After a brief mad moment when the sun shone and I thought the summer had begun to arrive this quickly passed and I am currently sitting here in my living room with a jumper on and a hot water bottle at my back as it is bitter cold. Getting so fed up with this weather.
After my last From my Shelves which was a Civil Contract I decided to give it a re-read and, once again, could not put it down and it confirmed my thoughts that it is her best book. I know that some do not like it because it is not as light and funny as some of her others and there is no Alpha Male hero, but I tend to think of it as Heyer's Mansfield Park, a book which is not lovable at first but which I find grows on one.
I then had a bit of a binge and read Bath Tangle, Cotillion, Frederica, A Quiet Gentleman and this morning started Venetia which I have not read for a long time. I have also reaquainted myself with the Kloester biography of Georgette which made interesting reading. I had not read it for a while and I remember there was a very ill natured and cutting review of it in the Guardian (well it would be, I cannot any journalist working for that paper admitting they read Heyer) which roused the anger of a horde of Heyer fans, me included.
Heyer is just a damn good writer. The flow of the narrative, the dialogue, the wit is simply amazing. In Frederica, and now in Venetia, she is at her very best when her heroines are thinking and their thoughts, doubts and fears are placed before us. The admirable tightness and cleanlliness of the writing is simply wonderful. I have said before that I love clean writing, no fuss, no frills but perfectly placed and no hyperbole or extravagences. P D James does 
precisely the same (incidentally I am re-reading her Dalgliesh books as well just for this).
As I have already mentioned Georgette is very very funny. In one of her letters to her publisher she says "I should be shot for writing such nonsense". Au contraire.
One of her funniest books is Cotillion. Kitty Charing, an orphan being brought up by a miserly guardian is told that she has to choose a husband from her assorted "cousins" or she will be left no money when her guardian dies. They all arrive at the house in the country, save one, Jack, a fascinating Out and Outer for whom Kitty nurtures a secret passion.
She decides to run away but bumps into Freddy Standan another cousin who had been tricked by Jack into making this journey. Kitty manages to persuade Freddy to offer for her and pretend to be engaged to her in order or her to have some time in London.
There then follows a completely delightful farrago of misunderstandings, adventures and sheer fun ending up with the entire cast of characters in a vicarage in the country and involving a run away marriage.
Those of you who have read Cotillion will understand what I am saying. Those of you who have not, please do so. If you do not fall in love with Freddy I shall be most surprised.
And the good thing is now I have embarked on this re-read I have many more to go. I might tackle Sylvester next…
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