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The Private World of Georgette Heyer

3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 · rating details · 489 ratings · 49 reviews

REISSUE

The classic biography of Georgette Heyer is, finally, back in print and will delight Heyer fans everywhere. She wrote more than fifty novels, yet her private life was inaccessible to any but her nearest friends and relatives.
Lavishly illustrated, and with extracts from her correspondence and references to her work, The Private World reveals a formidable and energeti...more

Paperback, 240 pages

Published April 6th 2006 by Arrow (first published September 6th 1984)

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Jul 12, 2012 Parul rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Parul by: Salford

Shelves: historical, heyers-i-own

What an engaging book! I started reading it yesterday morning thinking I will eventually get up and do something else but just could not put it down till the last page.

It was quite interesting to read about Georgette Heyer's background & what was going on in her life as she was writing each book. It almost gives each book a new perspective to look at it from. I really enjoyed reading Heyer's letters to her favourite publishers - she seems to be just as witty, stubborn, strongly opinionated...more

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Sep 29, 2011 Kathy Davie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, history, romance

This is a biography of Georgette Rougier née Heyer, a descendant of a Russian fur merchant---a fascinating read!

Hodge relates all the usual biography information about her parents, her marriage, and her one child. The best part, however, is relating Heyer's thought processes, how she worked, the immense amount of information she uncovered and organized to ensure the accuracy of her stories. Pictures, sketches, and illustrations of gowns, uniforms, carriages. Files of language, manners, and histo...more

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Sep 22, 2011 Linda Banche rated it 5 of 5 stars

Everyone who knows Regency romance knows Georgette Heyer. The bare bones of her life are there for all to see, but not much more. She disliked the cult of author as celebrity and rarely gave interviews. Jane Aiken Hodge's biography, THE PRIVATE WORLD OF GEORGETTE HEYER, sheds light about the life of someone so well known and at the same time so well hidden.

A compulsive writer, Ms. Heyer (pronounced "hare") published her first novel in 1921 when she was nineteen. Then, for the rest of her life, w...more Everyone who knows Regency romance knows Georgette Heyer. The bare bones of her life are there for all to see, but not much more. She disliked the cult of author as celebrity and rarely gave interviews. Jane Aiken Hodge's biography, THE PRIVATE WORLD OF GEORGETTE HEYER, sheds light about the life of someone so well known and at the same time so well hidden.

A compulsive writer, Ms. Heyer (pronounced "hare") published her first novel in 1921 when she was nineteen. Then, for the rest of her life, with a few exceptions, she wrote one and sometimes two novels a year. She wrote mainly historical romances, but also historical fiction, thrillers, contemporary novels and one collection of short stories, fifty-seven works in all. A monumental output for any author.

She was born on August 16, 1902. Her father encouraged his children to read, and she was a voracious reader as she grew up. She was tall, good looking, intelligent, and never hid her light under a bushel. And on top of it, she was a successful novelist, which scared away many men. But not Ronald Rougier, whom she married in 1925, and they remained married for almost fifty years, until her death in 1974. They had one child, Richard, who became a barrister like his father.

Ms. Hodge uses common knowledge, as well as Ms. Heyer's letters and interviews with people who knew her, to paint a picture of a woman of contradictions. She loved to write, but in her early career, she had to write. She was the main breadwinner for her mother and brothers after her father's death, and also in the first years of her marriage. Later, as her success increased, she raged on and on about how she paid too much in income taxes, but she couldn't be bothered to track deductible expenses that would have reduced her burden. She wrote stories read mainly by women, yet she was not domestic. She spent most of her life around men and preferred their company. She lived in the public eye, but since her novels sold so well, she deemed interviews unnecessary and actively discouraged them.

As rabid as she was about maintaining her privacy, she was also rabid about historical accuracy. Her books are treasure troves of historical detail, both the thrillers, which were contemporary in the 1930's when she wrote them, as well as the novels set in the Regency, Georgian and earlier eras. Ms. Hodge gives a fascinating view of the context in which Ms. Heyer's novels were written, and a chronological list of all her books.

Love Georgette Heyer's novels or hate them, she, along with Jane Austen, remains one of the icons of regency romance. If you want to know more about this fascinating woman, THE PRIVATE WORLD OF GEORGETTE HEYER is the book for you.

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Nov 30, 2010 Gerry rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I must confess to only having read Georgette Heyer's detective books, not her regency ones, but this insight into her private world, which covers both her love of all things regency and her very private and protected private life, is magnificent.

She was superb at creating regency stories full of manners and morals and what is more she enjoyed doing so. Some of her letters to her publishers are quite revealing especially when she occasionally writes of one her books, "It stinks"! Readers never th...more

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Sep 18, 2011 Virginia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011books, library, nonfiction

I have not actually read any Georgette Heyer books, but I have heard of her peripherally and thought this would be a good overview. Plus, it was in front on the library's New Books shelf.

This was so short! I think Ms. Heyer herself sounded like a fascinating person - and a challenge to research, since she did not give interviews, etc. The biographer certainly found enough details from a variety of sources to determine the factual events of Ms. Heyer's life, BUT I think this biography suffered f...more

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Aug 29, 2011 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

Georgette Heyer was one of the most popular and prolific writers of the twentieth century. A native of England, Heyer established herself as a premier author of historical fiction and detective novels. She ultimately excelled at writing in one time period, the regency era, and her brand of “regency romance” spawned many imitators that couldn’t capture the magic and witty dialogue of the original novels.

I discovered Georgette Heyer’s novels about four years ago and was very excited. Her novels r...more Georgette Heyer was one of the most popular and prolific writers of the twentieth century. A native of England, Heyer established herself as a premier author of historical fiction and detective novels. She ultimately excelled at writing in one time period, the regency era, and her brand of “regency romance” spawned many imitators that couldn’t capture the magic and witty dialogue of the original novels.

I discovered Georgette Heyer’s novels about four years ago and was very excited. Her novels reminded me of Jane Austen’s and I soon discovered that each novel I picked up seemed to be even better than the previous novels. I became curious about Georgette Heyer herself. She was an extremely private person and not much information is known about her. I jumped at a chance to read and review a biography of one of my favorite authors.

The biography, The Private World of Georgette Heyer, was first published in 1984 by author and fan Jane Aiken Hodge. This was just 10 short years after Heyer’s death, which allowed Hodge to be able to interview surviving family and friends for her biography, as well as to review and include letters from the ultra private Heyer herself. Heyer first became a published author at the age of nineteen.

Heyer famously deflected any attention while she was alive and soon had an alias when she married Ronald Rougier. She did not consent to interviews, meeting fans, or any sort of press. This would make it rather difficult to construct a biography, but Hodge achieves it by looking through Heyer’s publications. Georgette Heyer had said that you could find her by looking through her works, and indeed you can. Hodge makes a good illustration of what was going on in Heyer’s life when she wrote each of her novels.

Georgette Heyer started with historical fiction, but also wrote some contemporary novels and mysteries at the beginning of the career. I was intrigued by the summaries of the contemporary novels that were later suppressed. I would LOVE to read them. I hope they will be released one of these days. Heyer dedicated herself to meticulous research and became the expert on all things Regency. She found her most success with her regency romantic novels, and took it upon herself to make sure all facts found within them were accurate. She also seemed to enjoy finding colloquial phrases for her characters to use. Reading about her dedication for accuracy in these phrases made me appreciate them in her novels much more than I had previously. I was amazed reading about her research library in her home and wish I could have seen it for myself.

Heyer battled with plagiarist and tax collectors for most of her life. It really made me angry that authors so blatantly stole her works, but she wasn’t able to do anything about it as it would cause too much publicity.

The Private World of Georgette Heyer is a book I want to reread, and keep by my side for reference as I continue to read Heyer’s works. I really enjoy the illustrations throughout the text which showed many of the sources that Heyer used for illustrations of period garb, carriages, etc.
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Dec 09, 2010 Sandra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: heyer, library-books

I don't normally read biographies, however, this one is on one of my favourite historical romance authors, written by another romance author.

I last read this biography 23 years ago and as I am so familiar with Georgette Heyer's work it still felt like an old friend. It was interesting to read the work again with such a long perspective. It did not disappoint.

It covers all the necessary chronological events in GH's life, yet through Jane Aiken Hodge's own writing (of which I have several) brings...more

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Oct 05, 2012 Miriam marked it as to-read

Shelves: non-fiction

Having now read a novel by Hodge I'm wondering if I really want this after all...

1 like · like · see review

Nov 20, 2011 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

Very interesting and well-written biography/bibliography of Heyer. Fascinating to learn that her husband helped write her mysteries, she really did believe those awful sexist things that are the focus of her contemporary fiction works, and that she kept detailed scrapbooks to help guide her historical writing. A reminder that I don't have to like a writer's personality to like his/her work! In addition, this is a great picture of how an accomplished, intelligent writer works, and how possible it...more

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Mar 18, 2009 Mary Kay rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really liked this book, although those who are not familiar with Heyer's fabulous Regency romances would probably wonder what all the fuss is about. I - OF COURSE! - was acquainted with every book mentioned. Georgette Heyer never gave an interview or went on author tours or did anything to promote herself or her books, so Hodge's info came from letters, documents, & biographical tidbits given by relatives & friends after Heyer's death of lung cancer. (She smoked like a chimney, it seem...more

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Dec 21, 2012 Michelle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

(3.5 stars) This is a carefully researched biography of a prolific author whose Regency era novels are well known the world over. Despite her bestseller status, Georgette Heyer remained an extremely private person, cloaked for most of her life behind her married name, and shunning publicity. The book details some of the trials and tribulations of her life, including plagiarists, writing pressures, and financial woes, particularly from the tax man. We get insight into the enormous amount of rese...more

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Apr 17, 2013 KOMET rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biographies-diaries-and-memoirs, georgette-heyer

I first became aware of Georgette Heyer 7 years ago while browsing in a downtown BORDERS bookstore one leisurely Sunday afternoon. I eyed her novel, Beauvallet, a Mass Market Paperback, read what was on the cover and back page, and, feeling much intrigued about the content, bought the book.

Since that time, I have purchased several more of Heyer's novels. But, voracious, wide-ranging reader that I am, I've yet to read any of them. So, I thought I'd buy this biography to get a better sense of who...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Darla rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I read this to answer questions, for some insight and let's face it, I'm a bit nosy. I also needed something to cap my year long READ of her books in the order they were written.

Georgette Heyer was an extremely private person and after reading this, I still don't know her, but I am less in the dark. She never did an interview, in fact her married name was not released until after her death. She was Mrs. Richard Rougier, smoked two packs a day, had one much-beloved son and had a wicked sense of...more

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Mar 25, 2010 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have been a fan of Georgette Heyer for over 40 years. I love her books, so it was interesting to find out about some of her private life. I own most (but not all) of Georgette Heyer's books. Every time the author would mention work on another book, it would bring back memories of reading and enjoying that book. Although Georgette Heyer has been gone for over 35 years now, it just seemed so fresh and it was upsetting all over again to know there would never be a new "Georgette Heyer."

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Apr 18, 2012 Tracy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Who wouldn't want to know more about the author of so many wonderful books? During her lifetime, Heyer refused all interviews and publicity. Her fans know about as much about her personal life as they know of Jane Austen's. (But isn't there a great market for all of that surmising about Jane?)

This biography gives us a picture of Heyer as a dedicated writer and meticulous researcher. The rare instances where she made historical errors usually occurred when she forced herself to complete a manusc...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Lynne Tull rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

I have to admit that I skimmed through this book. The private world of Georgette Heyer was indeed private. The biographer took us through her life by reviewing and quoting the books that she wrote to give us her opinion of the character and personality of Ms. Heyer. She had access to Ms. Heyer's letter and notes which were also used to back up her suppositions. I found the most interesting part of this book was the illustrations used to depict the Regency Period, the setting for the Heyer novels...more

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Feb 01, 2008 Carolyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: georgette-heyer

I'm so glad this has been rereleased. I have loved Georgette Heyer's novels and have every one in my library. I appreciate her great research into the Regency and Georgian periods. She created the genre. Most of the social slang and other terms have come from her research; other authors use her terms over and over - sometimes without an understanding of them, therefore, in inappropriate ways.

It's rather startling to discover that she was not a very likeable person herself, considering herself on...more

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Jun 20, 2011 Hannah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-reads, non-fiction

Interesting insight into Georgette Heyer's writing life by Jane Aiken Hodge, based upon letters and interviews with her friends and family.

An extremely private person who never promoted her books publicly or granted an interview, Heyer was loved and respected by those she allowed into her personal life, but I felt that she appeared acerbic, condescending and unlikable in the pages of this book. While I greatly admire her work ethic and enjoy her novels, I don't think she'd be someone I'd want to...more

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Dec 27, 2011 Liz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a wonderful book. I am a long time fan of Georgette Heyer but somehow never read this book and I have to say it was interesting to get some background on Heyer and her books. The only problem is that as each book was talked about, I wanted to go over to my shelf and start rereading right then and there. I have a feeling that not too far in my future I will be doing just that.

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Dec 18, 2011 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've always loved her books and it was interesting to read about her life. She was a workaholic before the term was coined and her family was surprisingly supportive considering the era. The best part of the book is learning some of the "why" behind her particular style of writing, while the strangest is the disconnect between the reviewers and the huge reading audience.

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Apr 30, 2013 Kate Millin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jane Aiken Hodge obviously thinks a lot of Georgette Heyer. I was very impressed with the amount of research that was done for all of her books, and the detail she out into them. It has inspired me to want to read the historical books again in the order in which they were written. I love Georgette Heyer's books and not really thought about the fact that she had to write a book a year to achieve her prodigious output.

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Dec 27, 2010 Nell rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: bigraphy-and-memoir

Heyer deprecated her Regency romances and yearned to write a more serious historical novel, but financial demands kept her cranking them out over some fifty years. Their popularity testifies to her talent and skill in writing them that she, intensely private herself, would never agree to any personal publicity.

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Aug 18, 2011 Marg rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The name Georgette Heyer is synonymous with a whole genre - Regency romance - and she has had legions of fans, both when her first book was published and in the years following her last book being published.

Read more at Adventures of an Intrepid Reader

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Feb 26, 2013 Charles Stephen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: abandoned

As a reader uninitiated to any of Heyer's vast oeuvre, I was looking for a good starting point, and this biography made several suggestions. I stopped on page 104 because I decided to check out Friday's Child, one of Heyer's Regency romances. Hodge promised that Friday's Child would make me laugh out loud, and her prediction has been accurate thus far.

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Aug 10, 2011 PK Reeves rated it 4 of 5 stars

Who was the woman behind some of the most popular Regency romances... Read Aisle B's review http://aisleb.tumblr.com/post/8720484...

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Feb 24, 2011 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a very nice biography of Georgette Heyer, that not only fleshes her out as a person, but also gives behind-the-scenes details of her books. I came away from this biography liking her more as a writer and determined to read all of her novels.

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Feb 04, 2011 Gaile rated it 1 of 5 stars

About the life of Georgette Heyer, this biography is somewhat boring and makes for dry reading.
For the curious about Georgette Heyer's life, it will do.

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Aug 31, 2012 Eunice rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very good biography on Georgette Heyer, I think the first good Regency romance novelist

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Jul 25, 2012 MostlyDelores rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography-ish

Biographies aren't really my thing, and biographies of authors I love? What if I find out something about them that colours how I feel when I read their books? That could be bad. So I picked at this book off and on over a few weeks, but I needn't have worried. Other than a feeling of baffled irritation at her ongoing war with internal revenue, and the sense that politically she and I are worlds apart, I am largely indifferent to her private life. I am convinced though, that Georgette Heyer's wor...more

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Feb 21, 2010 Jean Weller rated it 5 of 5 stars

Excellent book about one of my favorite authors.

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About Jane Aiken Hodge

Jane Aiken Hodge was born in the USA, brought up in the UK and read English at Oxford. She received a master's degree from Radcliffe College, Harvard University.

Before her books became her living she worked as a civil servant, journalist, publishers' reader and a reviewer.

She has written lives of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer as well as a book about women in the Regency period, PASSION AND PRINC...more

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