Kathy Hamilton There is only one Georgette Heyer. Her style is distinct. Her novels are well crafted. And for many, she’s the golden standard from which most rivals fall short. So, when looking for authors like Georgette Heyer, I decided to focus on pulling out aspects of her style that I love and then matched it to these six authors.
Are There Really Any Authors Like Georgette Heyer?
I think it’s completely normal to read an author you love and A) wish they’d written more or B) hope to find another author who is close enough to fit the bill. Georgette Heyer was incredibly prolific, but even she couldn’t keep writing indefinitely! So when I was pondering what would constitute “Authors Like Georgette Heyer” I came up with four prerequisites. To make the list, any authors like Georgette Heyer must:
- Write books set in the Regency Era (roughly any time between 1800-1820) (or)
- Create well-formed, witty characters (or)
- Have a lively sense of irony or a good mastery of farcical humour (or)
- Be devoted to creating a detailed sense of time and place in their novels.
To me, any book that featured one (or dare to dream ALL) of these features would be worthy of consideration. It is with this in mind that I curated the following five suggestions:
Witty Prose: E. M. Delafield
The thing that separates Georgette Heyer from the crowd is her beautifully crafted, seriously witty writing style. Many have attempted to match her mastery of prose but most fall far short of the mark. Sarcasm is hard enough to pull off well in real life, so it takes a true master to translate this into writing without making characters seem waspish or even cruel.
Enter stage left, E.M. Delafield. Her novels, the riotously funny Diary of a Provincial Lady series, are not set in Regency England. However, fans of Georgette Heyer’s wit will appreciate the dry, self-deprecating sense of humour here. The Provincial Lady series focuses on the day to day life of a permanently harried, always nameless, woman in 1930s England. The title is a master of understatement. Which hides a series of truly hilarious novels which are still surprisingly relevant today.
Historical Setting Devotee: Jean Plaidy
The second on our list of authors like Georgette Heyer is Jean Plaidy. If you want historical fiction that sticks (relatively) close to the facts then look no further than Jean Plaidy. I added a tentative ‘relatively’ for the simple reason that Jean Plaidy often writes from the perspective of female historical figures. The thing about females and history is that, quite often, their stories are not included in the history books. Other than names, dates of birth and (occasional) dates of death the most information you get is who they married.
Jean Plaidy, is actually the pen name of Elizabeth Hibbert, who also wrote gothic novels as Victoria Holt. And a Family Saga series as Phillipa Carr too! But, as with Georgette Heyer, she poured an amazing amount of research into her novels. She takes these otherwise forgotten women and brings them to life in a world saturated with such period detail that sometimes I forget that she’s writing fiction.
Madcap Adventures: P.G. Wodehouse
Georgette Heyer is a master of the ‘comedy of errors’ style plots. You know the ones, where He loves Her and She loves Him but, thanks to the well-meaning interference of a host of lovable secondary characters, they almost don’t get together. Throw in a couple of genuinely eccentric oddballs (Miss Fish in Cotillion anyone?) and you’ve built yourself an endlessly enjoyable novel.
In the truest homage to the English Farcical tradition, there’s none better than P.G. Wodehouse. He was one of the most widely read humourists of the 20th Century- and for good reason! There is no one quite like P.G. Wodehouse for making a seemingly ordinary situation into a rib-crackingly funny one. For Georgette Heyer fans, my suggested starting point are his “Blandings Novels” rather than his more famous “Jeeves” novels. These feature the mad-cap adventures of the much beleaguered Earl of Emsworth and his sprawling family, which fans are sure to love.
Regency Romance: Julia Quinn
Next up on our list of authors like Georgette Heyer is Julia Quinn. In many ways, Julia Quinn is a modern version of Georgette, particularly in regards to her regency romances. She has a knack for writing funny, romantic novels that absorb your attention from page one. Plus, for fans of interconnected novels, her Bridgerton Family novels are sure to delight.
Be warned though, whilst Julia Quinn’s regency novels are great fun to read, they aren’t rich in strict period detail. Nor does the behaviour of characters match up to what you might expect from someone actually living in Regency England. That aside, however, Julia Quinn is a natural progression for fans of Georgette Heyer who have fallen in love with the Regency Romance. As a bonus, her famous Bridgerton Novels are getting adapted into Netflix show, due to air in 2020, which is exciting.
Attention to Detail: Mary Stewart
Mary Stewart’s novels are set more than 150 years after Georgette Heyer. But in many ways I look at her as a natural successor. For many fans, looking for authours like Georgette Heyer, it is the attention to detail that they find most lacking in other novels. I know this was the case for me. Mary Stewart has this crisp attention to detail in spades- which I have really grown to appreciate. Her novels are imbued with a similar devotion to period setting that readers of Georgette Heyer are sure to enjoy.
Interestingly, she was also a contemporary of Georgette Heyer. Born in 1916, in Sunderland (my home town!), Mary Stewart was a prolific author. Beginning with her first novel Madam, Will You Talk? in 1955. From there she developed her own style in the romantic mystery genre, featuring smart, adventurous heroines who could hold their own in dangerous situations.
Bonus!
I have created this list of authors like Georgette Heyer based largely on my own reading. So it’s packed with the authors that I’ve progressed to after finally finishing all of Georgette Heyer’s extensive back catalogue. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t a host of author authors out there. And during my travels online I found this forum discussing the topic. So, as a bonus, I thought it would be nice to include it!
Happy reading Georgette Heyer fans.
