Georgette Heyer (1902–1974)
Author of The Grand Sophy
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
These Old Shades + Sprig Muslin + Sylvester + The Corinthian + The Convenient Marriage (1977) 31 copies
The Early Georgette Heyer Collection: The Transformation of Philip Jettan; The Black Moth; The Great Roxhythe; Instead… (2020) 8 copies
Great Historical Romances: The Talisman Ring + The Gambling Man + The King's Pleasure (1975) 6 copies
Georgette Heyer 4 copies
Acting on Impulse [short story] 4 copies
Georgette Heyer Collection 10 Books Set (Devil's Cub, Venetia, Cotillion, The Grand Sophy, Frederica, April Lady,… (2004) 2 copies
Intrighi al castello 1 copy
Una ragazza adorabile 1 copy
L'incantevole Amanda 1 copy
Pistols forTwo 1 copy
Pistols for Two + Hazard 1 copy
The Quiet Gentleman / The Reluctant Widow / Sylvester / The Toll-Gate / The Unknown Ajax / Faro's Daughter / The… (1951) 1 copy
Royal Escape / Black Sheep / A Blunt Instrument / Regency Buck / Envious Casca / The Corinthian (1980) 1 copy
Fantasmas do Passado 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
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)
Bujold fan looking for a Georgette Heyer introduction in Almack's (July 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
Basically this book is Barbieheimer, if the Barbie part were a historical Regency romance novel and the Oppenheimer part were a dry, grim Napoleonic war novel. In fact, the heroine's name is actually Barbara so that works perfectly! She's a young widow who is so beautiful and bewitching that she's constantly surrounded by enthralled lovesick men. She's scandalous because she flirts with all of them and paints her toenails gold like a Parisian prostitute!! Quel horreur!!! Alexa, play "Maneater" (either version works fine). The hero is Colonel Audrey, a dashing handsome man who is sensible and respectable; this is contradicted in the text by him falling in love with Barbara at first sight and proposing like the second time they meet, as well as him being stupid enough to think Barbara will stop being such a scandalous flirt after they're engaged, despite her telling him straight to his face that she won't stop and will keep doing whatever she wants. He's like "no you won't" and then gets all surprised Pikachu face when she does. Who could have foreseen this??? I don't get why he had to be so much older than her (about ten years). GH really had a thing for older male love interests.
The war half of this book is about the Duke of Wellington planning/preparing for war, which mostly seems to consist of him writing letters during the day and then going to balls and dances at night. He's basically the third main character of this book. Audrey is one of his aides, and other aids and their love interests are side characters. This part of the book is very dry and boring; when we get to the Battle of Waterloo it's very violent and sad with all the deaths and injuries. The two halves of the book are very inharmonious and the nonexistent transitions between the two are jarring. It'll be like: "Her eyes flashing, Barbara bounded away. [paragraph break] The Duke of Wellington sat down to write a letter..." Heyer really did her research (she has a bibliography in the back of the book) and did her best to write about the Duke of Wellington and the Battle of Waterloo in an accurate way, but it would have been better if she'd split the two books up. Pick a lane, Heyer. Barbarloo was not fun; at least Barbieheimer was two different films so you could choose to skip one.
Check out my review, plus trigger warnings, at https://fileundermichellaneous.blogspot.com/2024/05/book-review-infamous-army-by...… (more)
The war half of this book is about the Duke of Wellington planning/preparing for war, which mostly seems to consist of him writing letters during the day and then going to balls and dances at night. He's basically the third main character of this book. Audrey is one of his aides, and other aids and their love interests are side characters. This part of the book is very dry and boring; when we get to the Battle of Waterloo it's very violent and sad with all the deaths and injuries. The two halves of the book are very inharmonious and the nonexistent transitions between the two are jarring. It'll be like: "Her eyes flashing, Barbara bounded away. [paragraph break] The Duke of Wellington sat down to write a letter..." Heyer really did her research (she has a bibliography in the back of the book) and did her best to write about the Duke of Wellington and the Battle of Waterloo in an accurate way, but it would have been better if she'd split the two books up. Pick a lane, Heyer. Barbarloo was not fun; at least Barbieheimer was two different films so you could choose to skip one.
Check out my review, plus trigger warnings, at https://fileundermichellaneous.blogspot.com/2024/05/book-review-infamous-army-by...… (more)
Arabella is the oldest daughter of an impoverished country parson. She is headed to London to stay with her godmother and meets Robert Beaumaris. She lets herself be provoked by him and what she says begins a charade that is very entertaining.
I really enjoyed this book. I loved Arabella's character and I really liked Roberts as well. I liked that the romance evolved over time. One complaint I have with Georgette Heyer regency books is the romance often feels a little icky with the man being quite a bit older and treating the woman like a child. That was not the case in this book which I was very happy about.
I loved the relationship between Robert and his dog Ulysses. I found it very humorous. I also really enjoyed the scene with the chimney boy.
There was quite a bit of humor in this book. Most of the book is from Arabella's POV and some is from Roberts but there is also a bit from Arabella's brother Bertram. I didn't enjoy those parts as much.
There is some blasphemy and some thoughts of suicide by one character, other than that it is a clean read.
I would recommend this book as a very enjoyable read.… (more)
I really enjoyed this book. I loved Arabella's character and I really liked Roberts as well. I liked that the romance evolved over time. One complaint I have with Georgette Heyer regency books is the romance often feels a little icky with the man being quite a bit older and treating the woman like a child. That was not the case in this book which I was very happy about.
I loved the relationship between Robert and his dog Ulysses. I found it very humorous. I also really enjoyed the scene with the chimney boy.
There was quite a bit of humor in this book. Most of the book is from Arabella's POV and some is from Roberts but there is also a bit from Arabella's brother Bertram. I didn't enjoy those parts as much.
There is some blasphemy and some thoughts of suicide by one character, other than that it is a clean read.
I would recommend this book as a very enjoyable read.… (more)
This book started really slowly for me but about halfway through it got much more interesting and I started to enjoy it a lot more. I really like the enemies to lovers trope and this one didn't disappoint and the second half of the journey getting there was enjoyable. There's the inevitable misunderstandings, the assumptions, but then let's throw in a kidnapping for fun!
I liked Deborah Grantham's strong character but found her aunt a little bit annoying. If she's having such bad money troubles then maybe she should pay attention to what she's spending!
I think we definitely need to bring back drinking chocolate in the morning! "...Lady Bellingham, sipping her early chocolate in bed..."
Overall it was a good book, not my favorite of this author but enjoyable.… (more)
I liked Deborah Grantham's strong character but found her aunt a little bit annoying. If she's having such bad money troubles then maybe she should pay attention to what she's spending!
I think we definitely need to bring back drinking chocolate in the morning! "...Lady Bellingham, sipping her early chocolate in bed..."
Overall it was a good book, not my favorite of this author but enjoyable.… (more)
Lists
Backlisted (1)
THE WAR ROOM (1)
French Books (1)
1930s (1)
Ghosts (1)
Christmas Books (1)
Women in War (1)
A Novel Cure (1)
1940s (1)
Best Beach Reads (1)
Shelf 101 (1)
Set in the 1600s (1)
Favourite Books (4)
1950s (4)
Female Author (4)
Comfort Reads (7)
Books Read in 2016 (10)
British Mystery (10)
Books Read in 2019 (11)
Comedy of Manners (11)
Books Read in 2021 (15)
Murder Mysteries (3)
Books Read in 2023 (18)
Five star books (2)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 126
- Also by
- 6
- Members
- 72,665
- Popularity
- #174
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 2,510
- ISBNs
- 2,070
- Languages
- 16
- Favorited
- 352
I remember reading Georgette Heyer in high school and loving all of the books that my father passed on to me. I am not sure if I liked them because he suggested them or if it was because they swept me into romance and all I could think about then was boys, kissing them, and one day getting married. Since I had such fond memories of books by this author, I was eager to revisit this book. Once again, I found that a book I once loved was not as fun to read today.
I am not sure if my disenchantment had to do with the changes in writing style over the past half century+ since I read this book or if it was something else. I felt the book was not in tune with the era it was written about and it did not resonate with me – I had trouble getting into the story, didn’t find myself caring about any of the characters, or what was happening in their lives. I seemed more worried about the monkey, dog and parrot than the people and that gave me pause. I opted to skim a bit but not read it cover to cover because I decided that I would prefer to return to my memories of reading it long ago and how I felt then rather than read and not enjoy the story this time around. It may be a classic and worth reading but not worth reading right now for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca for the ARC – This is my honest review.
2-3 Stars… (more)