Bookshelf Project, Week Twenty-eight
Heyer-Heyer
Books read: 6
Title: April Lady/Pistols for Two
Author: Georgette Heyer
Status: This one requires a bit of clarification. April Lady is a novella and it is usually packaged with Pistols for Two, a collection of short stories. So this is actually 12 tales in one. April Lady feels like an early draft for The Convenient Marriage (see down the page). All the short stories are lovely -but people get paired off almost instantly in most cases, which strains credulity a bit (even in this genre).
Result: Shallow as it is, I really dislike the cover of this book. I think I shall send it on and see if I can get it electronically.
Title: The Talisman Ring
Author: Georgette Heyer
Status: This is one of the three top-tier Heyers for me. Intrigue, adventure, a mystery and delightful pairings. And of course, the origin of the concept of riding ventre a terre.
Result: Keepsies!
Title: The Convenient Marriage
Author: Georgette Heyer
Status: Hey, remember when I mentioned this book a couple of paragraphs ago? This is a strong second-tier novel for me. It takes some of the plot elements from April Lady and expands upon them. (Horatia might be one of my favorite Heyer heroines) Good fun, strong supporting characters.
Result: Keep for sure.
Title: Cotilion
Author: Georgette Heyer
Status: This is my mom’s favorite. Kitty is a pretty conventional heroine, but Freddy is unlike any other Heyer hero to my knowledge. (Imagine Bertie Wooster in a cravat). I nearly cited Cotillion in one of my theses because Freddy talks about how he couldn’t take the Grand Tour like his father did owing to Napoleon.
Result: I wouldn’t mind a different edition of this one, but I shall keep.
Title: Devil’s Cub
Author: Georgette Heyer
Status: This is a sequel to my all-time favorite Heyer, but I’m reading it now because a) that’s the way the alphabet works b) you don’t really need to have read it’s predecessor to understand what’s happening c) it’s my blog and I do what I want. Although perfectly entertaining, it doesn’t live up to its sire. And there’s something sad about seeing the beloved characters from the first book in middle age…especially as Heyer decided that one of the secondary characters would become even more dissolute as an older man.
Result: I don’t want to break up the family, so I will keep :)
Title: The Masqueraders
Author: Georgette Heyer
Status: Fun facts time! This was the first Heyer book I ever read. (I think somewhere between age 10-12…after I had discovered Austen) It remains one of my top three to this day. It seems that the ones where there is a bigger plot than just tying up the couples neatly tend to do better with me. Interestingly, (by which I mean to probably only me) two of the top three are set mid-century, which was the period I ended up focusing on in my research. (At the time I was much more of a committed Regency person…) Anyway, intrigue, cross-dressing, sword fights, secret heritages, the book has it all. It’s also the one that I think would translate best to a visual medium. (HBO, call me!)
Result: Prue & the Mountain OTP!
Only 4 more Heyers to go, people!