GEORGETTE HEYER

'Georgette Heyer' (pronounced "hair") (16 August 1902 – 4 July 1974) was an English Historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her first novel, ''The Black Moth'', began as a story spun to amuse her younger brother and was published in 1921, when Heyer was only nineteen. The success of her novel, ''These Old Shades'', released in the midst of a General Strike, solidified Heyer's opinion that publicity was not necessary to good sales. For the rest of her life, she refused to grant interviews.
In the 1930s, Heyer branched out from her Regency romances. ''The Conqueror'', released in 1930, was her first historical novel. The following year she released her first thriller, ''Footsteps in the Dark.'' For the next decade, she released one historical romance and one thriller each year.
As Heyer's success grew, she had repeated problems with both the tax inspector and plagiarists. She refused to file a lawsuit against the alleged plagiarists, but tried multiple ways of minimizing her tax liability. A limited liability company to administer the rights to her novels, but after Heyer was accused multiple times of taking an overly large salary from the company, she finally sold it, and the rights to the seventeen of her novels that the company owned, to Booker-McConnell.

Biography

Early years

Heyer was born in Wimbledon, London in 1902. She was named for her father, George Heyer, a professor who sometimes wrote for ''The Granta''. Her mother, Sylvia Watkins, was "an outstanding student" at the Royal College of Music who studied both cello and piano. Heyer was the eldest of three children; her brother George Boris was four years younger than she and Frank was five years younger than Boris.^[1]
While Heyer was a child, her father took a position in Paris, France. Shortly after World War I broke out in 1914, the family returned to England.^[2] Although the family's surname had been pronounced similarly to "higher", with the advent of war her father changed the pronunciation to "hair" so that they family would not be mistaken for Germans.^[3] Her father soon returned to France to serve as a requisitions officer for the British military. After the war ended he was given an O.B.E..
George Heyer strongly encouraged his children to read, and never forbade any book. Heyer read widely. As a teenager she became friends with two young women who enjoyed books as much as she. Joanna Cannan and Carola Oman often met with Heyer to discuss books they had read. Both Cannan and Oman were determined to be writers, and both would eventually be published.^[4]

Initial publication

Heyer's brother Boris suffered from a form of hemophilia and was often weak. When she was 17, Heyer began a serial story to amuse her brother. Her father enjoyed listening to her story, and asked her to prepare it for publication. He sent her manuscript to his agent, and they quickly found a publisher for her book. ''The Black Moth'' was published in 1921. The novel contained many of the elements that would become standard for Heyer's novels, the "saturnine male lead, the marriage in danger, the extravagent wife, and the group of idle, entertaining young men."^[5]

Marriage

While vacationing with her family at Christmas-time in 1920, Heyer met George Ronald Rougier, a young man two years her senior who was also taller than her own 5 ft 10 in.^[6] The two became regular dance partner while Rougier studied at the Royal School of Mines to become a mining engineer. In the spring of 1925, shortly after the publication of her fifth novel, the two became engaged. One month later, Heyer's father died of a heart attack. He left no pension, and as his wife soon "subsided into widowhood," Heyer became the sole breadwinner of the family, and assumed responsibility for her brothers, then aged 19 and 14.^[7] Two months after her father's death, on 18 August 1925, Heyer and Rougier married in a simple ceremony.^[8]
Two months after their marriage, Rougier was sent to the Caucasus Mountains for work. Heyer remained at home and continueed to write.^[9] In 1926, she released ''These Old Shades''. The book appeared in the midst of a UK General Strike of 1926, which meant that there were no newspapers, reviews, or advertising. Neverthless, the book sold 190,000 copies.^[10] Because ''These Old Shades'' was so successful despite the lack of publicity, for the rest of her life Heyer refused to do any publicity, even though her publishers often asked her to give a few interviews.^[11] She once wrote to a friend that "as for being photographed At Work or In my Old World Garden, that is the type of publicity which I find nauseating and quite unnecessary. My private life concerns no one but myself and my family."^[12]
Rougier returned home in the summer of 1926, but with in months he was sent to Tanganyika. Heyer joined him there the following year. There, she lived in a compound in the bush, where she was the object of much speculation, as her servants had never seen a white woman before. In 1928, Heyer followed her husband to Macedonia, where she almost died from an improperly given anesthetic during a visit to the dentist. The couple returned to England in 1929, with the agreement that Heyer would support the family while Rougier looked for a different line of work. After a failed experiment running a gas, coke, and lighting company, Rougier purchased a sports shop in Horsham with money they borrowed from Heyer's aunts. Heyer's brother Boris lived above the shop and helped Rougier, while Heyer continued to provide the bulk of the family's earnings with her writing.^[13]

Thrillers

In 1931, Heyer released her first historical novel, ''The Conqueror''. She researched the biography thorougly, even replicating William the Conqueror's crossing into England.^[14] The following year, Heyer's writing took an even more drastic departure from her early historical romances, as she released her first thriller, ''Footsteps in the Dark''. The publication of the novel coincided with the birth of her only child, Richard George Rougier, who she called her "most notable (indeed peerless) work."^[15] Later in her life, Heyer requested that her publishers not reprint ''Footsteps in the Dark'', saying "This work, published simultaneously with my son...was the first of my thrillers and was perpetuated while I was, as any Regency character would have said, increasing. One husband and two ribald brothers all had fingers in it, and I do not claim it as a Major Work."^[16]
Heyer's husband was unhappy running the shop, and with Heyer's encouragement he began studying to fulfill his long-time dream of becoming a barrister. At about this same time her novels began to feature fewer athletic heroes and instead included more solicitors and barristers.^[17]
For the next several years Heyer published one historical romance and one thriller each year. The historical romances were by far her more popular, as they usually sold 115,000 copies, while her thrillers sold 16,000 copies.^[18] Heyer involved her husband in both her historical romances and the thrillers. Rougier often read the proofs of her historical romances to catch any errors that she might have missed, and served as a collaborator for her thrillers. He provided the plots of the detective stories, describing the actions of characters "A" and "B."^[19] Heyer would then create the characters and the relationships between them and bring the plot points to life. She found it difficult at times to rely on someone else's plots; on at least one occasion before writing the last chapter of the book she asked Rougier to explain once again how the murder was really committed.
In 1935, Heyer's thrillers began following the same pair of detectives, Superintendant Hannassyde and Sergeant Hemingway. The two were never as popular as other contemporary fictional detectives such as Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Dorothy L. Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey.^[20] One of the books featuring these characters, ''Death in the Stocks'', was dramatized in New York City, but only played for three nights.^[21]

Regency romances

Now settled into a home with ample space, Heyer began to collect reference works and research materials to use while writing her novels. She often clipped illustrations from magazine article, and jotted down interesting vocabulary or facts onto note cards, but rarely recorded where she found the information.^[22] Her notes were sorted into categories, complete with their own bibliographies. The notes she kept for each novel as she was writing often featured "careful sketches of uniforms and hand-drawn maps."^[23] In the interests of accuracy, Heyer even purchased a letter written by the Duke of Wellington so that she could accurately describe his style of writing.^[24] Her knowledge of the time period was so extensive that Heyer rarely mentioned dates explicitly in her books, instead casually referring to major and minor events to date her plots.^[25]

Financial issues

In 1939, Rougier was called to the Bar, and the family moved first to Brighton, then to Hove, so that Rougier could easily commute to London. The following year, their son was sent to prep school, creating an additional expense for Heyer to pay. During World War II, her brothers were in the armed forces, alleviating one of her monetary worries. Her husband served in the British Home Guard.^[26] As he was new to his career, Rougier was not earning a great deal of money, and paper rationing during the war meant that Heyer's books did not sell as well as before. To meet their expenses Heyer was forced to sell the rights to three of her back titles outright to her publisher, Heinemann. She received £750 for the Commonwealth rights to ''These Old Shades'', ''Devil's Cub'', and ''Regency Buck''. Her contact at the publishing house, close friend A.S. Frere, later offered to return the rights to her for the same amount of money which she was paid. Heyer refused to accept the deal, explaining that she had given her word to transfer the rights.^[27]
After attending a lunch with a representative from Hodder & Stoughton, who published her detective stories, Heyer felt that her host had patronized her. The company had an option on her next book, and to convince them to break her contract she wrote ''Penhallow''. Hodder & Stoughton turned the book down, thus ending their association, and Heinemann agreed to publish it instead. Her American publisher, Doubleday, also disliked the book, and, after publishing it, ended their relationship with Heyer.^[28]
The Blitz made train travel uncertain at times, making it difficult for Rougier to commute. In 1942, the family moved to London. To earn more money, Heyer would review books for Heinemann, earning 2 guineas for each review.^[29] She also allowed her novels to be serialized in ''Women's Journal'', earning £1000 for the rights to serialize ''The Foundling'' prior to its publication in hardback. ''Women's Journal'' usually sold out completely when it carried one of Heyer's novels, but she complained that they "always like[d] my worst work."^[11]
To minimize her tax liability, Heyer formed a limited liability company. Heron Enterprises, around 1950. Royalties from any new titles would be paid to the company, which would then furnish Heyer with a salary and pay director's fees to her family. Royalties from her previous titles would continue to come to her directly, and even for new works, the foreign royalties, except for those from the United States, would go to her mother.^[31] Within several years, however, a tax inspector found that Heyer was withdrawing too much money from the company. The inspector foundd that the extra money should be considered undisclosed dividents, meaning that she would owe an additional £3000 in taxes. For an additional source of income to pay the tax bill, Heyer wrote several articles, including two, "Books about the Brontës" and "How to be a Literary Writer", that were published in ''Punch''.^[32]
The limited liability company continued to vex Heyer, and in 1966, she finally fired her accountants after tax inspectors found that she owed the company £20,000. Deciding to end the company, Heyer asked her publishers to make out the rights to new newest book, ''The Black Sheep'', in her personal name.^[33] ''The Black Sheep'' was different from other Heyer novels in that it did not focus on members of the aristocracy. Instead, it followed "the moneyed middle class," with money a dominant theme in the novel.^[34]
Heyer's new accountants advised that she sell Heron Enterprises, and, after two years of their badgering, she finally agreed to sell the company to Booker-McConnell, which already owned the rights to the estates of novelists Ian Fleming and Agatha Christie. Booker-McConnell paid her approximately £85,000 for the rights to the 17 of her titles that were owned by the company. This amount was taxed at the lower capital transfer rate rather than the higher income tax rate.^[35]

Imitators

As Heyer's popularity increased, other authors began to imitate her style. Around 1950, one of her readers sent her a letter informing her that another author had written several novels that were very similar to Heyer's. The offending novelist even reused the names and characterizations of some of Heyer's characters. Heyer seriously considered filing a lawsuit, but dismissed the idea when no new works by the other author were forthcoming. ^[36]
In 1961, another reader wrote to tell her of similarities found in a different author's works. This time, the other author's novels borrowed plot incidents, characters, some surnames, and much of Heyer's use of Regency slang. After fans accused Heyer of "publishing shoddy stuff under a pseudonym," Heyer wrote to the other publisher to complain.^[37] The author denied the accusations, so Heyer made a thorough list of the borrowings and historical mistakes in the other books. In several instances, the other author used the phrase "to make a cake of oneself", which Heyer had discovered in a privately printed memoir that was unavailable to the public. In another case, the author referenced a historical incident that Heyer had invented in an earlier novel. Heyer sought a lawyer's opinion, but ultimately chose not to sue.
The plaigarism continued in 1974 with the publication of a new book by the author of the 1940 offending works. The new novel combined plot elements and proper names from multiple Heyer novels and lifted much of her phrasing. Heyer's lawyers again counselled restraint. Rather than file a lawsuit, they suggested that she leak the copying to the press. Heyer refused.^[38]

Later years

In 1959, Rougier became a Queen's Counsel.^[39] The following year, their son Richard fell in love with the estranged wife of one of his acquaintances. Richard assisted the woman, Susanna Flint, in leaving her husband, and, after her divorce was final, the couple married. Heyer was shocked at the impropriety, but soon came to love her daughter-in-law, later describing her as "the daughter we never had and thought we didn't want."^[40] Richard and Flint raised her two sons from her first marriage, and provided Heyer with her only biological grandchild in 1966 when their son Nicholas Rougier was born.^[33]
As Heyer aged she began to suffer more frequent health problems. In June 1964, she underwent surgery to remove a kidney stone. Although the doctors initially predicted a six week recovery, after two months they predicted that it might be a year or longer before she felt like herself. The following year, she suffered a mosquito bite which turned septic, prompting the doctors to offer to perform skin grafts.^[42] In July 1973 she suffered a slight stroke and was forced to spend three weeks in a nursing home. Later that year her brother Boris died, but Heyer was still too ill to travel to his funeral. She suffered another stroke in February 1974. Three months later, she was diagnosed with lung cancer, probably caused by the 60–80 cork-tipped cigarettes that she smoked each day (although she claimed not to inhale). On July 4, 1974, Heyer died. Her fans learned her married name for the first time from her obituaries.^[43]

Works

Eight of Heyer’s early historical romances were set in 18th century Georgian England. These works include ''The Black Moth'', ''These Old Shades'' and ''Devil’s Cub''. Heyer later wrote twenty-six novels set in the 19th century English Regency, a period which is strongly identified with her novels. Novels from this period include ''Regency Buck'', ''An Infamous Army'', ''Sylvester'', ''Frederica'' and ''Black Sheep''. These Regency novels, together with the works of Jane Austen, inspired the creation of the entire subgenre of Regency romance. Heyer did a tremendous amount of research on this period but glossed over the bleaker realities of life when she wrote.
She wrote six lesser-known historical novels. Half were set in her favourite period Medieval Europe – what she would call ‘armour’. Of her six historical novels ''The Conqueror'', ''My Lord John'' and ''Royal Escape'' are centred around the lives of ruling monarchs in England. Heyer’s other three novels ''Simon the Coldheart'', ''Beauvallet'' and ''The Great Roxhythe'' are more fictionalised.
Additionally, Heyer wrote four contemporary romance novels and twelve contemporary mysteries. These stories achieved less popular success than her Georgian and Regency tales.
In total, Heyer had 56 novels published, the last of which, ''My Lord John'', was published posthumously. She also published 16 short stories.

Bibliography

Georgian & Regency Novels

★ ''The Black Moth'' (1921), ISBN 0-09-946619-8

★ ''Powder and Patch'' (1930), ISBN 0-09-947443-3 (originally published in 1923 as ''The Transformation of Philip Jettan'')

★ ''These Old Shades'' (1926), ISBN 0-09-946582-5

★ ''The Masqueraders'' (1928), ISBN 0-09-947643-6

★ ''Devil's Cub'' (1932), ISBN 0-09-946583-3

★ ''The Convenient Marriage'' (1934), ISBN 0-09-947442-5

★ ''Regency Buck'' (1935), ISBN 0-09-946558-2

★ ''The Talisman Ring'' (1936), ISBN 0-09-947439-5

★ ''An Infamous Army'' (1937), ISBN 0-09-946576-0

★ ''The Spanish Bride'' (1940), ISBN 0-09-947445-X

★ ''The Corinthian'' (1940), ISBN 0-09-946808-5

★ ''Faro's Daughter'' (1941), ISBN 0-09-946559-0

★ ''Friday's Child'' (1944), ISBN 0-09-946804-2

★ ''The Reluctant Widow'' (1946), ISBN 0-09-946807-7

★ ''The Foundling'' (1948), ISBN 0-09-946806-9

★ ''Arabella'' (1949), ISBN 0-09-946562-0

★ ''The Grand Sophy'' (1950), ISBN 0-09-946563-9

★ ''The Quiet Gentleman'' (1951), ISBN 0-09-947637-1

★ ''Cotillion'' (1953), ISBN 0-09-947437-9

★ ''The Toll-Gate'' (1954), ISBN 0-09-947636-3

★ ''Bath Tangle'' (1955), ISBN 0-09-946809-3

★ ''Sprig Muslin'' (1956), ISBN 0-09-947635-5

★ ''April Lady'' (1957), ISBN 0-09-947634-7

★ ''Sylvester, or the Wicked Uncle'' (1957), ISBN 0-09-946577-9

★ ''Venetia'' (1958), ISBN 0-09-946565-5

★ ''The Unknown Ajax'' (1959), ISBN 0-09-947436-0

★ ''A Civil Contract'' (1961), ISBN 0-09-947444-1

★ ''The Nonesuch'' (1962), ISBN 0-09-947438-7

★ ''False Colours'' (1963), ISBN 0-09-947633-9

★ ''Frederica'' (1965), ISBN 0-09-946564-7

★ ''Black Sheep'' (1966), ISBN 0-09-946803-4

★ ''Cousin Kate'' (1968), ISBN 0-09-949095-1

★ ''Charity Girl'' (1970), ISBN 0-09-946805-0

★ ''Lady of Quality'' (1972), ISBN 0-09-947446-8

Medieval, Elizabethan, Cromwellian & Restoration Novels

★ ''The Great Roxhythe'' (1923)

★ ''Simon the Coldheart'' (1925), ISBN 0-09-949094-3

★ ''Beauvallet'' (1929), ISBN 0-09-949093-5

★ ''The Conqueror'' (1931), ISBN 0-09-949092-7

★ ''Royal Escape'' (1938), ISBN 0-09-947639-8

★ ''My Lord John'' (1975), ISBN 0-09-947642-8

Contemporary fiction

★ ''Instead of the Thorn'' (1923)

★ ''Helen'' (1928)

★ ''Pastel'' (1929)

★ ''Barren Corn'' (1930)

Mysteries

★ ''Footsteps in the Dark'' (1932), ISBN 0-09-949369-1

★ ''Why Shoot a Butler?'' (1933), ISBN 0-09-949372-1

★ ''The Unfinished Clue'' (1934), ISBN 0-09-949373-X

★ ''Death in the Stocks'' (1935), ISBN 0-09-949362-4

★ ''Behold, Here's Poison'' (1936), ISBN 0-09-949364-0 (AKA ''Merely Murder'' in the U.S.)

★ ''They Found Him Dead'' (1937), ISBN 0-09-949363-2

★ ''A Blunt Instrument'' (1938), ISBN 0-09-949365-9

★ ''No Wind of Blame'' (1939), ISBN 0-09-949367-5

★ ''Envious Casca'' (1941), ISBN 0-09-949366-7

★ ''Penhallow'' (1942), ISBN 0-09-949368-3

★ ''Duplicate Death'' (1951), ISBN 0-09-949375-6

★ ''Detection Unlimited'' (1953), ISBN 0-09-949374-8

Short stories

★ ''Pistols for Two'' (1960), ISBN 0-09-947638-X (short stories)

★
★ ''Pistols for Two'';

★
★ ''A Clandestine Affair (1st appearance)'';

★
★ ''Bath Miss'';

★
★ ''Pink Domino'';

★
★ ''A Husband for Fanny'';

★
★ ''To Have the Honour'';

★
★ ''Night at the Inn'';

★
★ ''The Duel'';

★
★ ''Hazard'';

★
★ ''Snowdrift'';

★
★ ''Full Moon''

★ "Pursuit" - Text online (in ''The Queen's Book of the Red Cross'', 1939)

★ "A Proposal to Cicely" (1922)

★ "Runaway Match"

★ "The Bulldog and the Beast"

★ "Linckes' Great Case"

Footnotes

1. Hodge (1984), p. 13.
2. Hodge (1984), p. 15.
3. Hodge (1984), p .14.
4. Hodge (1984), p. 16.
5. Hodge (1984), p. 17
6. Hodge (1984), p. 21.
7. Hodge (1984), p. 22.
8. Hodge (194), p. 23.
9. Hodge (1984), p. 27.
10. Hodge (1984), p. 25.
11. Hodge (1984), p. 69.
12. Hodge (1984), p. 70.
13. Hodge (1984), pp. 27-30.
14. Hodge (1984), p. 31.
15. Hodge (1984), p. 35.
16. Hodge (1984), p. 102.
17. Hodge (1984), p. 36.
18. Hodge (1984), p. 38.
19. Hodge (1984), p. 40.
20. Hodge (1984), p. 42.
21. Hodge (1984), p. 43.
22. Hodge (1984), p. 43, 46.
23. Hodge (1984), p. 51
24. Hodge (1984), p. 53.
25. Hoodge (1984), p. 71.
26. Hodge (1984), pp. 56, 57, 61.
27. Hodge (1984), pp. 61, 62.
28. Hodge (1984), p. 63.
29. Hodge (1984), pp. 66-67.
30. Hodge (1984), p. 69.
31. Hodge (1984), p. 90.
32. Hodge (1984), p. 106.
33. Hodge (1984), p. 169.
34. Hodge (1984), p. 174.
35. Hodge (1984), pp. 180, 181.
36. Hodge (1984), pp. 86-87.
37. Hodge (1984), pp. 140-141.
38. Hodge (1984), p. 206.
39. Hodge (1984), p. 130.
40. Hodge (1984), pp. 141, 151.
41. Hodge (1984), p. 169.
42. Heyer (1984), pp. 163, 165.
43. Hodge (1984), pp. 175, 204, 205, 206.

Reference

★ The Private World of Georgette Heyer, , Jane Aiken, Hodge, The Bodley Head, ,

External links

★ A detailed bibliography

★ Georgette Heyer website, detailed fan site

★ An Appreciation

★ LitWeb.net: Georgette Heyer Biography

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