I volunteered to read and discuss “My Lord John” ; for this month’s The Classics Circuit  tour, featuring the prolific author Georgette Heyer (1902-1974). 

Georgette Heyer, from wikipedia

Although Georgette Heyer  wrote several books, her topics were wide-ranging.  She wrote mysteries, short stories, historical romances, and historical fiction.

“My Lord John” was incomplete at the time of her death — therefore it was her last book, and published posthumously.  It is an example of her historical fiction works.

Having never read Heyer before, why did I pick this, her last (and incomplete) book to read?  Well, one reason was what was already available at our local used bookstore (I didn’t want to pay full price for an author I was trying out).   The copy I have above is an early edition and I actually probably paid more for it than I would have for a new trade paperback edition.   There were two or three titles available, and I picked this one because I thought I would be reading about King John, an historical figure whose era I’m  familiar with (and descended from, also).

Oops, wrong John.  The “My Lord John” of this title is actually John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Duke of Aquitaine, and son of King Edward III.  I now know this because of the 4-page list of the characters in this book.  Four pages of characters?  Isn’t that kind of long?  I thought so.

From what I’ve gathered, this is from the War of Roses era, but I’m not sure if this book touches on that — I didn’t get far enough to find out.  It’s definitely is about the Lancasters and Yorks.  I would have found this time period interesting, but unfortunately, Georgette Heyer did not make this book interesting reading. 

In the preface written by her husband G.R. Rougier, he states:

“Her research was enormous and meticulous.  She was a perfectionist.  She studied every aspect of the period — history, wars, social conditions, manners and customs, costume, armour, heraldry, falconry and the chase…..She had indexed files for every day of the year for the forty years she was covering with all noteworthy events duly entered on their dates….”

Research is all well and good, and important for historical fiction; but perhaps Heyer did her job a little too well in applying this information.  She also researched, and amply used in this book,  many Medieval English words.  So much so, that it was difficult for me to follow and get into the book.  There is a multi-page glossary at the back of the book, but I really was not in the mood to have to keep checking it every two minutes. 

I could not finish this book, no matter how hard I tried to keep reading.  I even tried jumping ahead to see if I thought it might get better.  Therefore, this book is my first official “DNF” (did not finish) for my blog.  That is not to say this is the first time I’ve set aside a book, hoping I’d get back to it again someday.  That does happen.  In this instance, I’m not sure if I will ever get back to “My Lord John”.  Having a deadline for this post only made this an official DNF book.

Here is an example of a passage that I kept stumbling over:

“Perhaps it was because his favourites never ceased to drop poison in his ears; and perhaps he knew, at his heart-root, that he had nothing to fear from Bel sire; for although he had several times fallen into one of his fit of rage merely because some brew-bale had hinted that Grandfather was imagining treason, these never endured for long; and when he found himself beset by the Lords Appellant he had not hesitated to recall Bel sire from Spain.”

Yes, that was one sentence.  I don’t mind long sentences if they are written in a more pleasing or rhapsodic manner; but here it feels like a lot of facts squeezed in just one sentence.

And a couple examples of the Medieval language in this book:

“Deliverly, now, and eat your brose!”

or

“Wiltshire was a lickspittle lord, but Treasurer of England”.

Brose is defined as “broth, spoonmeats” in the book’s glossary.   Lickspittle?  I don’t know.  It wasn’t in the glossary, and not in the dictionary on my iPhone.

Even though I couldn’t get past the first 70 pages or so of “My Lord John”, I am determined to give Georgette Heyer another chance.  Based on the posts I’ve read so far on the tour stops, there are other books of hers that look promising.  I just would not recommend reading “My Lord John” as a first-time read of Heyer.  If you are a Heyer fan, you will probably want this book anyway, as part of her collection of fifty-some books.

If you are not already following The Classics Circuit tour this month, please go here for a full list of tour stops.

Does anyone have a favorite Heyer book to recommend?  Or any recommendations for good historical fiction concerning the Lancasters and Yorks?

Disclosure: As mentioned above, “My Lord John” was purchased at the local used bookstore.