Georgette Heyer's Regency World [Paperback]

Jennifer Kloester (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2010

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

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. 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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

While Jane Austen is the godmother of the traditional Regency romance, she was, of course, at the time writing contemporary romances. It is Georgette Heyer who was writing historical romances as she created dozens of beloved Regency romances during the twentieth century, including The Nonesuch (2002) and Regency Buck (2008). Heyer is also responsible for establishing many of the genre’s literary conventions. Kloester, a British literary critic who is in the process of writing an official biography of Heyer, delivers a wonderfully entertaining and informative guide to the Regency era, its people, places, manners, and customs along with apropos references to Heyer’s own romances. From fashion and food to sporting events and social outings, Kloester’s lively book will delight died-in-the-wool Regency readers and give those new to the genre a better understanding of the enduring appeal of Austen’s world and Heyer’s classic books. As they would have said in Jane’s time, Georgette Heyer’s Regency World is all the crack! --John Charles

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks (August 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402241364
• ISBN-13: 978-1402241369
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 1.1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #232,661 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 76 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hugely useful and very readable, I was extremely impressed July 1, 2006

By A. Woodley

Format:Hardcover

As the patroness of two online discussion lists, Janeites, for Jane Austen Fans, and the Georgette Heyer discussion list, I am just the audience who Kloester's is aiming at with this book, and I have to say she absolutely hit the mark! This is an extraodinary book and one which I will be happily recommending.

I get questions all the time from people who want to write Regency novels and are looking for a good overall book to guide them, and from others who want to know more about the REgency and Georgian world which Heyer inhabited for her unique Drawing Room romantic/comedies. Generally I give them an outline of a series of books which they could read which will give them some background, but there has never been a truly comprehensive book which is both academic, readable, spefcific to the period and general enough to cover everything but still give a confident grasp of detail. This book finally does and well done to Kloester for acheiving that.

Her chapter summaries at the start give you a very good idea of the information covered so you are able to go to what you want immediately - chapters include Up and down the social ladder, Town and country, Man's world, Gentle Sex, on the town, Pleasure haunts, Fashionable resorts, Getting about, What to Wear, Shopping, Eat, Drink and be merry, Sporting life, Business and the military, whos who in the Regency includes extremely useful appendixes such as glossary of cant terms, newspapers and magazines, book in heyer, timeline, reading about REgency, where to go next and so forth with some excellent references for easy access - I was also flattered to find my own website in the www addresses so thanks for that too Jennifer.

I was surprised to see a reviewer saying that there was no new information in this. I strongly contest this. Kloester has done more than simply rehash old information, she has provided some new insights for me (I never knew for instance that Rotten Row) was originally Rue de Roi - or street of the King - but she has used her extensive knowledge of Heyer novels to reference items in the REgency.

This is not the sort of book where you can find analysis of Heyer's novels one by one - Hodge's excellent work, the Private World of Georgette Heyer which has just been reissued is definitely the book for that. However you can read about REgency life in here with reference to Heyer's novels.

I would highly recommend this to all Regency fans, those who wish to write a novel, and those who simply wish to understand more in one handy reference book. This is an excellent jumping off point for further reading, but it is also an extremely good book for any fans of the REgency knowledgeable or otherwise. I will definitely be reading anything else Kloester publishes!

A Woodley

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A premier reference work for Regency society, especially for writers February 2, 2007

By Elizabeth A. Root

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is, as the title suggests, a guide to the general Regency era, focussing on the upper classes, rather than a companion to Heyer's work in the sense of a list of characters, etc., although it does have a list of her Regency novels and a brief synopsis of their plots, and uses her novels as illustrative examples. It is extremely readable and informative as a narrative, and would make a good permanent addition to Regency fans' bookshelves.

What sets it apart from other works on the Regency is its value as a reference work. The information is presented in a very straightforward, well organized, and highly specific. As an example, Kloester has a handy table giving amounts of money, coinage, slang terms and values. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to write about this era. Most guides to the era are too vague to be useful in finding the sort of period details one needs, and most of the writers' guides that I have seen lump the entire 19th century together, and lack sufficient depth. As a reference work, I could wish that the index was more detailed; for example, the author explains what negus is, but it isn't indexed. The very detailed table of contents makes up in part for the indexing.

The book is illustrated with a number of black and white drawings. These are helpful, although one might wish for a series comparing developments in fashion silhouettes, for example.

The work includes lists of famous people, generally British, a glossary of slang arranged by subject, newspapers and magazines, books mentioned by Heyer, a timeline, a fairly detailed map of English regions, and lists for further reading.

Another great reference work is The Regency Companion by Sharon Laudermilk and Teresa L. Hamlin. The two cover a lot of the same material, but have slightly different emphases. Kloester dwells a little more on the nuts and bolts of everyday living, Laudermilk and Hamlin discuss more of the broader European scene. I am glad to have both.

70 of 86 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Georgette Heyer's Regency Fantasy July 4, 2006

By Y. Forsling

Format:Hardcover

"Georgette Heyer's Regency World" the book is called and it's GH's fantasy take on the Regency and not the real era that is the focus of this book. The author uses Heyer's novels as reference and then try to prove that she was right! Since this is done without naming sources the academic and historical value is low if not non-existent. At best it's an expansion of the fictional world of Heyer's books, not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but as a reliable reference it falls way short. For those that want to know more about the real Regency two accessible recently published books are "Jane Austen: The World Of Her Novels" by Deidre le Faye and "Prince Of Pleasure: The Prince Of Wales And The Making Of The Regency" by David Saul. I recommend working in this book in your budget for fiction but for real reference works on the Regency I suggest you find something a little more useful.