Category: Georgette Heyer Books

Author Interviews, Georgette Heyer Books, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Regency Romance

An Exclusive Q&A with Jennifer Kloester, Georgette Heyer’s Biographer

Laurel Ann Nattress

Georgette Heyer Banner

My regular readers and friends will remember how much I admire and enjoy reading the Queen of Regency Romance, Georgette Heyer. We reviewed all her historical novels during a month-long celebration here on Austenprose in 2011.

While I continue to work through the long list of her books, there are scholars who have read them all and studied her life and work. The first among them is Dr. Jennifer Kloester. Austenprose reviewed her Georgette Heyer: A Biography of a Bestseller when it released in 2011 and have followed her career ever since. I was delighted when she agreed to an exclusive interview. Her extensive knowledge of Heyer and her own talent and brilliance are dazzling.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Kloester to Austenprose today. Additional questions by readers are welcome, so please have your share of the conversation! Continue reading “An Exclusive Q&A with Jennifer Kloester, Georgette Heyer’s Biographer” →

Austenesque, Book Lists, Editor's Picks, Georgette Heyer Books, Historical Fantasy, Paranormal & Gothic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Fiction, Historical Romance, Holiday Reading, Regency Romance, Short Story Anthology

12 Terrific Historical Christmas Novels and Short Story Collections for Your Holiday Reading

Laurel Ann Nattress

It’s that time of year again when the holiday spirit takes hold and I am compelled to read Christmas stories in between shopping and baking. I especially appreciate short stories during this busy time and there are a lot of historical anthologies to choose from along with novellas, and novels to get me in the mood and distract me from the craziness at work and home. Here are twelve books in my personal collection set in Regency and Victorian times that Jane Austen and historical romance readers will devour. Be sure to add to them to your #TBRpile. You won’t regret it.

How the Dukes Stole Christmas: A Christmas Romance Anthology, by Tessa Dare, Sarah MacLean, Sophie Jordan, and Joanna Shupe

Continue reading “12 Terrific Historical Christmas Novels and Short Story Collections for Your Holiday Reading” →

Book Reviews, Editor's Picks, Georgette Heyer Books, Regency Romance, Short Story Anthology

Pistols for Two, by Georgette Heyer – A Review

Laurel Ann Nattress

Pistols for Two, by Georgette Heyer (2012)From the desk of Laura A. Wallace: 

Pistols for Two is a collection of eleven short stories first published in 1960.  Throughout her writing career, Heyer published her novels in serial form in various periodicals and published short stories in them as well.  This is the only collection published as a book; otherwise, her short stories exist only in old copies of the various magazines.  In researching her biography of Heyer, Jennifer Kloester tracked down bibliographic information on as many stories as she could find, and lists them in an appendix, but she states that there are probably more still undiscovered.  This corrects a general and long-held impression that Heyer only wrote a few short stories, and that nearly all of them were included in Pistols for Two.  But Heyer did choose the stories in this collection herself, so she must have considered them among her best. Continue reading “Pistols for Two, by Georgette Heyer – A Review” →

Book Reviews, Georgette Heyer Books, Regency Era, Regency Romance

April Lady, by Georgette Heyer – A Review

Laurel Ann Nattress

April Lady, by Georgette Heyer (2012)Guest Review by Laura A. Wallace

Georgette Heyer’s April Lady is the last re-issue by Sourcebooks of Heyer’s novels.  (The very last is Pistols for Two, a collection of short stories.)  Originally published in 1957, it is comfortably set within the Regency period that she had made her own.  The setting is London, and the plot involves money, love, misunderstanding, gambling, debt, and, ultimately, a famous heirloom, the Cardross necklace.

Lady Helen Irvine, the daughter of an improvident peer who has wasted most of his patrimony through addiction to gambling and high living, has been fortunate enough to marry the Earl of Cardross, an extremely wealthy nobleman some dozen years older than she is.  A very dutiful daughter, she had previously faced the unappetizing prospect of being married off to a wealthy city merchant in order to repair the family fortunes, but the unexpected offer from Lord Cardross saved her from this fate. Continue reading “April Lady, by Georgette Heyer – A Review” →

Book Reviews, Georgette Heyer Books, Regency Era, Regency Romance

Sprig Muslin, by Georgette Heyer – A Review

Laurel Ann Nattress

Sprig Muslin, by Georgette Heyer (2011)Guest review by Laura A. Wallace: 

Georgette Heyer’s Sprig Muslin is one of her most entertaining Regency novels.  It is a “road book,” full of adventures, comical situations, and fun characters.

At the outset, I must beg anyone who leaves a comment to avoid spoilers.  New readers should have the pleasure of discovering Amanda’s antics, their consequences, and who feels what for whom, on their own.

Sir Gareth Ludlow is one of society’s best-loved bachelors.  We first meet him calling upon his sister, whose offspring consider his visit to be a high treat: Continue reading “Sprig Muslin, by Georgette Heyer – A Review” →

Book Reviews, Georgette Heyer Books, Regency Romance

A Civil Contract, by Georgette Heyer – A Review

Laurel Ann Nattress

A Civil Contract, by Georgette Heyer (2011)Guest review by Laura A. Wallace

A Civil Contract is an atypical Georgette Heyer novel.  While the setting is firmly Regency, beginning at the time of the Battle of Orthez (February 1814) and ending with that of Waterloo (June 1815), it is neither lively nor witty.  It is a quiet book, with a love story that grows gradually, without any sparkle or adventure.  The eponymous contract is a marriage contract between an impoverished, newly-acceded peer and a wealthy “Cit” (Citizen of the City of London)’s daughter.  It is an inauspicious beginning:  the aristocrat is in love with someone else, the bride is homely, and the Cit is vulgar.

However, what follows is a sensitive, nuanced exploration of human relationships that from today’s perspective may seem almost quaint:  commitment, respect, duty, honor, fidelity, civility, resentment, and generosity.  I say “quaint” because the most cursory glance at current divorce and familial Continue reading “A Civil Contract, by Georgette Heyer – A Review” →

Biography, Book Reviews, Georgette Heyer Books

Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller, by Jennifer Kloester – A Review

Laurel Ann Nattress

Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller, by Jennifer Koelster (2011)Guest review by Laura A. Wallace

I must acknowledge that it is well-nigh impossible for me to be objective when it comes to reviewing Jennifer Kloester’s new biography of Georgette Heyer which was released this month in the UK.  Rarely have I looked forward so much to reading a biography.  But be assured, gentle reader, that had I found it sub-standard, I would tell you so.  Instead, I am delighted to report that it met or exceeded almost all of my expectations.

This is a more traditional biography than Hodge’s, which discusses each work Heyer wrote in some detail, creating a dual focus on the events of Heyer’s life and her works, occasionally feeling as though the biographical material is merely a bridge until the next novel.  Kloester’s treatment of Heyer’s workplaces them firmly in the context of the events of her life, with emphasis most definitely on her life. Continue reading “Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller, by Jennifer Kloester – A Review” →

Book Reviews, Georgette Heyer Books, Historical Romance, Regency Era, Regency Romance

The Toll-Gate, by Georgette Heyer – A Review

Laurel Ann Nattress

The Toll-Gate, by Georgette Heyer (2011)Guest review by Laura A. Wallace:

Georgette Heyer’s novel The Toll Gate is a little different from her typical Regencies.  It is more of a mystery than a romance and is told primarily from the point of view of the hero.

The hero, Captain John Staple, shares several characteristics with Hugo Darracott of The Unknown Ajax.  Like Hugo, John is a former army officer who sold out after Napoleon’s defeat—though, in John’s case, he sold out after Leipzig, and when Napoleon escaped from Elba and began the Hundred Days, he rejoined and thus (like Hugo) was present at Waterloo.  Like Hugo, John is a large man, six-foot-four, with a gentle manner, a sense of humor, and a great deal of intelligence that he sometimes hides behind an intentionally bovine manner.  And like Hugo, John prefers to travel cross-country on horseback rather than in a chaise with a servant and piles of baggage. Continue reading “The Toll-Gate, by Georgette Heyer – A Review” →

Book Reviews, Editor's Picks, Georgette Heyer Books, Regency Romance

The Unknown Ajax, by Georgette Heyer – A Review

Laurel Ann Nattress

The Unknown Ajax, by Georgette Heyer (2011)From the desk of Laura A. Wallace: 

The Unknown Ajax is one of Georgette Heyer’s funniest Regencies.  It is populated with some of her more memorable characters and ends with a protracted scene reminiscent of comic opera, with a dozen people coming in and fading out in a seamless composition that builds to a climax as funny as a Heyer fan could wish for.  It might even be funnier than the ending scene in The Grand Sophy.

The setup for The Unknown Ajax is reminiscent of Downton Abbey—only the former came first, so it would be more proper to say that Downton Abbey is reminiscent of The Unknown Ajax.  The heir to a peerage and a large estate has drowned in a boating accident, along with his only son.  Everyone in the family thinks, therefore, the new heir is my lord’s youngest son, who has two grown sons of his own, but it turns out that this isn’t true.  Unbeknownst to anyone except the old lord himself, his second son, who had made a shocking misalliance with a ‘weaver’s daughter in Yorkshire, and been Continue reading “The Unknown Ajax, by Georgette Heyer – A Review” →