Dancing on graves Jane Austen is always underfoot, thanks to endless movie adaptations—please, stop!!!!! Now, of course, we will have Jane Austen movies with zombies in them. Stop!!!! Please!!!!! That’s what all those movies led to!!!! If you have a brain and would like a little more exciting Austen, you have some other choices.
Today, we’ll discuss Georgette Heyer.
Inventor of the Regency Romance genre. Romance novels. How dreary. An admission that a woman lives in fantasyland. Lurid covers. Apparently the romance novel publishers are moving wholesale into KindleLand because the average romance novel reader is tired of flashing her bodice rippers on the bus.
Recently, I read in a blog that Georgette Heyer’s novels were witty and clever. So I had to have a look. . . .
While the New Orleans Public Library is often lacking, in this case, I was able to find two dozen Georgette Heyer novels, some in well-loved condition. The comments I had seen had mentioned The Black Moth and These Old Shades.
Black Moth was composed by a teenage Miss Heyer during an illness of her brother’s. She told him the story to distract him from a slow recovery. Heyer’s plots contain as many twists as a typical P. G. Wodehouse or Shakespeare comedy.
John Anthony St. Ervine Delaney Carstares, Earl of Wyncham has been a highwayman for several years, and has a faithful servant who allows him to live under an assumed title and name when he is not out robbing the deserving.
The family lawyer meets up with him in his disguise as a titled fop (see Scarlet Pimpernel). John declines to accept his inheritance, but offers it to his brother Richard, now married and the father of a son. The rich and cultured gentleman is a highwayman because he was accused of cheating at cards and vanished from society years ago. The lawyer begs him to admit that he was the innocent; by shielding his brother, Richard won the hand of the rapacious beauty that both brothers desired. But John refuses.
Carstares sets out on another coach robbery. When his gun fails to go off, he is arrested. Having suffered disgrace before, John now faces more public ignominy and being hanged. Unfortunately, the victim of his robbery is an old friend, O’Hara, now a local justice of the peace, responsible for his trial and sentencing. .
The delightful Mrs. O’Hara provides a plot and life-saving cover story by claiming the failed robbery was a prank played by her “cousin.” When O’Hara finally sees the face of his old friend, charges are dropped in a Newmarket minute. The wife is surprised to meet an old friend of her husband’s. They keep him as a guest for a few days.
Meanwhile, Dick Carstares, who let older brother John take the blame for cheating at cards so many years ago, has now decided to admit his own guilt and offer restitution. Dick is unhappily married. When he convinces himself that his wife is about to run off with a young officer, his resolution is strengthened--he has nothing to salvage from his marriage.
Carstares promises O’Hara that he will stop robbing coaches upon his departure. As he rides away from his friend’s house, he confronts an abduction of a young woman from her coach. With the help of her fierce defense and maid, Carstares is able to drive off the abductor, but suffers a serious wound, causing him to lose consciousness.
Awkward Moments Diana takes her wounded rescuer home to her father’s nearby estate and nurses him back to health. With the assistance of the neighboring O’Hara’s, he summons his servant and adopts a new nom-de-rescuer. Love blossoms between Diana and John Carstares—steam alternating with wit.
When Carstares reveals his identity and professional choices to Diana’s father, he is sent away in disgrace. Carstares leaves; the girl mystified by her lover’s sudden departure.
Once again, Diana is abducted by the Black Moth, a wild nobleman who has determined to abduct her, rape her and marry her. Carstares finds that she has been abducted and breaks into the Black Moth’s mansion. John is in the midst of a deadly sword duel when Diana breaks up the fight to save his life.
Everything ends up happily. The “Black Moth” is declared to be reformed.
Year later, Heyer wrote These Old Shades, the first “sequel” to Moth. It is followed in turn by The Devil’s Cub, and An Infamous Army.
I adore These Old Shades, which adds in revenge, mistaken identities, superior tastes in everything, flirtation, abductions, and shootings. Shades includes characters from The Black Moth, with name changes. The villain of Moth is Justin, the sexy superior hero of Shades. Talk about suspension of disbelief!!! Shades also has Leonie, feisty heroine, adorable and never too innocent. The Devil’s Cub heroine, Mary, is brave, smart, and more than a match for her enemies/lovers/relatives.
In other words, Heyer’s novels should be on a lot more bedside tables.
Please tell Jane Austen!!- <A HREF="http://judo.salon.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/www.salonmagazine.com/open/large.html/@Right"> <IMG SRC="http://judo.salon.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.ads/www.salonmagazine.com/open/large.html/@Right"></a>
Comments
I have no knowledge of her. I am always interested in hearing about writers even those I would never seek out on my own.
I wasn't familiar with Ms. Heyer's work. Uh, the characters you describe sound like they'd be familiar with the intricate rules and social traditions of NASCAR. Thanks for the enlightenment. :)
excellent--underfoot--love it. let's not forget, is it Mary Stewart? Touch Not the Cat and all ? I am too tired to Google it...
Stewart is kind of a Daphne DuMaurier sort...sorry, tired and incoherent...
Nice to see such a good review of Heyer. I discovered her a few years ago.
Cheap Bohemian. I like Mary Stewart romantic thrillers. But it's a completely different tone from Heyer, who is more witty. It's too bad that most of the Stewart stuff is out of print--some of it is still good. There's one that has Ivy in the title and Touch Not the Cat.
Kaysong--Thanks for coming by. When I find out about these writers I'm so happy to share them.
Kaysong--Thanks for coming by. When I find out about these writers I'm so happy to share them.
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