Both entertaining and thought provoking

This is one author whose books will never leave my shelves. Most copies are rather battered and are a collection of mine, my mother’s and grandmother’s purchases. So I imagine I qualify as a big fan. As such I was pleased to discover this podcast. It is well written, edited and produced. The selection of Heyer would not necessarily have been my choice but I guess everyone has their own selection of favourites.

The tackling of thorny issues such as Heyer’s racism and, at times, surprising violence has been handled well. There is nothing to add other than to repeat Heyer was a product of her time and upbringing. She was not alone. The same criticism can be made about the work of Sayers and other contemporaries. I quite see the need for the racism to be omitted to make any stage or screen adaptation acceptable for a modern audience but please not the books.

On the subject of adapting the Heyer books for the screen I remain unconvinced. It might gain her a new following but fail to satisfy her legions of existing fans. We each carry our our image of what a Heyer hero or heroine sounds like and to have that illusion shattered would be heart breaking. Nonetheless I did appreciate the efforts of the podcast in explaining the difficulties of getting a version of Heyer to the big screen and the reasons why it has not yet happened.

I would recommend this podcast as a useful insight into the works of Heyer. So good to see her being properly appreciated again.

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A must listen for Heyer fans

I have just finished binge-listening to all 16 episodes of this pod cast over the last few days. What a treat.

Well constructed, thoughtfully edited and well produced. A series of fascinating conversations with Heyer enthusiasts, interspersed with book club style discussions of Heyer’s books with newcomers to her work.

This episode, which saw host Sara-Mae enthusiastically discussing Venetia with two guest readers, both of whom are new to Heyer, was a delight. It helps that Venetia is on of GH’s best, but the delight that new readers Barbara and Emily clearly have in the book, is so satisfying to hear. As a GH fan, it is always a delight when someone else gets it and joins the circle of devotees. Listening in on this discussion gave me that delight in spades.

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