In Which Is Narrated How I Happened To Read A Couple Of Romance Novels

[Innocent]

Recently, when I was at the second-hand-bookshop, I happened to find a book titled "Penhallow" by some authoress called Georgette Heyer, of whom I had never heard until now. The book looked interesting, and there were not many other books that I liked. So I ended up buying that book, after bargaining for five minutes, for thirty-five Rupees. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I'm not sure how to best describe the book, but I think "Dostoevsky without God and grace" would come close to being a good description. At any rate, I thought it was a lurid description of the effect of concupiscence on people who don't engage in any interior struggle.

Well, a few days later, I was back at the same shop, and in the same shelf where I found "Penhallow," now there were two other books titled "The Nonesuch" and "A Civil Contract." This time, I bought the books without a second thought, and without looking through the insides. But when I got back to my room and started reading them, it became clear that these were totally different type of books. These were more like the writings of the Bronte sisters, but not as heavy or serious. They were more like three parts Jane Austen and two parts P.G. Wodehouse. At any rate, I enjoyed reading them.

I was quite surprised that the same authoress could write so well in totally different genres. Actually I first thought that it might be a different author with the same name, but there was a list of other books by the same author at the back which included "Penhallow," and so I realised that it was the same author after all.

Then I did some Google searches on the authoress, and I find that Wikipedia says, "Heyer essentially established the historical romance genre and its subgenre Regency romance." and also that Amazon.com lists her books under the genre "Romance."

Oh well! That's the story of how I've just read two romance novels.

[Luigi]

If I had time, I might read some Heyer, if I had 35 Rupees.

[CatherineM]

It is unusual for someone to be able to write in different genres. I suppose that a good writer is a good writer, it's just that people normally have things they prefer to write about.

[sistersintigo]

Georgette Heyer worked really hard. She was a prolific author and much of her writing involves some historical period or other, and she would research carefully and thoroughly.
Actually she had a particular Romance niche, and that was Regency Romances, referring to the historical period in England. "The Nonesuch" is probably as good an example as any.
Mysteries by Georgette Heyer are a whole other deal. She was a married woman, and I forget her husband's profession,....but it is often related that she and her husband would put their heads together for her mystery output. She did the actual writing, but many of the initial premises for the next murder mystery would come as suggestions from her husband, for what that is worth.
For what my two cents are worth, I too valued "Penhallow," it is not for the faint of heart and yet I found it really well done. Especially with one challenge peculiar to "Penhallow," and that is, that you get to see the perpetrator of the murder carrying out the murder itself: the reader knows who did it, how, and to what end, even though nobody else has got a clue. Then you see how the survivors, including the perpetrator, cope with the whole thing -- like watching the collapse of a house of cards.
There is another Georgette Heyer category, and that is novels which are neither romances nor murder mysteries, but recreations of something in English history.
For instance: "An Infamous Army" , the title is a direct quote from the Duke of Wellington about what he has to work with when he takes on Napoleon. This novel includes a play-by-play recreation of the anti-Napoleon perspective of the battle at Waterloo. Another example of Heyer doing painstaking research with everything from strategy to direct quotes. Another example is "Simon the Coldhearted," I didn't like all of it but the parts that I liked, I very much liked.

[Seven77]

[color=#595959][font=arial, verdana, sans-serif][size=4]P.G. Wodehouse is a trip! Everybody go read [i]My Man Jeeves[/i] at Project Gutenberg and/or listen to the Libravox audiobook. Google now. [/size][/font][/color]

[Innocent]

[quote name='sistersintigo' timestamp='1298840969' post='2216188']
Georgette Heyer worked really hard. She was a prolific author and much of her writing involves some historical period or other, and she would research carefully and thoroughly.
Actually she had a particular Romance niche, and that was Regency Romances, referring to the historical period in England. "The Nonesuch" is probably as good an example as any.
Mysteries by Georgette Heyer are a whole other deal. She was a married woman, and I forget her husband's profession,....but it is often related that she and her husband would put their heads together for her mystery output. She did the actual writing, but many of the initial premises for the next murder mystery would come as suggestions from her husband, for what that is worth.
For what my two cents are worth, I too valued "Penhallow," it is not for the faint of heart and yet I found it really well done. Especially with one challenge peculiar to "Penhallow," and that is, that you get to see the perpetrator of the murder carrying out the murder itself: the reader knows who did it, how, and to what end, even though nobody else has got a clue. Then you see how the survivors, including the perpetrator, cope with the whole thing -- like watching the collapse of a house of cards.
There is another Georgette Heyer category, and that is novels which are neither romances nor murder mysteries, but recreations of something in English history.
For instance: "An Infamous Army" , the title is a direct quote from the Duke of Wellington about what he has to work with when he takes on Napoleon. This novel includes a play-by-play recreation of the anti-Napoleon perspective of the battle at Waterloo. Another example of Heyer doing painstaking research with everything from strategy to direct quotes. Another example is "Simon the Coldhearted," I didn't like all of it but the parts that I liked, I very much liked.
[/quote]

Thanks for the background information on the authoress.

Someone must be selling off their Heyer collection, because when I passed the book-shop yesterday, I found another book by Georgette Heyer, [i]The Spanish Bride[/i], which, after a bit of haggling over the price, I managed to get for just Rs. 25. I suppose this falls into the "historical reconstruction" category.

[Innocent]

[quote name='Seven77' timestamp='1298930267' post='2216559']
[color=#595959][font=arial, verdana, sans-serif][size=4]P.G. Wodehouse is a trip! Everybody go read [i]My Man Jeeves[/i] at Project Gutenberg and/or listen to the Libravox audiobook. Google now. [/size][/font][/color]
[/quote]

I've read a lot of books with staple Wodehouse characters like Jeeves, the Earl of Emsworth and his pig, Galahad Threepwood, Monty Bodkin, Psmith etc, but still, the Wodehouse book I relish re-reading the most is the first Wodehouse novel I read, [i]Hot Water[/i].

Edited March 11, 2011 by Innocent