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Georgette Heyer (1902-1974) - Also wrote as Stella Martin | |
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British writer who published about 40 historical novels - Regency romances - and a dozen detective novels from the 1930s to the 1950s. Heyer also wrote short stories and a radio play from her own novel. Among her best known detective characters are Superintendent Hannasyde and Inspector Hemingway. Heyer's Regency novels meticulously recreated the period in the smallest detail of social code, dress, food, and language. Her fast paced and ironic dialogue often contrasted attitudes and roles of her female and male characters. --"Am I cold?" Georgette Heyer was born in Wimbledon. Her father, George Heyer, was a teacher at King's College School and encouraged her daughter in her writing aspirations. Heyer was educated at seminary schools and Westminster College, London, but never passed any form of examination. In 1925 she married George Ronald Rougier; they had one son. Rouguier was a mining engineer, and Heyer moved with him for three years to East Africa, where she wrote the essay 'The Horned Beats of Africa', published in The Sphere in 1929. From 1928 to 1929 they lived in Yugoslavia. In the early thirties, they settled in England following George Rougier's decision to pursue a career as barrister. Their son, born in 1932, also became a barrister and a Queen's Counsel. In the 1942 the Heyers moved from Sussex to London. Her first novel, THE BLACK MOTH, Heyer wrote at the age of 17. Rougier is said to have devised plots to several of his wife's mysteries. His knowledge of the legal system is seen among others in DUPLICATE DEATH (1951). The motive of the murderer is in many cases acquisition of an inheritance. Usually Heyer set her stories in the English village milieu or in the social circles of London. In THE GRANT SOPHY (1950) the protagonist arrives in London to find a husband. She lacks beauty - so she thinks - and she has a mind of her own. However, Heyer always found suitable husbands for her heroines. The great majority of Heyer's books are historical romances. Her early novels were swashbuckling adventure stories. The Regency comedies sometimes used elements from crime stories, as in THE CORINTHIAN (1940), or spy fiction, as in THE RELUCTANT WIDOW (1946), which was filmed in 1950. In later period she produced works which had humor and irony, and dealt with family relationships. In BEAUVALLET (1929) an English buccaneer harassing Spanish ships under Queen Elizabeth is distracted by his love for a Spanish Protestant noblewoman. THE TALISMAN RING (1936), which combines romance with murder, depicts a murder suspect, who meets a woman fleeing an arranged marriage. In FARO'S DAUGHTER (1941) the heroine runs a gaming salon. FREDERICA (1965) centers on the initiation of an outsider aristocratic male into a domestic world of family relationships. In four of Heyer's mysteries the protagonist is Superintendent Hannasyde, DEATH IN THE STOCKS (1935), BEHOLD, HERE'S POISON! (1936), THEY FOUND HIM DEAD (1937), A BLUNT INSTRUMENT (1938). His associate, Inspector Hemingway, features also in four, NO WIND OF BLAME (1939), ENVIOUS CASCA (1941), Duplicate Death, DETECTION UNLIMITED (1953). Heyer's immense popularity and success embroiled her in tax problems from which she tried to escape by producing more books. She also published short stories, and two articles on literary topics, 'Books About the Brontës' and 'How to Be a Literary Critic', both of which appeared in Punch in 1954. Among her last projects were the trilogy of John, Duke of Bedford, brother of Henry V. The work was not finished, Heyer died on July 4, 1974. The first volume was prepared for publication by her husband, who died on the following year. Heyer's historical romances were well researched, and offer much information about the costume, social customs and forms of speech of the era. AN INFAMOUS ARMY (1937) showed Heyer's skill as a war historian. Her works influenced among others Jane Aiken Hodge, the daughter of Conrad Aiken and sister of Joan Aiken, both writers. As her model Heyer mentioned Jane Austen, with whom she shared the same the ironic tone. Her writing has been criticized for its conventional plots and stereotypical characterizations and "escapist" qualities or, alternatively, acclaimed for historical accuracy and authenticity of the dialogue and slang. The feminist novelist Brigid Brophy characterized Heyer's FALSE COLOUR (1963) in New Statesman as "a piece of childish let's-pretend but blessedly unpretentious" and "nimble to the point of wit in copying period detail." Feminist critics have also noted that Heyer's spirited heroines are "tamed" at the end by the love of a good man. Often her women concentrate entirely on the business of getting married like Austen's heroines, and they show intelligence and and strong will. Heyer herself was described by Elaine Bander as attractive, unusually tall, intellectually arrogant, and caustic" (in Great Women Mystery Writers, ed. by Kathleen Gregory Klein, 1994). For further reading: The Private World of Georgette Heyer by Jane Aiken Hodge (1984); Georgette Heyer's Regency in England by T. Chris (1989): World Authors 1900-1950, vol. 2, ed. by M. Seymour-Smith and A.C. Kimmens (1996); Contemporary Popular Writers, ed. by Mavid Mote (1997); Georgette Heyer: A Critical Retrospective by Mary Fahnestock-Thomas (2001) - Other writers of historical, romantic novels: Catherine Gavin, Constance Heaven, Pamela Hill, Victoria Holt, Joanna Trollope, Phyllis A. Whitney Selected works:
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