Venetia by Georgette Heyer

 

Title:  Venetia

Author:  Georgette Heyer

Narrated by:  Gemma Whelan

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 46 minutes

Source: Checked out through Amazon Music with physical book purchased years ago at Walmart.

What author do you think deserves more adaptations of their work?  I feel like Georgette Heyer’s works are ripe for development into movies or miniseries.  With the love of Regency shows such as Bridgerton and all the Jane Austen adaptations, why are Heyer’s works not being adapted?

Venetia is twenty-five years old, beautiful, smart, and independent.  At her father’s death, she cares for the estate and her younger brother as she waits for her older brother to return from Europe.  Venetia wants to marry for love but starts to believe she will be a spinster.  Her neighbor, Lord Jasper Damerel, returns to the neighborhood after a long absence and sparks fly between the two.  Damerel is a known rake.  Can a rake and a respectable woman find love?

My thoughts on this book:

·       Venetia by Georgette Heyer was the What the Dickens July Book Club pick.  I read most of it in July but finished it up in September.  There was a good discussion on Facebook on the novel, but sadly, the book club is on hold right now.

·       The audiobook was a delight to listen too.  Gemma Whelan was a good narrator.

·       All the characters were wonderfully written.  I like how Damerel and Venetia both defied expectations.

·       Damerel isn’t just a rake, but a well-educated man who’s respects Venetia for her mind and truly enjoys spending time with her disabled, but intelligent brother, Aubrey.

·       Venetia doesn’t fall for Damerel’s seduction, but instead has witty discussions with him and truly befriends him.  I love how she cares for Aubrey.

·       I loved Aubrey – he cracked me up!  He had a dry humor, was intelligent, and just said things bluntly they way that they were.

·       Venetia’s older brother, Conrad, sends home his new young bride, Charlotte, but she brings her mother, Mrs. Scorrier.  What a villain!  She makes life a terrible trial for Venetia and Aubrey.

·       Venetia bluntly talks about orgies at the end – I was confused.  Did they have a different meaning in Regency times?  I looked I up and it meant a wild and drunken party.

·       Wow – what a surprise at the end.  I didn’t see it coming.  It did allow the two main characters to get together.

  Overall, Venetia by Georgette Heyer is a delightful Regency romance with great characters. 

The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer

 

Title: The Nonesuch

Author:  Georgette Heyer

Narrated by:  James Lailey

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 53 minutes

Source: Audiobook Purchased from Audible

If you could live in any book world, which would it be?  The Regency world of Georgette Heyer would be one book world where I would want to live.

Sir Waldo Hawkridge has inherited an estate from his cousin.  He is known at the “Nonesuch” in London for being a man of impeccable taste.  He is also a man of charity and wants to make the estate into a home for orphans.  He and his relations descend on the estate to check it out.  While there he meets the impetuous Tiffany Wield and her governess, Ancilla Trent.  While Tiffany seems to have the eye of every man in the neighborhood, Sir Waldo can’t help but notice that her governess is a woman of rare quality.  Will love finds its way?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This was a January pick for the JASNA Northwoods Book club.  I was unfortunately unable to make the meeting last weekend as I really wanted to discuss the books!

·       I loved Ancilla Trent as a heroine and that she was an “older” heroine at the grand old age of 28.  She knows her own mind but didn’t want to look like she was setting her cap at anyone.  I always like a good story that features a governess, and this really captured my imagination.

·       Tiffany is probably one of the brattiest characters in literature.  I don’t know that I would have the patience to be her guardian or her governess.

·       Sir Waldo was a fun character and I liked that he wasn’t chasing after teenage girls. 

·       The misunderstanding over Waldo and his home for “his children” was quite hilarious.

·       This was a very entertaining story to listen to on audiobook and James Lailey was a good narrator.

·       Georgette Heyer is a master of the Regency Romance novel.  She did considerable research to make sure she used the correct terminology of the time and she writes very entertaining stories with well-developed characters.

·       I would love to see this story made into a movie.

Overall, The Nonesuch is another wonderful entertaining Regency Romance by the master, Georgette Heyer.  I highly recommend it!

The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer

 

Title:  The Talisman Ring

Author:  Georgette Heyer

Narrated by:  Joe Jameson

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 9 hours and 39 minutes

Source: Purchased from Amazon.com

Are you a fan of Georgette Heyer?  I randomly discovered her books at the Kewaunee Public Library fifteen or so years ago.  I read Frederica first and I was hooked.  Her Regency romances are a delight and the next best thing to a Jane Austen novel.

In October for my JASNA Northwoods Book Club, we read and discussed The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer.  I had not previously read The Talisman Ring.  It is truly a delight and fun story.  It seemed that everyone in this book club enjoyed it.

Sir Tristam Shield has been called to the deathbed of his great uncle, Baron Lavenham.  It is the Baron’s dying wish that Sir Tristam marry his granddaughter, Eustacie Lavenham.  She has been raised in France and is looking for an adventure in life.  She is silly and full of ideals, while Sir Tristram is, to her eyes, a bit boring.  They resign themselves to a marriage of convenience.  Eustacie meets another cousin, Basil, or Beau Lavenham, who is a renowned dandy, and she learns of her mysterious cousin Ludovic.  Ludovic is the baron’s heir and whom she was originally intended to marry. Ludovic had allegedly committed a murder over a gambling debt and a missing heirloom Talisman ring.  He has been on the run since that time.  Eustacie decides that Tristam is very boring and does not understand her.  Naturally she runs away.  One the road she meets highwaymen, Cousin Ludovic, and Miss Sarah “Sally” Thane.  Sarah is a woman who is “on the shelf” and traveling with her brother, but she is also up for a bit of adventure.  Will true love prevail?  Will the talisman ring be found?  Did Ludovic really commit the murder?

This was a fun romantic mystery and screwball comedy.  I found myself laughing out loud at some of the antics.  I greatly enjoyed the witty dialogue.  I loved all the characters, and I especially enjoyed it when Sarah Thane and Ludovic joined the story.  This book is set in 1793 so it is in the Georgian era rather than Heyer’s usual Regency era.  The Talisman Ring would be a great first Georgette Heyer book to read.

This was fun to listen to on audiobook and Joe Jameson is a good narrator.

 

Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer

Title:  Regency Buck

Author: Georgette Heyer

Read by:  June Barrie

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Length: Approximately 12 hours and 37 minutes (10 CDs)

Source: Christmas Present from my Best Friend Jenn 

Georgette Heyer novels are the next best thing to a new Jane Austen novel.   They take place in the same Regency world and are filled with delightful comedy and witty dialogue.

In Regency Buck, siblings Peregrine and Judith Taverner have lost their father and are surprised to learn they have been assigned a guardian, Lord Worth, whom they have never met.  They travel to London to meet their guardian only to discover the elderly Lord Worth has passed away, and his young and attractive son has taken over.  Peregrine and Judith learn how to navigate high society, “the ton,” with the help of their wealth paving the way.  Judith learns from Beau Brummel that she needs to own her eccentric behavior to really make her way in society.  She then drives her own carriage much to Lord Worth’s dismay and uses snuff.  A series of unfortunate incidents starts to befall Peregrine.  Are they accidents or is someone trying to get rid of Peregrine to get his fortune?  Will Judith and Lord Worth learn to stop their verbal sparring and allow love to take hold?

June Barrie was a fabulous narrator giving a voice to each character with a great British accent.  I enjoyed that this novel had real historical characters in it such as Beau Brummel and the Duke of Clarence.  I also enjoyed Judith and Peregrine’s scraps.  Lord Worth felt too high handed at times with Judith, but I’m looking at it with a 21^st century perspective.  I did want the two to get together, but he was not my favorite romantic lead.  Georgette Heyer’s novels are a great look into the world that the upper class of Regency era England lived in.  I do sometimes wish we could also take a look into the life that the other social classes lived.  It must be my years of watching Downton Abby have me wondering about the other half of the story.

Overall, Regency Buck is a classic Heyer novel full of great characters, witty dialogue, and comedy.  This novel is different from past Heyer novels that I’ve read as it has more real historical figures included.

A Christmas Party by Georgette Heyer

A Christmas house party has been planned in the English countryside that has brought together a motley crew of characters that seem to share a mutual disdain for each other.  When one guest in murdered, the local police call in Inspector Hemingway from Scotland Yard to solve the crime.  Which one of the house guests is the murderer?

This is the first Georgette Heyer mystery that I have read, but I am a huge fan of her Regency romance.  I’ll admit this one read a bit slow for me and I think I need to try out another of her mysteries to see if I like them or not.  The fact that almost all of the characters were extremely unlikeable made it hard for me to get into the novel.  The mystery itself was very clever.  I had a suspicion about the murderer, but they way it was all put together was unique and very interesting.

Overall, A Christmas Party was a clever mystery with unlikeable characters.  I need to read more of Heyer’s mysteries to determine if I like them or not.

Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com.