The Reluctant Widow plus a look at Heyer’s posthumous sales

Heyer Today

This week I’m talking to Dr Lucie Bea, one of my favourite people on Twitter. Not only is she an academic who is extremely knowledgeable about film history, (I quoted her wonderful article on the 1950 film version of The Reluctant Widow in episode 9), she’s also the host of the #GeorgetteHeyerReadalong group which has given me and many other Heyer fans some much needed solace during this weird time.

The readalong reminds me of the reasons I created this podcast, to share my love of Heyer with new people, and to indulge in the luxury of looking at her books again with fresh eyes. As Lucie says:

“As a result of slower reading, we had the opportunity to reflect on Heyer’s writing style, her sentence construction, and her gift for dialogue. We also considered the social and economic background to the novels: Heyer makes clear in The Quiet Gentleman that the Frant fortune originates in the enslavement of people, and, while we were reading this book, the National Trust published its report, Addressing our Histories of Colonialism and Historic Slavery. The large houses and the society about which we enjoy reading had a horrific human cost.”

I’m also delighted to share a fab conversation I had with Emily Griffin, Publishing Director of Arrow Books for Penguin Random House. PRH are in charge of publishing Heyer's books. Emily was kind enough to have a natter with me about the publishing biz as it relates to romance, and Heyer's books in particular.

*Just a note, we had difficulty getting a decent recording of Emily for various reasons, so the sound isn’t as good as I’d like, but what she has to say is really fascinating, so do stick with it!

Music from:

Message to Bears

Tom Chadd’s music here

and Emma’s website is www.emmagatrill.com

Show notes:

Websites:

Dr Lucie Bea

Mark Sweney article

Alison Flood

Notes on what we discussed:

The Wicked Lady

Barry Lyndon

Maurice Elvey

The Favourite