Heyer Georgette - Georgette Heyer

Copyright 2013, 2011 by Jennifer Kloester

Cover and internal design 2013 by Sourcebooks, Inc.

Cover design by Jillian Rahn

Cover photo: Georgette, circa 1924, photographer unknown

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Originally published in Great Britain in 2011 by William Heinemann, Random House, London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kloester, Jennifer.

Georgette Heyer / by Jennifer Kloester.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Heyer, Georgette, 1902-1974. 2. Novelists, English20th centuryBiography. 3. English literatureWomen authorsBiography. I. Title.

PR6015.E795Z834 2013

823.912dc23

[B]

2012037014

Printed and bound in the United States of America
VP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For
Richard George Rougier
(19322007)
friend, raconteur, and gentleman
and for
Jane Aiken Hodge
(19172009)
who led the way

Front Cover - Georgette, circa 1924, photographer unknown

1. Sylvia and Georgette, circa 1903

2. Georgette aged 18 months, circa 1904

3. Georgette and Boris, circa 1910

4. Georgette with Boris and Frank, circa 1914

5. Sylvia Watkins and George Heyer, circa 1900

6. George Heyer, n.d.

7. Sylvia Watkins on her wedding day, 1901

8. Captain George Heyer, circa 1915

9. Georgettes grandfather George Heyer, n.d.

10. Georgettes grandmother Alice Heyer ne Waters, n.d.

11. Georgettes grandfather William Watkins, n.d.

12. Georgettes grandmother Annette Watkins ne Roome, n.d.

13. Cecily Watkins, Annette Watkins, Josephine Watkins, circa 1914

14. Fairfield, the Watkins family home, n.d.

15. Georgette and her grandmother Annette Watkins, circa 1913

16. Georgette, aged 17, Boris, and Frank, circa 1919

17. Georgette Heyer, circa 1920. This is possibly the photo which appeared in a medallion on the back cover of the first edition of The Black Moth (cover not seen)

18. Georgettes first novel The Black Moth 1921

19. The Great Roxhythe 1922, the first Hutchinson edition

20. Georgette aged 21 by E.O. Hopp, 1923

21. The Transformation of Philip Jettan 1923, Georgettes only pseudonymous novel

22. Instead of the Thorn 1924, the first contemporary novel

23. Ronalds father, Charles Joseph Rougier, n.d.

24. Ronalds mother, Jane (Jean) Henderson Gray Crookston, n.d.

25. Ronald Rougier aged 4, 1904

26. Ronald Rougier, Royal Naval College cadet, circa 1913

27. Ronald Rougier aged 22, 1922

28. Carola and Dulce Oman, 1914

29. Joanna Cannan, circa 1914

30. Georgette Heyer, circa 1922

31. Georgette and Ronalds wedding, 1925

32. George Heyer a few hours before his death, 1925

33. Georgette in Tanganyika at the end of a seven mile walk, 1927

34. Georgette outside the Manor House, Kyerwa, Tanganyika, 1927

35. Georgette and Ronald in Kyerwa, circa 1927

36. Helen 1928, Georgettes most autobiographical novel

37. The Masqueraders 1928

38. Georgette and Ronald in Paris, circa 1930

39. Blackthorns, Toat Hill near Horsham, circa 1974

40. Georgette and Misty Dawn, circa 1939

41. Georgette and Richard at Church Cove, the Lizard, Cornwall, 1937

42. Richard and Jonathan Velhurst Viking, aka Johnny, circa 1940

43. Pastel 1929, dedicated to her mother

44. Barren Corn 1930, Georgettes last contemporary novel

45. Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Leslie Rougier, circa 1935

46. Sylvia Heyer, n.d.

47. Jean Rougier, n.d.

48. Pater Charles Joseph Rougier, n.d.

49. Georgette by Howard Coster, 1939

50. Dmitri and Dorothy Tornows wedding, August 1944

51. Ronald, Georgette, Boris, and Richard dressed for a wedding, circa 1940

52. Richard, the gillie, and Georgette in Scotland, circa 1952

53. A.S. Frere, 1953

54. Patricia Wallace, circa 1938

55. C.S. Evans, n.d.

56. Percy Hodder-Williams, n.d.

57. Georgettes favorite photo of herself, circa 1940

58. Boris Heyer, n.d.

59. Frank Heyer, n.d.

60. Aunt Ciss and Aunt Jo (Watkins), n.d.

61. Richard at Cambridge, circa 1954

62. Susie and Dominic, her eldest son, circa 1961

63. George Ronald Rougier QC, circa 1959

64. Richard George Rougier QC, circa 1972

65. Georgette and Ronald, circa 1959

66. Georgette, oil painting by Anna Murphy, circa 1959

67. Max Reinhardt and A.S. Frere, circa 1971

68. Georgette at Greywalls, circa 1955

69. Ronald Rougier, circa 1970

70. Georgettes remaining notebooks

71. A page from Georgettes Regency notebooks

72. A page from Georgettes Regency notebooks

73. A page from Georgettes Regency notebooks

I first read Georgette Heyers novels while living in the jungle in Papua New Guinea and reread them while living in the desert in Bahrain. A fascination with her historical fiction led me on a ten-year research journey which culminated in this biography. Much of this story of Georgette Heyers life and writing is drawn from new and untapped archives of her letters. In recent years my discovery of over a thousand pages of her personal writing, dating from when Georgette was eighteen, has made a new biography possible. Access to these letters, so generously given by their owners, has made it a reality. Georgette Heyers son, Sir Richard Rougier, gave me the necessary copyright permission to quote from his mothers private and public writing. He also gave me unlimited access to her notebooks and private papers and repeatedly told me you have carte blanche with the material. Sir Richards faith and belief in me opened many doors. Georgette Heyers first biographer, Jane Aiken Hodge, gave me her entire research archive as well as the gift of her friendship, wisdom, and advice. Jean and Harry Frere generously gave me sole and exclusive access to all of Georgette Heyers letters in the Frere Family Archive. Joan Reinhardt kindly allowed me to copy the entire Max Reinhardt Archive and bring it home. The staff of the McFarlin Library at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma gave me unstinting support and made available a complete copy of their remarkable collection of Georgette (Heyer) Rougier letters. Jean Rose at the Random House Archive helped me to find invaluable letters, photographs, and documents and provided access to Georgette Heyers letters in the Heinemann Archive. Ro Marriott, Roy Pfautch, and Lady Townsend shared their Georgette Heyer letters. Other letters came from Duke University; Kings College Library, Cambridge; Reading University; and The Society of Authors Archive at the British Library. Georgettes daughter-in-law, Susanna, Lady Rougier, was especially generous in sharing memories and photographs (and a pair of Georgettes York tan gloves). Jeremy and Judith Rougier, Hale Crosse, Sally Tornow, and Diane and Antony Price all shared documents, photographs and memories. Judy, Lady Rougier, has been unfailingly kind and her generous support has made possible my continued access to the Heyer Family Archive. With so many new letters to tell her story, wherever feasible in the biography I have let Georgette Heyer speak for herself as she wrote with a passion and a force that rewriting or paraphrasing would only dilute. For convenience, throughout the book I have referred to her by her Christian namea familiarity for which I hope she will forgive me.