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Aug. 18th, 2013 12:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cinaed So a few years ago, I wrote a Yuletide story that was a more feminist take on the myth of Hades and Persephone, and one of the reviews mentioned that the prose reminded them a lot of Georgette Heyer.
Cue my staring blankly because I'd never heard of her. But I found one of her books - Venetia - at the thrift shop and started reading it and, haha, oh. Oh. Where has Georgette Heyer been all my life.
The main characters engaging in awesome banter using literature to mock each other? And becoming friends first before they actually get to the romance-y part?
An engaging, lovely relationship between a brother and sister?
A rather decent take, so far, on the brother's disability?
The appearance of laudanum within the first fifty pages?
(Also, Edward Yardley is such a textbook example of a mansplainer that it is killing me, oh my god.)
I am only about 1/3 of the way through the book, but I will definitely be checking out more of her stuff.
Cue my staring blankly because I'd never heard of her. But I found one of her books - Venetia - at the thrift shop and started reading it and, haha, oh. Oh. Where has Georgette Heyer been all my life.
The main characters engaging in awesome banter using literature to mock each other? And becoming friends first before they actually get to the romance-y part?
An engaging, lovely relationship between a brother and sister?
A rather decent take, so far, on the brother's disability?
The appearance of laudanum within the first fifty pages?
(Also, Edward Yardley is such a textbook example of a mansplainer that it is killing me, oh my god.)
I am only about 1/3 of the way through the book, but I will definitely be checking out more of her stuff.
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Date: 2013-08-19 10:42 pm (UTC)(Heyer is friend-romance and sibling-hijinks CENTRAL. Or at least all the best Heyers are.)
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Date: 2013-08-20 01:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-24 04:59 am (UTC)1. Cotillion, perhaps the most charming Heyer of all time, the tale of a young girl and her extremely well-dressed fake cousin who grudgingly agrees to upgrade from fake cousin to fake fiancee so that she can have an opportunity to wear pretty dresses and snub her love interest, and how they bounce around London visiting all the tourist traps and going shopping and generally being BFFs
2. Frederica, perhaps the most sibling-tastic Heyer of all time, in which the hero woos the heroine by helping her baby-sit her younger brothers in time of need and then politely holding off on declarations of love because she seems pretty stressed
3. The Talisman Ring, perhaps the wackiest Heyer of all time, in which a dramatic and headstrong couple decides they are in a GOTHIC ROMANCE!!! while the actual heroine follows them around constantly cracking up because they are hilarious, and the actual hero follows them around facepalming because what, hidden rings, secret panels, lost heirs disguised as highwaymen, HOW IS THIS HIS ACTUAL LIFE
4. Sylvester, perhaps the most meta Heyer of all time, in which the heroine sees the hero's sinister-looking eyebrows and promptly borrows them for the villain in her soon-to-be-published novel; hijinks promptly ensue
Those are my favorites; honorable mentions go to The Masqueraders and The Corinthian for having cross-dressing (The Masqueraders has the bonus of having equal-opportunity cross-dressing, as a sister and brother on the run inexplicably trade places to disguise themselves as . . . a brother and sister on the run) and Sprig Muslin and The Grand Sophy for further hijinks, although everyone else in the world likes The Grand Sophy one a bit better than I do.