The Private World of Georgette Heyer

It's an interesting look at the life of the woman who founded the Regency Romance genre. All others in the genre owe a lot to this woman who did some serious research to ensure she had her details correct in the stories. I would have loved to see her library before it was dispersed. This looks behind the scenes at the life of this intensely private woman, a woman who supported her family and ensured that her husband was enabled to study and become, eventually, a judge, but also a woman who hated paperwork, disliked change, had a lot of impatience with others of her gender and disliked stupidity of all sorts. She also wrote well, and had such a passion for the era that it showed. This book looks at some of the minor errors she comitted but is also lavishly illustrated with some of her sketches in her notebook. I would have loved to know who the imitators/plagarists alluded to in the book were. All in all a very interesting biography that rekindled my enthuaism for re-reading the stories by this interesting woman.

Title: Private World of Georgette Heyer It's an interesting look at the life of the woman who founded the Regency Romance genre. All others in the genre owe a lot to this woman who did some serious research to ensure she had her details correct in the stories. I would have loved to see her library before it was dispersed. This looks behind the scenes at the life of this intensely private woman, a woman who supported her family and ensured that her husband was enabled to study and become, eventually, a judge, but also a woman who hated paperwork, disliked change, had a lot of impatience with others of her gender and disliked stupidity of all sorts. She also wrote well, and had such a passion for the era that it showed. This book looks at some of the minor errors she comitted but is also lavishly illustrated with some of her sketches in her notebook. I would have loved to know who the imitators/plagarists alluded to in the book were. All in all a very interesting biography that rekindled my enthuaism for re-reading the stories by this interesting woman.

Jane Aiken Hodge wrote the first critical perspective of Heyer's books, and it is one of the most useful books. Not only is it an insight into Georgette Heyer's world, but also a glimpse into her own life. Hodge had access to her diary's and notebooks, a privilege not extended to anyone else until Mary Fahnstock Thomas did her critical perspective. (Also very good) The Private World of Georgette Heyer should be put into perspective. It shows the development of Heyer's writing, from the first episodic book she wrote for her brother (Black Moth) and published at the age of 17, to her experiment with modern novels (all suppressed) to her experiments with writing mysteries, historical novels, her movement into her most famous genre, Regency Romances, and finally to the works she considered her most eponymous - that is of Medieval fiction. Her last work was left unfinished, and was published as such. It is perhaps her most disliked by her modern readers. Heyer is also perhaps not necessarily recognised by the wider public as the woman who spawned the Regency Romance genre. She was badly copied by the likes of Barbara Cartland, but as Heyer's fans know, Heyer did hours of painstaking research on her subjects. Hodge does an excellent job of showing this in this book. Some of the illustrations Heyer copied from books and magazines in the British Library are reproduced, but more usefully, Hodge goes through each book and allows a chapter for it and Heyer's life at the time. Usually there is a struggle with the Inland Revenue involved as Heyer seemed to have to write to pay the tax bills more often than not. There are occassional lapses where Hodge makes minor mistakes on books etc, these are pretty forgiveable in a book of this scope and they usually don't affect the understanding of Heyer and her books too greatly. For anyone wishing to understand Heyer, or get a greater understanding of the period of history she was writing about (or living in) this is an excellent work. If nothing else just flick through and look at the pictures. An extraodinary woman, and a very private life well illustrated.

I have read Heyer off and on growing up and rediscovered them a while ago. Surfing the local library catalogue, I bumped into this book and found it fascinating. The world Heyer built was charming and perfect, where manners and propriety is must and wit is romance. Its the world I like to escape into and Hodge does homage to both the creator and the works respectful of Heyer's sentiments. Her style of analysing and studying the books chronologically makes a splendid approach to following Heyer's life and work as an author. However, while doing so she does not reveal much about the plot itself, but definitely does let you in on what it must have taken - research and otherwise - for Heyer to have produced it. It is well written and exposes Heyer only as much as she herself might have allowed. I thought it a novel way to write about an author who put so much of herself (essence of herself rather) in her books. Through out the book, you see Heyer herself evolving, as you see her family grow and surround her. I would recommend this book - in fact go so far as to say it is a must - for any Heyer fan. The other author it made me think of is Edgar Wallace. In fact, I found a curious reference to him in the book - his daughter was Mrs.Frere, a close friend of Heyer.

I have enjoyed reading books by Heyer for many years now and have read all of her Regency books. Therefore, I was very interested to read this biography. If you are a Heyer fan you will find many things of interest throughout the book. I especially liked the pictures from her journals showing her meticulous research into all matters of fashion of the day. I also enjoyed that the author, Jane A. Hodge, wrote with affection for the Heyer books and presented insight into what was happening in the life of the author when she was writing them. If you enjoy reading the Heyer books, you will enjoy reading Hodge's informative biography.