Georgette Heyer's Regency World
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3.6 • 16 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The definitive guide for all fans of Georgette Heyer, Jane Austen, and the glittering Regency period
“Detailed, informative, impressively researched. A Heyer lover writing for Heyer fans.” —Times Literary Supplement
Immerse yourself in the resplendent glow of Regency England and the world of Georgette Heyer…
From the fascinating slang, the elegant fashions, the precise ways the bon ton ate, drank, danced, and flirted, to the shocking real life scandals of the day, Georgette Heyer’s Regency World takes you behind the scenes of Heyer’s captivating novels.
As much fun to read as Heyer’s own novels, beautifully illustrated, and meticulously researched, Jennifer Kloester’s essential guide brings the world of the Regency to life for Heyer fans and Jane Austen fans alike.
“An invaluable guide to the world of the bon ton. No lover of Georgette Heyer’s novels should be without it.” — Katie Fforde
“Splendidly entertaining” —Publishers Weekly
“Meticulously researched yet splendidly entertaining, Kloester’s comprehensive guide to the world of upper-class regency England is a must-have.” —Publishers Weekly Starred Review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Meticulously researched yet splendidly entertaining, Kloester's comprehensive guide to the world of upper-class Regency England is a must-have for both Heyer readers and those generally interested in the society and customs of the early 19th-century. With chapters addressing everything from the inside-out details of period costume to the different methods of harnessing horses to carriages and the proper method of table service, even experts on Regency society will find invaluable new information, while the casual reader will find useful context and an answer for nearly every imaginable question about Regency society. Drawing on Heyer's own extensive research notes, Kloester gives a thorough overview of the period, from politics to food production to the pastimes of the ton. Charts and appendixes list Regency slang, periodicals, and the hierarchy of household servants. Small maps of fashionable areas of London and the resort towns of Brighton and Bath accompany extensive coverage of the popular shops, hotels, taverns, and residential neighborhoods. Kloester's prose is not as glittering as the period she covers, and it's disappointing that the many illustrations are modern "adaptations" of period originals. Yet no fan of the period or writer of stories set in the era should be without this guide to the Regency period.
Customer Reviews
Disappointed Expectations
The whole Georgette Heyer thing is kind of a ploy to bring Heyer fans on board. I think I was expecting some kind of magical combination of critical analysis, a history of the details over which Heyer was the undisputed master (like Regency slang) and how Heyer obtained them, photos of what the dresses would look like in real life, a breakdown of exactly how rich each character would be in the current decade (for comparison purposes) and a list of the thousands of books that she inspired with ratings as to how they measure up against Heyer’s. What I got was a history of the Regency with very stilted references to Heyer’s books, which makes the title a cop-out since the Regency Heyer wrote about wasn’t the Regency that actually existed. All good authors know what to leave out and Heyer was tops at that. The title should’ve been ‘A History of the Regency: with references to scenes from Georgette Heyer’s delightful historical fiction’. If you haven’t inferred what a rattle or a here-and-therian is from the context of Heyer’s sentences or you’ve never read Jane Austen, or you’ve never been lucky enough to have an English professor who specialized in the Regency (as I did) then by all means read this book. For someone wanting more Heyer and less history, we will wait together for the book of our dreams.