So, which is your favourite Heyer?

[girlyswot]

Surfing my friends' friends list, I came across this, which is apparently the results of a survey of a Heyer mailing list.



Votes as of 12/14/08 (104 votes)
The Grand Sophy (1950) 4.7
Frederica (1965) 4.5
Venetia (1958) 4.5
Sylvester (The Wicked Uncle) (1957) 4.4
The Unknown Ajax (1959) 4.3
Cotillion (1953) 4.3
Arabella (1949) 4.3
The Talisman Ring (1936) 4.3
Devil's Cub (1932) 4.2
The Reluctant Widow (1946) 4.2
Black Sheep (1966) 4.1
The Quiet Gentleman (1951) 4.1
Friday's Child (1944) 4.1
The Nonesuch (1962) 4.1
False Colours (1963) 3.9
These Old Shades (1926) 3.9
Faro's Daughter (1941) 3.9
The Toll-Gate (1954) 3.9
The Corinthian (Beau Wyndham) (1940) 3.8
The Convenient Marriage (1934) 3.8
Sprig Muslin (1956) 3.8
Masqueraders (1928) 3.8
Lady of Quality (1972) 3.7
April Lady (1957) 3.6
The Foundling (1948) 3.6
Bath Tangle (1955) 3.5
Pistols for Two: And Other Stories (1960) 3.5
A Civil Contract (1961) 3.3
Death in the Stocks (Merely Murder) (1935) 3.3
Behold, Here's Poison (1936) 3.3
Regency Buck (1935) 3.2
The Unfinished Clue (1934) 3.2
An Infamous Army (1937) 3.1
Why Shoot a Butler? (1933) 3.1
Duplicate Death (1951) 3.1
Envious Casca (1941) 3.1
A Blunt Instrument (1938) 3.0
Charity Girl (1970) 3.0
Detection Unlimited (1953) 3.0
They Found Him Dead (1937) 2.9
No Wind of Blame (1939) 2.9
Footsteps in the Dark (1932) 2.9
Beauvallet (1929) 2.8
The Black Moth (1921) 2.8
Cousin Kate (1968) 2.8
The Spanish Bride (1940) 2.8
Simon the Coldheart (1925) 2.6
Penhallow (1942) 2.4
Instead of the Thorn (1923) 2.4
The Transformation of Philip Jettan (Powder and Patch) (1923) 2.3
The Conqueror (1931) 2.3
Pastel (1929) 2.1
Barren Corn (1930) 2.0
Royal Escape (1938) 1.9
My Lord John (1975) 1.9
The Great Roxhythe (1923) 1.8
Helen (1928) 1.8

I am surprised that Frederica is quite so high and disappointed that Regency Buck, A Civil Contract and An Infamous Army didn't score more. I love the historical ones too, but I'm not really surprised that they weren't so popular. I've only read a couple of the detective stories so I can't judge (and I wonder if the survey is less accurate for those, since I suspect many of the readers polled won't have read them either).

Which are your favourites and what were you surprised by?

Comments

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised The Black Moth is so low.

A bit surprised by Frederica (but pleased) and by Venetia and Arabella (indifferent). Wonder if it is the names.

Not surprised by Sophy but she is far from my fave, as regular readers will know.

Pleased by Ajax, Talisman Ring, Cotillion and Sylvester which are all big faves.

I'd have put Masqueraders and The Foundling higher up the list.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

I'm not really surprised The Black Moth is so low. I do quite like it but it does feel to me very obviously a First Novel and doesn't withstand the same degree of re-reading as her others.

I'd have put the Masqueraders higher up the list too. It is my top choice for 'Heyer novel that ought to be made into a film.' I just think that if they could pull off the opening sequence so that the audience is properly fooled it would be awesome.

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

I think that An Infamous Army may be lower down because it was so hard to get hold of for years. For some reason it wasn't released in the editions that were printed in the '80s and I had to borrow a 1950s one from my aunt to read it. It's one of my favourites. I loved the story and the description of the battle.

Most of my favourites are near the top. I would rate A Civil Contract higher too but perhaps it isn't frothy enough for most readers to put it as a favourite. I think the depiction of Jenny's father is a bit of a turn-off too.

It's an interesting list.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

A Civil Contract is one of my favourites too.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

I disliked it when I was a teenager because of the 'lack of romance' but am much more of a fan these days.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Yes, I had a similar experience. It's definitely one to grow into.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

Also I adore Jonathan Chawleigh, more each reading. Also Jenny and Lady Nassington. Adam has still failed to grow on me, sadly.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

I completely agree about Jonathan Chawleigh, Jenny and Lady Nassington. I am also rather fond of Brough and Lydia. I would take issue with you about Adam but I think we have been through that before.

[coughingbear]

I just need to point out that he really is an emo git. Though I do like the bit where he bets everything at the end.

I am fond of Brough and Lydia too.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Nooo! *pets Adam*

Admittedly he spent much more time with Julia Oversley than is good for anyone, and at a very impressionable age. But he really does try to get over himself, and by the end of the book I think he has just about succeeded.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

Ditto re Brough and Lydia, and I have a little bit of sordid fascination for Rockwell.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

That's only to be expected from someone who said they would flirt with Avon.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

I am famously gerontophiliac. I would probably flirt with Bernard Ombersley.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

It wasn't so much their age as their manipulative-ness I had in mind. Ombersley is quite a different sort of character and... really? Isn't he quite worthless?

Also, I think I am remembering that he was Rockhill, not Rockwell.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you're right. It took V and me about two hours to remember Lord Bromford when we did the sorting post, and even now I'm not certain we've got it right.

I would flirt with Sir Tristram were it not for the devastating certainty that he would laugh at me, and I would flirt with Sir Hugh were it not for the devastating certainty that he would fail to notice.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Maybe we need a poll: Which Heyer heroes would Frankie not be prepared to flirt with?

Lord Bromford is the awful one who goes on about cork oaks and ends up with Miss Wraxton.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

Yep. I think we sorted him Gryffindor, but neither of us are sure now. V thinks he might be a Ravenclaw gone wrong, and I am wondering if he might be a Squib.

There are of course very few people with whom I would not flirt in principle, but they have to be at least vaguely interested in me or willing to become so for the nonce. That does rule out, say, Freddy Standen, Max Ravenscar / Charles Rivenhall and others.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

He seems a most unlikely Gryffindor. I think I would have said Slytherin because of his complete self-centeredness. Though he is not especially manipulative. I think maybe you are right that he is a Squib, actually.

I was thinking about some possible family trees for After Waterloo the other day and trying to make it work so that Sophia Challoner was Eugenia Wraxton's grandmother. There must be some scandal in the Wraxton's past to make them behave the way they do.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

Sophia is definitely a Squib. Miss Wraxton surely a Ravenclaw? The two are very different - I'm not immediately seeing common blood, although I like the idea of a Great Scandal in the past.

Gryffindors are noted for their courage, which to be fair to Bromford he has at some levels (repeatedly proposing to Sophy) although his fear of, um, getting a cold does perhaps leave him somewhat lacking in that department. And they are in general as subtle as a metal condom, which is a quality he shares.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

I was imagining Sophia marrying a rather elderly Lord Brinklow for the sake of his wealth and title who conveniently dies shortly after she becomes pregnant with their first (and only) child, from whom Miss Wraxton is descended. I assume that her Ravenclaw characteristics are inherited from her mother.

Yes, I suppose that's true. He does defy his mother at one point as well, doesn't he? Unsubtlety is certainly a defining characteristics of Gryffindors, which is one reason I like them so much.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

You and I really don't have the same taste in men, do we?

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

No, but I think that's probably a good thing.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

Point.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

It occurs to me that I am surprised that The Reluctant Widow is so high up the list.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

But it has a cute dog! And Miss Beccles!

I'm surprised Beauvallet is so far down the list, but maybe it's due to it being out of her usual period. I'm surprised April Lady even makes it to the midlist, actually, as the heroine's such a drip.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

I like Beauvallet too. Actually, I like them all, so. But I think you're right that there are period issues and quite a lot of gadzookery which may not be to everyone's taste. Plus the heroine is such a drip. ;)

I like April Lady. (see above). I agree about the heroine, but I quite like the secondary characters. And I'm a real sucker for 'married couple' stories. The Convenient Marriage and A Civil Contract are also high on my list for the same reason.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I like The Convenient Marriage a lot. Less sure about A Civil Contract - I always enjoy it when I'm reading it, and I love Jenny's father, but Julia makes me curl my fingers into my palms and hiss, and I can't see her and Lord Whatshisface... um, Borough, possibly? having a happy marriage, as he's doing all the giving.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Rockhill. frankie_ecap fancies him. Julia is truly awful, I agree, but I think she is supposed to be and I quite enjoy mentally slapping her a lot.

Brough is the one who marries Adam's sister Lydia.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

The Reluctant Widow is one that I am always surprised by how much I do like it.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I have ordered a copy of Venetia to be delivered to my parents’ so I can read it over Christmas!

The only detective one I have read was Death in the Stocks. Given that one could deduce whodunnit from the author's social prejudices as revealed in the text, I'm not inclined to race out for more.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

I adore Venetia. I think it's because it's so unashamedly romantic. And because I have an enormous crush on quite fancy Damerel. And the secondary characters are also fab. Especially Oswald.

I have read two (possibly three) of her detective stories and I did quite enjoy them, but then I am never someone who reads detective fiction for the sake of the plot. I agree that the social prejudices are sometimes a little too sharp and less forgiveable than in the historicals.