A grey day, a rainy day, a very English day, the kind I’d like to spend on the couch nursing a pot of Earl Grey tea and a good English classic. Perhaps by Austen or Brontë but more recently I’ve discovered the works of Georgette Heyer.

Yes, she may appear to have written stuff your grandmother reads (your grandmother might well have a few old copies lurking about the place) and the covers of the old prints might give you the impression that it’s in line with the works of such ‘esteemed’ authors as Danielle Steele and Barbara Cartland, but as I’ve discovered that that is very far from the truth! I think she has far more in common with Austen than with those two or with any soppy/bodice-ripping romance author.

Again, the folks at C19 put me on her trail, when a few of them started writing stories in her style and starting off a mammoth thread praising her extensive body of work. She does write mainly about the Regency world, but she certainly wasn’t JA’s contemporary because she died quite recently in the early 1970’s! Her stories apparently very accurately portrayed the period and the best of them are a study of manners that are as substantial as any of JA’s works, but that’s where all resemblences end! Almost all of her stories are set among the upper classes (that you rarely get a glimpse of in Austen), written in a style that’s easy to get into and full of humour! Witness dear Frederica and her lovable little brothers, or the fun-filled banter between Venetia and Damerel. And I doubt that JA would be able to write something like Devil’s Cub, which would make a brilliant Sunday matinée-like adventure – as long as it doesn’t star Leonardo di Caprio.

As I mentioned before, GH was very prolific, writing over 50 books. I’ve bought a dozen of them already so I’ll be spending many an agreeable afternoon lounging. Bring on those rainy days!