From My Heyer Shelves: Her Second Book

POWDER AND PATCH

First published in 1923 under the title THE TRANSFORMATION OF PHILIP JETTAN, and under Heyer's pseudonym, Stella Martin.

The second book published by Georgette Heyer was Powder and Patch. My copy is a Mandarin paperback. I don't yet have a hard cover copy, but will be looking for one; preferably an old one.

This book is the story of Philip Jettan, a very good, very irreproachable young man, who has all his life been in love with his childhood playmate, Cleone. When Cleone returns from her ladies' seminary, having acquired the polish and accomplishments necessary for a young lady about to be presented to society, she finds fault with Philip because he is not like the foppish dandies she has met in Town. Her heart may whisper his name to her, but as the book says, "Cleone was stern with her heart, for there was much in Mr. Jettan which did not meet with her approval." Even Philip's father wishes there were just a touch more wildness in his son. Philip is a good, steady man, who takes care of his responsibilities, has a good sense of humor and all the best character traits. But Cleone wishes for a little more dash; and she has become accustomed to being flirted with, and Philip does not flirt -- he just says what he thinks.

On the advice of his father and uncle, Philip travels to Paris for an extended visit where he "transforms". He starts dressing, acting and speaking the part of a handsome, foppish, indolent young man of means. He even writes poetry and fights duels!! When Cleone sees him again, it is as if he is an entirely different person. But although this is what she seemingly wanted all along, for some reason she finds she doesn't like it, and wants the old Philip back.

The book is very funny, and although, being only her second published work, it is not one of her best, still she writes it with a lot of insight and her characteristic wit. Of her first two I like it the better.

Actually I believe this was her third published book, with The Great Roxhythe her second. Please see my earlier entry entitled "Yes, I'm A Heyer Addict" for details.

Tags: Georgette Heyer, Stella Martin, Powder and Patch, The Transformation of Philip Jettan

From My "Young Adult" Book Shelves

       BACK HOME  by Michelle Magorian

This was a very good book; for an adult or a teen girl.  It is the story of a twelve-year-old English girl who returns to her home in England after having spent five years in America as an evacuee during WWII.  There are so many differences between the cultures of the two countries and between her family and the family she lived with in America, not to mention the difference in herself between the ages of eight and twelve.

When she gets home she has to get reacquainted with her mother and deal with boarding school and the restrictions normally placed on a girl her age that she hadn't had in America.  The story is so well told, the characters multi-faceted, and the journey they take is one we all take to some extent when faced with the everyday changes of normal life.

I would recommend this book to anyone.   It is a Harper Trophy winner and was published in 1984 by HarperCollins Publishers, Ltd.  The author also wrote GOOD NIGHT, MR. TOM.

Tags: Michelle Magorian, Back Home, Good Night Mr. Tom, Harper Trophy

From My "Old Favorites" Shelves

CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN

by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

This is the orginal story, the real story of the Gilbreth family.

If you have never read this book, you need to get it from your local library right away!  This is such a hilarious and sweet book.  It is written by two (the oldest boy and the third girl) of the children of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth who were both noted motion study and efficiency experts in the early 20th century.

Dad believes that he can run his dozen children just like a factory.   Mom has a little lighter touch, although she ends up backing up dad in almost everything.  The things that this family accomplished, learned and taught others are fantastic.  Real things happen to them; things that happen in every family, like when the oldest girl starts dating and she is plagued by the youngest siblings; like when she wants to wear makeup and have the newest hairstyles against dad's wishes.  Then there are the strange things that could only happen in this family; like everyone having their tonsils out at one time with dad filming the whole thing so he can see if the doctors are doing the procedure as efficiently as possible!!  The family was also instrumental in developing the "touch-type" method of typing.

Frank and Lillian were married in 1904 and did indeed have 12 children.  Frank was the pioneer of motion study and he and his wife became partners in the management consultant firm of Gilbreth, Inc.  Frank died young just before his 56th birthday in 1924, and his wife, ten years his junior, continued his work without him.  She eventually became even more well-known than her husband had been, making a name for herself not only in motion study but in workplace psychology and feminism.

The book is dedicated "To Dad, who only raised twelve children and To Mom, who raised twelve only children".  I think that is a neat dedication.  At the end of the book the two authors give us the best insight into their Dad's real personality.  They tell that someone once asked him what he wanted to save time for.  Their dad answered, "For work, if you love that best, for education, for beauty, for art, for pleasure."  Then he said, "For mumblety-peg, if that's where your heart lies."  I love that quote!

CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN was first published in 1948 and became a bestseller almost immediately.  It was then made into a play and then a motion picture starring Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy in 1950.  The movie version that came out in 2003 I have not seen and cannot bring myself to see.  With something like this book, based on a real family who grew up in a very particular era (1904 to 1924), making it about a modern family just totally changes the whole thing. 

My personal copy of the book is a paperback containing the complete and unaltered text of the original hardcover edition and is published by Bantam Books. 

Tags: By The Dozen, Frank Gilbreth, Lillian Gilbreth, Frank B. Gilbreth Jr., Ernesting Gilbreth Carey, Motion Study

March and April Heyer Book List

  In March I forgot to list what we were reading on the Heyer List.  We read FALSE COLOURS and HELEN.  I didn't actaully read either, though!  Ha!  I'd re-read FC recently, so I just followed along in the discussion.  I didn't get a copy of HEL until right at the end of the month, so I saved all the discussions about it, but didn't read them.  I didn't want them to spoil it.  I will of course, read it now, and I will write about it in here when its turn comes.

In April we are reading.......what else, but......APRIL LADY!  That was one of the first Heyer's I ever read and have re-read it alot, because it was always carried in the local library.  But I really can't say it is a top favorite.  So far the discussion has been good, because so many Heyer readers don't like it and those who do are fiercely loyal to it.  More on AL when its turn comes, as well.

From My Audio Shelves

ELEVENTH HOUR

                   by Catherine Coulter

          I have read Catherine Coulter before and like her.  She is a very prolific author and her novels cover several different genres.  ELEVENTH HOUR is one of the audio books in my collection at work.  I have also read it, and I think the audio version is not quite as good because it is abridged; but it's still a good "listen" if you like audio books while you drive or work.

ELEVENTH HOUR is the seventh in Coulter's FBI series.  The main character is Special Agent Dane Carver, whose twin brother has just been murdered.  Father Michael Joseph, while hearing a midnight confession, has been shot in the head.  There is, unknown to the killer, a witness; a seemingly homeless girl named Nicki.  Dane and Nicki team up to try to find the killer and discover that the murder eerily mirrors a newly aired television program.  Everyone connected with the tv show becomes a suspect.  There is also a connection to a series of unsolved murders form the seventies.

A secondary story line is the true identity of Nicki and what she's running from.  When the first murder is finally put to rest at the end of the book, we find that there is still some suspense -- another murder(s) to be solved dealing with Nicki's story.

The story line is good and there are lots of surprises.  In neither storyline is it obvious who the murderer is -- I like it when they keep you guessing.  The FBI agents from her previous novels, Savitch and Sherlock, are here as secondary main characters, and I've always liked them. 

All in all it is a good read, although, like I said, the actual novel is better than the abridged audio.

ELEVENTH HOUR was published by Putnam in July 2002.  The audio book I have is a Brilliance audio release on cassette, abridged.  The unabridged version is also available on cassette and on CD.

Tags: Eleventh Hour, Catherine Coulter, DaneCarver, Savitch, Sherlock

Yes, I'm a Heyer Addict!

 Yes, I do believe I have mentioned before that I am avid fan of Georgette Heyer, right?  Well, I thought I'd list all her books in the order in which they were written.  I now have at least one copy of all but two of her 55 books.  And I'm very close to getting the other two.  I've talked now about her first one in this journal, and I plan to write about each one and also to put them in some kind of order of preference.

Books By Georgette Heyer In

           Chronological Order ----------

1921 -- THE BLACK MOTH (GEORGIAN)

1923 -- THE GREAT ROXHYTHE (MEDIEVAL)*

1923 -- POWDER AND PATCH (G)*

1923 -- INSTEAD OF THE THORN (POST WWII)*

1925 -- SIMON THE COLDHEART (HENRY IV)

1926 -- THESE OLD SHADES  (GEORGIAN/LOUIS XV)

1928 -- THE MASQUERADERS (GEORGIAN/JACOBITE)

1928 -- HELEN (POST WWII)

1929 -- BEAUVALLET (ELIZABETHAN)

1929 -- PASTEL (POST WWII)

1930 -- BARREN CORN (POST WWII)

1931 -- THE CONQUEROR (HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM)

1932 -- DEVIL's CUB (G)

1932 -- FOOTSTEPS IN THE DARK (MYSTERY)

1933 -- WHY SHOOT A BUTLER (M)

1934 -- THE CONVENIENT MARRIAGE (REGENCY)

1934 -- THE UNFINISHED CLUE (M)

1935 -- REGENCY BUCK (R)

1935 -- DEATH IN THE STOCKS (MYSTERY); published in U.S. as MERELY MURDER

1936 -- THE TALISMAN RING (R)

1936 -- BEHOLD, HERE'S POISON (M)

1937 -- AN INFAMOUS ARMY (M)

1937 -- THEY FOUND HIM DEAD (M)

1938 -- ROYAL ESCAPE (CHARLES II)

1938 -- A BLUNT INSTRUMENT (M)

1939 -- NO WIND OF BLAME (M)

1940 -- THE SPANISH BRIDE (R)

1940 -- THE CORINTHIAN (R); published in U.S. as  BEAU WINDHAM

1941 -- FARO'S DAUGHTER (R)

1941 -- ENVIOUS CASCA (M)

1942 -- PENHALLOW (M)

1944 -- FRIDAY'S CHILD (R)

1946 -- THE RELUCTANT WIDOW (R)

1948 -- THE FOUNDLING (R)

1949 -- ARABELLA (R)

1950 -- THE GRAND SOPHY (R)

1951 -- THE QUIET GENTLEMAN (R)

1951 -- DUPLICATE DEATH (M)

1953 -- COTILLION (R)

1953 -- DETECTION UNLIMITED (M)

1954 -- THE TOLL-GATE (R)

1955 -- BATH TANGLE (R)

1956 -- SPRIG MUSLIN (R)

1957 -- APRIL LADY (R)

1957 -- SYLVESTER: OR THE WICKED UNCLE (R)

1958 -- VENETIA (R)

1959 -- THE UNKNOWN AJAX (R)

1960 -- PISTOLS FOR TWO, A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES (R)

1961 -- A CIVIL CONTRACT (R)

1962 -- THE NONESUCH (R)

1963 -- FALSE COLOURS (R)

1965 -- FREDERICA (R)

1966 -- THE BLACK SHEEP (R)

1968 -- COUSIN KATE (R)

1970 -- CHARITY GIRL (R)

1972 -- LADY OF QUALITY (R)

1975 -- MY LORD JOHN (MEDIEVAL -- PUBLISHED POSTHUMOUSLY)

*The Great Roxhythe, Powder and Patch, and Instead of the Thorn were all published in 1923.  On some lists, The Great Roxhythe is listed as her second book, while on others it is listed as the third.  Jane Aiken Hodge, in The Private World of Georgette Heyer, lists Powder and Patch as the third published novel, which is probably correct.  The first lists I ever saw listed it as second, so that is how I made my lists and ordered my entries in this journal.  However, I have changed this list (and the lists and order of entries in my new Georgette Heyer journal) to put Powder and Patch as the third published novel, as Hodge states it is.
 

Tags: Books by Georgette Heyer in Chronological Order, Jane Aiken Hodge

A Story for a Convelescing Brother

          THE BLACK MOTH 

                                             By Georgette Heyer

 Published in 1921 when Heyer was just 19 years old. 

She had written the story to amuse her convalescing brother, Boris, and was encouraged by her father to have it published.  Imagine, she wrote this when she was 17 years old! 

The Black Moth tells the story of Diana Beauleigh, a country-bred lady who, as the book jacket says, "inflamed the passion of a great Duke."  Before the Duke of Sale can manage to abduct the lady, an unknown masked man rescues her and is, of course, injured in the process.  And of course, who gets to nurse the man back to health and fall in love with him before finding out he is not a highwayman?  Diana, of course.

Heyer did not write sequels, but characters in this book are revisited in THESE OLD SHADES and DEVIL'S CUB. 

I have a copy of this Georgian novel in paperback and a good-quality hard cover with a dust-jacket, published in 1968. 

THE BLACK MOTH is special simply because it was Heyer's first book.  It is good, without being great.  It is not in my top 10 of Heyer's books, but it definitely showed what Heyer was going to be able to accomplish as she got older.  I can't imagine writing anything nearly so good at the age of 17, much less a period piece in which knowledge of Georgian England would be necessary.

I do recommend reading it, because there is nothing wrong with it.  It is a good, enjoyable read, and it does intoduce characters that are brought out again in other novels.  Besides, as I said, it is her first book!  That alone is reason to read it. 

Written in 1919, Published in 1921

Tags:Georgette Heyer, The Black Moth