Georgette Heyer Biography and List of Works

British writer who published about 40 historical novels - Regency romances - and a dozen detective novels from the 1930s to the 1950s. Heyer also wrote short stories and a radio play from her own novel. Among her best-known detective characters are Superintendent Hannasyde and Inspector Hemingway. Heyer's Regency novels meticulously recreated the period in the smallest detail of social code, dress, food, and language.

  "Am I cold?"
  "At the bottom, yes. It is not so?"
  "Certainly it is so. It's unfashionable to possess a heart."
  "Oh, Philippe, thou art a rogue."
  "So I have been told. Presumably because I am innocent of the slightest indiscretion. Curious. No one dubs you rogue who so fully merit the title. But I, whose reputation is spotless, am necessarily a wicked one and a deceiver. I shall write a sonnet on the subject."
(from The Transformation of Philip Jettan, 1923)

Heyer was born in Wimbledon. Her father was a teacher at King's College School and encouraged her daughter in her writing aspirations. Heyer was educated at seminary schools and Westminster College, London, but never passed any form of examination. In 1925 she married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer, and moved with him for three years to South Africa. They lived in Yugoslavia from 1928 to 1929. In the early thirties they settled in England, following George Rougier's decision to became a barrister. Their son, born in 1932, also became a barrister and a Queen's Counsel.

Her first novel, THE BLACK MONTH, Heyer wrote at the age of 17. Rougier is said to have devised plots to several of his wife's mysteries. His knowledge of the legal system is seen among others in DEPLICATE DEATH (1951). The motive of the murderer is in many cases acquisition of an inheritance. Usually Heyer set her stories in the English village milieu or London party.

The great majority of Heyer's books are historical romances. Her early novels were swashbuckling adventure stories, then followed Regency comedies sometimes combined with crime story, such as THE CORINTHIAN (1940). In later periods she produced comedies of humour, irony, and family relationships. In BEAUVALLET (1929) an English buccaneer harassing Spanish ships under Queen Elizabeth becomes distracted by his love for a Spanish protestant noblewoman. THE TALISMAN RING (1936) depicts a murder suspect, who meets a woman who is fleeing an arranged marriage. In FARO'S DAUGHTER (1941) the heroine runs a gaming salon. FREDERICA (1965) centres on the initiation of an outsider aristocratic male into a domestic world of family relationships.

Heyer's immense popularity and success embroiled her in tax problems from which she tried to escape by producing more books. Among her last projects were the trilogy of John, Duke of Bedford, brother of Henry V. The work was not finished, Heyer died on July 4, 1974. The first volume was prepared for publication by her husband, who died on the following year.

Heyer's witty romances set in the Regency period were well researched, and offer much information about the costume, social customs and forms of speech of that era. AN INFAMOUS ARMY (1937) showed Heyer's skill as a war historian. Her books influenced among others Jane Aiken Hodge, the daughter of Conrad Aiken and sister of Joan Aiken, both writers. As her model Heyer claimed Jane Austen, and showed the ironic tone of the classic. Her writing has been criticized for its conventional plots and stereotypical characterizations and 'escapist' qualities or, alternatively, acclaimed for its historical accuracy and authenticity of the dialogue and slang. Often his women concentrate entirely on the business of getting married. In THE GRANT SOPHY (1950) the protagonist arrives in London to find a husband. However, she lacks beauty - so she thinks - and she has a mind of her own. The resolution of such predicament was a common subject matter for Heyer, who also always found suitable pairs.

Note: Feminist critic has paid attention to Heyer's portrayal of relationships between the sexes. In Regency Buck (1935) the heroine is 'tamed' by her guardian, and love and marriage come when the heroine submits to the hero. S.A. Rowland finds a hint at a secondary romance structure between mothers and sons in FALSE COLOURS (1963) and SYLVESTER; OR THE WICKED UNCLE (1957) (see Contemporary Popular Writers, ed. by David Mote, 1997, p. 198)

Superintendent Hannasyde novels: DEATH IN THE STOCKS (1935), BEHOLD, HERE'S POISON! (1936), THEY FOUND HIM DEAD (1937), A BLUNT INSTRUMENT (1938). - Hemingway's cases: NO WIND OF BLAME (1939), ENVIOUS CASCA (1941), DUPLICATE DEATH (1951), DETECTION UNLIMITED (1953).

For further reading: The Private World of Georgette Heyer by Jane Aiken Hodge (1984); Georgette Heyer's Regency in England by T. Chris (1989): World Authors 1900-1950, ed. by M. Seymour-Smith and A.C. Kimmens (1996); Contemporary Popular Writers, ed. by Mavid Mote (1997) - Other writers of historical, romantic novels: Catherine Gavin, Constance Heaven, Pamela Hill, Victoria Holt, Joanna Trollope, Phyllis A. Whitney.

THE BLACK MOTH: A ROMANCE OF THE 18TH CENTURY, (1921)
FREDERICA, (1965)
BLACK SHEEP, (1966)
COUSIN KATE, (1969)
CHARITY GIRL, (1970)
LADY OF QUALITY, (1972)
THE GEORGETTE HEYER OMNIBUS, (1973)
MY LORD JOHN, (1975)
THESE OLD SHADES WITH SPRING MUSLIN, SYLVESTER, THE CORIANTH AND THE CONVENIENT MARRIAGE, (1977)