The Queen Mother of Regency Romance
I think most people will agree that Georgette Heyer is the Queen Mother of the modern romance novel. That is to say, her novels and their immense popularity spawned the huge expanse of works that we think of as the romance genre today. Although, of course, she was writing historical romance. 😊
Inspired by Jane Austin, Heyer essentially established the historical romance genre and the regency romance sub-genre in particular. Publishing her first novel, The Black Moth, in 1921 she continuing writing until her death in 1974, producing over forty novels, not only in historical romance but detective novels as well.
The Birth of an Industry
Enormously popular, especially during the great depression and World War II, what happened next was both tragic and beneficial in some ways. Authors like Barbara Cartland and publishers like Harlequin sized on this previously unperceived market to churn out hordes of slim, simplistic historicals to a rabid audience that couldn’t get enough.
This is not to say that these books weren’t fun. They were very enjoyable, so we read them by the bucket-load. But they had the effect of dumbing down the romance genre just as it was starting to take off.
While the pageantry and rags-to-riches romance of the stories were eminently appealing, they were stripped down of any nuance, lacking even a hint of depth of character. After reading three or four, you had pretty much read them all. Not that that stopped us…
While what is now the billion dollar industry of modern romance was born, the genre has struggled to recover from this blow to its creative development ever since.
Back to Georgette Heyer
This lady knew how to bring it! Clever and complex, extremely well researched, romantic and funny, these stories have it all.
My favorite is probably the Corinthian, but that may be simply because it was the first one I ever read. I highly recommend you listen to these novels on audio if you can, the accents, tones of voice and mannerisms really add so much. For The Corinthian, I prefer the Naxos Audiobook recording narrated by Georgina Sutton. She does a fabulous job.
The dialogue in this book is gorgeous and the different types of speech (dialects) included make listening to the audio a delight. The the sparkling wit, and the absolutely adorable plot remind one of a modern romantic comedy.
Our hero, Richard, or Rickie to his intimates, is a Corinthian, which were the known gentlemen sportsmen of the time, both in boxing and horsemanship. While this is alluded to in the book, not as much as Richard’s fastidious attentions to the proper tying of a cravat, often with almost farcical results.
However, for the Corinthian, this slavish attention to detail not only applies to dressing, but also a fashionable way of comporting oneself, so any type of imbroglio would usually be a hard no. And then he meets our heroine – and that goes right out the window. (Yes – for those of you who’ve read it – pun intended).
Our lively heroine is blessed with a tom-boy personality and manages to get herself into a variety of pickles made even more fun by the ridged strictures of polite society. She spends most of the book disguised as a boy – which is delightfully funny. The romance is understated and implied, but still completely stratifying. I highly recommend The Corinthian – you will not be disappointed.
Arabella
If I have another favorite, it is probably Arabella. Now here is a girl who is not afraid to go after what she wants. Talk about your feisty heroine. The absolute posterchild for go bold – or go home.
Another delightful tale of mistaken identity, Arabella knows exactly how her world works and how to negotiate the rules of the day without letting them pen her in. Although in the end, even she has to admit she might have gone too far…
There’s mystery, suspense, intricate twists and turns, and multitudes of machinations. Clever and funny, without slipping over into silly, this is absolutely a fun read. Again I recommend you try to get this on audio, since all the accents add so much to the story.
I don’t think there is a single Georgette Heyer that has let me down. And they are all different. Faro’s Daughter comes to mind. Another good one, with substantially different character types. If you haven’t read Georgette Heyer yet, give her a try. You can thank me later. 😊
Put your favorite Georgette Heyers in the comments – let other readers know which ones to try first!