974)

Author of The Grand Sophy

122+ Works 72,028 Members 2,500 Reviews 351 Favorited
There are 2 open discussions about this author. See now.

About the Author

Georgette Heyer was born on August 16, 1902 at Wimbledon, London. She wrote The Black Moth as a story for her brother Boris. Her father, impressed with his daughter's imagination, suggested that she prepare it to be published, which it was by Constable in 1921. Having scored an instant success with show more The Black Moth at the age of nineteen under her own name, Georgette Heyer, she experimented with a pseudonym, Stella Martin, for her third book, published by Mills & Boon. She continued writing and in 1925 she married Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer. After reasonable but not spectacular sales from her first few books the instant success of These Old Shades in 1926 brought her a solid source of income which was very necessary at the time since the family relied to a large extent on the income from Georgette Heyer's writing. She wrote over fifty books during her lifetime and created the Regency England genre of romance novels. She died on July 4, 1974 at the age of 71. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

Works by Georgette Heyer

The Grand Sophy (1950) 2,967 copies
Frederica (1965) 2,392 copies
These Old Shades (1926) 2,365 copies
Cotillion (1953) 2,249 copies
Venetia (1958) 2,156 copies
Arabella (1949) 2,136 copies
Devil's Cub (1932) 2,128 copies
Sylvester (1957) 1,831 copies
The Convenient Marriage (1934) 1,807 copies
Lady of Quality (1972) 1,708 copies
The Nonesuch (1962) 1,697 copies
Regency Buck (1935) 1,658 copies
Faro's Daughter (1941) 1,637 copies
Friday's Child (1944) 1,623 copies
Black Sheep (1966) 1,620 copies
The Corinthian (1940) 1,618 copies
The Black Moth (1921) 1,604 copies
The Reluctant Widow (1946) 1,571 copies
The Masqueraders (1928) 1,563 copies
The Talisman Ring (1936) 1,555 copies
The Quiet Gentleman (1951) 1,521 copies
The Unknown Ajax (1959) 1,513 copies
Bath Tangle (1955) 1,496 copies
False Colours (1963) 1,462 copies
A Civil Contract (1961) 1,458 copies
Sprig Muslin (1956) 1,419 copies
The Foundling (1948) 1,410 copies
Cousin Kate (1968) 1,389 copies
The Toll-Gate (1954) 1,346 copies
Charity Girl (1970) 1,308 copies
April Lady (1957) 1,192 copies
Powder and Patch (1923) — Pseudonym, some editions — 1,177 copies
An Infamous Army (1937) 1,177 copies
Why Shoot A Butler? (1933) 1,012 copies
Footsteps in the Dark (1932) 985 copies
Beauvallet (1929) 979 copies
Death in the Stocks (1935) 969 copies
Envious Casca (1941) 965 copies
Behold, Here's Poison (1936) 902 copies
A Blunt Instrument (1938) 867 copies
They Found Him Dead (1937) 856 copies
The Unfinished Clue (1934) 833 copies
The Spanish Bride (1940) 830 copies
No Wind of Blame (1939) 830 copies
Pistols for Two (1960) 794 copies
Detection Unlimited (1953) 776 copies
Duplicate Death (1951) 747 copies
Penhallow (1942) 650 copies
The Conqueror (1931) 626 copies
My Lord John (1975) 574 copies
Simon the Coldheart (1925) 566 copies
Royal Escape (1938) 558 copies
Snowdrift and Other Stories (2016) 163 copies
The Great Roxhythe (1923) 108 copies
Pastel (1929) 59 copies
Instead of the Thorn (1923) — Pseudonym, some editions — 50 copies
Helen (1928) 48 copies
Barren Corn (1930) 46 copies
Venetia [abridged] (2010) 33 copies
Sylvester [abridged] (2009) 28 copies
Devil's Cub + False Colours (1966) 21 copies
Arabella + The Corinthian (2005) 15 copies
Pursuit [short story] (1939) 8 copies
Full Moon (Short-Story) (1948) 6 copies
Georgette Heyer 4 copies
The Duel (Short-Story) (1960) 1 copy
Hazard [short story] (1960) 1 copy

Associated Works

Bodies from the Library (2018) — Contributor — 119 copies
The Oxford Book of Historical Stories (1994) — Contributor — 40 copies
The Queen's Book of the Red Cross (1939) — Contributor — 36 copies
The Anthology of Love and Romance (1994) — Contributor — 4 copies
Suspense, August 1958 [Vol. 1, No. 1] (1958) — Contributor — 2 copies

Tagged

18th century (201) 1930s (216) 19th century (655) 20th century (381) audiobook (249) Britain (221) British (1,063) comedy of manners (380) crime (498) crime fiction (183) ebook (1,167) England (1,602) English (420) fiction (8,954) Georgette Heyer (1,339) Georgian (318) Heyer (1,377) historical (3,064) historical fiction (4,854) historical novel (261) historical romance (2,949) history (283) humor (643) Kindle (1,043) mystery (2,783) nook (197) novel (810) own (400) paperback (397) PB (294) read (1,029) Regency (6,669) Regency England (310) Regency Era (288) Regency romance (2,563) reread (197) romance (9,249) romance fiction (190) to-read (2,121) unread (528)

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Heyer, Georgette
Legal name
Rougier, Georgette Heyer
Other names
Martin, Stella
Birthdate
1902-08-16
Date of death
1974-07-04
Gender
female
Nationality
UK
Birthplace
Wimbledon, London, England, UK
Place of death
London, England, UK
Cause of death
lung cancer
Places of residence
England, UK
Wimbledon, England, UK
Paris, France
Tanganyika
Macedonia
Education
Royal College of Music
Occupations
novelist
historical novelist
crime novelist
Relationships
Oman, Carola (friend)
Rougier, George Ronald (husband)
Heyer, George (father)
Awards and honors
Blue Plaque
Short biography
Georgette Heyer wrote meticulously researched historical-romance novels, specializing in the late eighteenth/early nineteenth-century, and was most famous for her Regency novels. She lived a sheltered childhood and at age 17, created a serial story to amuse her brother Boris, who was ill; their father asked her to prepare it for publication and his agent found a publisher for it -- this became The Black Moth (1921), about a disgraced young aristocrat who becomes a highwayman. According to Georgette Heyer's biographer Jane Aiken Hodge, that first novel contained many of the elements that would become standard for Heyer's works, the "saturnine male lead, the marriage in danger, the extravagant wife, and the group of idle, entertaining young men." Beginning in 1932, Heyer released one romance novel and one detective thriller each year. Her books were highly popular both in the UK and the USA and she remains an enduring international bestseller, read and loved by four generations of readers.

Members

Discussions

OT: Heyer censored in Folio Society Devotees (November 2023)
Georgette Heyer - Frederica in Folio Society Devotees (September 2023)
Found: Victorian era woman comes into her own in Name that Book (August 2021)
BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE - JUNE 2017 - HEYER & SCHAMA in 75 Books Challenge for 2017 (October 2017)
Read GEORGETTE HEYER in June in 2014 Category Challenge (July 2014)
FREDERICA - Group Read - SPOILERS POSSIBLE in 75 Books Challenge for 2014 (March 2014)
Can't remember the names of these books in Name that Book (August 2013)
Georgette Heyer in Cozy Mysteries (December 2012)
January 2012: Georgette Heyer in Monthly Author Reads (March 2012)
Fantasy casting: Frederica in Almack's (May 2010)
Heyer Discussion: [Friday's Child] in 75 Books Challenge for 2009 (February 2010)
Historicals in Almack's (January 2010)
Adaptations? in Almack's (December 2009)
Reluctant Widow film adaptation in Almack's (December 2009)
Music in Heyer in Almack's (November 2009)
Heyer, No Wind of Blame, rev. jimroberts in Reviews reviewed (September 2009)

Reviews

Gosh!

This was not a romance novel where I really loved any of the characters, they're all ridiculous (and pretty terrible people). It was very entertaining, however. How come Heyer does so much better at the crossdressing tropes than almost anyone in the hundred years since she wrote this? We have both forced masc AND forced fem (your brother sells you as a servant to a powerful man, he takes you back to his own country where you don't know anyone, and then tells you that he's decided you have to be a girl now, you scream cry and beg and he won't relent, you have to submit, but you can please your Dom employer by learning to be good at being a girl.... someone introduce this woman to fetlife.) Also, Leon's pronouns don't change smoothly - people still mess them up - and s/he refuses to give up pants, fencing, cussing (such as it is), and running around in the woods.

The gay subtext is bursting out of every jot and tittle. Hugh and Justin flirt, Justin's fashion is so far out that everyone else makes fun of him for it, and Rupert declares that he's not at all interested in women. That's of course leaving aside the outrageous flirting and D/s text between Justin and Leon. There's a massive power imbalance on top of the age difference, which Heyer is clearly enjoying too much to moderate.

The bad: Fanny has a slave who's mentioned in YIKES terms for all of two lines and then never appears again (small mercies....). The hero is an attempted rapist, but in a genteel kind of way where he "just" wanted to force the lady to marry him. Everyone is stratospheric levels of classist, including the author, who thinks that Blood Will Out and it's just genetics that some people are fascinated by farming and others are so smart and important and beautiful that they are able to take on the difficult but vital work of going to parties, gambling, wearing insane clothes, and torturing each other socially.

Anyway, I'm off to read some outrageous fanfic!

*

Wow, I nearly forgot about how mad I was about the "glossary of regency slang" at the back of my edition. a) it's arranged in ten(!) different sections by subject and then loosely by alphabet, so that you have to look at all ten to ensure you didn't miss the word you're looking for. b) YOU DIDN'T MISS THE WORD YOU'RE LOOKING FOR, not a single! solitary!! word!!! in the glossary!! is actually!!! in the text!!!!!!!

I noticed when I actually hit the end of the book that this was just a "sneak peek" at a glossary of regency slang someone else is publishing, and I think I might have to go rate that one star out of spite.
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Flagged
caedocyon | 77 other reviews | Mar 18, 2024 |
Some good fun in this one but also some eh more problematic bullying I didn't particularly like. Not the best of Heyer's novels I've read.
 
Flagged
JBD1 | 73 other reviews | Mar 8, 2024 |
This is one of my all-time favorite historical novels, and I was overdue for a reread. What could be more fun than a pair of escaped Jacobites hiding in plain sight in London? Not just there, but making a splash in Society, with no one suspecting that the charming Miss Kate Merriot is actually Robin Lacey and her sober brother is his sister Prudence?

The story opens with a bang as "Peter" and "Kate" rescue a young lady from an ill-advised elopement. Their quick thinking was impressive, and I laughed out loud at the confusion they rained down on the head of the frustrated suitor. I loved seeing Robin's immediate protectiveness toward young Letty. It isn't long before another rescuer appears in the form of Sir Anthony Fanshawe, a family friend. Sir Anthony is a large man with a calm disposition, and it was fun to see his reactions to the Merriots and Letty.

I loved watching the Merriots slip effortlessly in London society. Prudence, as Peter, becomes a popular young buck. He makes friends with others his age and participates in the usual activities of such young men. He has also drawn the attention of Sir Anthony, who feels responsible for his well-being. Robin and Prue initially believe that Tony is too "sleepy" to suspect the truth about them. But the more time Prue spends in his company, the more she suspects he's sharper than they thought. I laughed every time Robin referred to him as the "mountain" or "mammoth," suspecting he was in for quite a surprise. There are some great scenes with Prue and Tony as she struggles to maintain the deception. I loved watching their relationship develop as Tony is drawn into their lives.

Meanwhile, as Kate, Robin befriends young Letty, giving her a more mature companion who will hopefully keep her out of trouble. Letty is naïve and irrepressible in her desire for adventure, and it is all Robin can do to try to redirect her antics. But her unlamented suitor hasn't given up on trying to gain her inheritance. It's left to Robin to rescue her again, this time in a most dramatic fashion. However, there are unintended consequences that create problems for Robin and Prudence.

The Merriots' arrival in London was done at their father's direction, whom they call "the old gentleman." They have traveled Europe with him as he moves from one scheme to another. About halfway through the book, he arrives in London claiming to be Viscount Barham, the long-lost brother to the previous viscount. This is unwelcome news to the distant relative who currently holds the title. Robert Tremaine is flamboyant, charming, and gregarious and is hilarious in his antics as the claimant. He delights in his role as a puppet master, pulling the strings of those around him. Prue and Robin have no idea if he really is the viscount or if it is another one of his scams, and can only watch and wait.

The ending is a delightful romp of rescues and revelations, disappearances and reappearances, and a pair of happy-ever-afters. I would love to see this as a movie.
… (more)
1 vote
Flagged
scoutmomskf | 49 other reviews | Mar 7, 2024 |
This is the story of a marriage of convenience that makes me feel how arranged marriages could work in the real world. The couple is marries for financial reasons, they manage to get along with each other and with mutual respect they gradually come to form a loving bond together.
A lovely, gentle story, there is little action in it but a great deal of introspection for the characters.
re-read 3/2/2024
 
Flagged
catseyegreen | 56 other reviews | Mar 5, 2024 |

Lists

Ghosts (1)
1930s (1)
1940s (1)
1950s (4)

Awards

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Associated Authors

Jennifer Kloester Foreword, Editor
Stella Martin Pseudonym
Phyllida Nash Narrator
Piet Donkersloot Cover designer
Matt Addis Narrator
Poul Ib Liebe Translator
Eve Matheson Narrator
Denise Meunier Translator
Ulli Birvé Narrator
Hanna Lux Translator
Emi Ehm Translator
Erika Kaiser Translator
A. E. Barbosa; Illustrator
Mieko Inomata Translator
Jan Louwen Translator
Hugh Dickson Narrator
Ulli Birvé Narrator
Hermann Stiehl Translator
Michael Drew Narrator
Linda Howard Foreword
Eva Kausche-Kongsbak Cover designer
Edmund Th. Kauer Translator
Nicholas Rowe Narrator
Joan Wolf Foreword
Jo Beverley Foreword
Stefanie Neumann Translator
Edward Mortelmans Cover designer
June Barrie Narrator
Laura Paton Narrator
Hannah Whale Cover designer
Dreamstime Cover images
Sarah Butcher music programmer
Rupert Degas Narrator
Diana Palmer Foreword
Tom Knobloch Cover photo
J.F. Andriessen Translator
Ruth Sillers Narrator
Debby Chabrian Cover Art
Mary Balogh Foreword
Allan Kass Cover artist
Lida Winiewicz Translator
Philip Gough Illustrator
Karen Hawkins Foreword
Debbie Chabrian Cover artist
Peter Noble Narrator
Jilly Bond Narrator
Daniel Hill Narrator
Bob Berran Cover artist
Clare Higgins Narrator
Jamie Glover Narrator
Ilse Winger Translator
Adele Stuzka Translator
Perrine Vernay Translator
Ingrid Berglöf Translator
Marilena Caselli Translator
Anton Stuzka Translator
Miriam Dou Translator
Franziska Reiter Translator
Ellen Duurloo Translator
Ulla Hengst Translator
Göran Salander Translator
Roland Fleissner Translator
Yvette Widmer Translator
A.V. Sanina Translator
Tiit Rammul Cover designer
Daria Olivier Translator
Mirjam Ikonen Translator
A. A. Zamchuka Translator
T. O. Ikonen Translator
Kurt Wagenseil Translator
Anna Luisa Zazo Translator
Andrew Nash Cover artist
Bob Marchant Cover artist
Walter Lambert Illustrator
Ben Elliot Narrator

Statistics

Works
122
Also by
6
Members
72,028
Popularity
#176
Rating
3.9
Reviews
2,500
ISBNs
2,070
Languages
16
Favorited
351

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