Kathy Hamilton Friday’s Child by Georgette Heyer is, without a doubt, my favourite book. I’ve re-read it so many times that I can nearly quote it and yet it never fails to make my laugh out loud or feel warm and fuzzy inside. Better than a box of chocolates, this is the book I turn to when I’ve had a bad day, or a good day, or a day…
In fact, I love this book, and Heyer, so much that I defied the advice of my University Lecturers and wrote my MA dissertation on Heyer, Austen and Romance Fiction. Heyer, I argued, is the gift that truly keeps on giving! Which is why I’ve been hesitant to review my favourite book and favourite author here (this still isn’t technically a review!).
Anyone who loves to read will recognise the emotional attachment you form with books you love. That’s definitely the case for Friday’s Child by Georgette Heyer and I. I first read this book on a Megabus, travelling to a tall ships race I was about to take part in.
I re-read it twice on that trip and have lost count of the times I’ve done so again in the years that have followed. In fact,I’m on to my second copy, after having to give up on my first when it literally disintegrated! Friday’s Child was picked amongst my prize books to make the journey to University with me, and re-packed as one of the books to come home with me when I finished.
I JUST LOVE IT! Fangirling aside, I’m not the only person to think this about Friday’s Child. Heyer herself, famously reclusive and depreciating of her work, kept only one fan letter – it was about Friday’s Child. This novel, the author of the letter explained, had helped keep the hope and sanity intact of a Romanian political prisoner and her cellmates. They had told and re-told the story whilst in captivity for twelve years.
The quote above sums up why I re-read books. I think that’s such a beautiful way to describe why re-reading books are important. Yes the text never changes, but the way you read a book always will. I’ve read Friday’s Child probably over 30 times. Which seems an exorbitant amount to spend reading one book if you add up the hours. But to me, in a way, this book is just like the quote says.
An old friend that stays the same, no matter how much I, or my life, changes. And I think that’s lovely. Do you re-read books? Or Do you have a favourite book that’s been with you through thick and thin?
