A Guest and a Quiz

Anne here, with a guest and a quiz.
The guest is Honorary Word Wench and Georgette Heyer biographer Jennifer Kloester. Jennifer has been here before, but this time she's visiting in a slightly new guise — as a young adult author. There's a brief interview with her, and then a quiz that will really have many of you knotting your brains. (Cue evil laughter.)

Anne: Jennifer, how have you found the change from writing biography to fiction?

Jennifer: It's been fascinating and great fun. I've always dreamed of writing fiction but the Georgette Heyer books had priority. Actually, I think that immersing myself in her writing has been hugely beneficial. She was such a brilliant writer and so superlatively good at plotting and character that I learned a tremendous amount from reading and re-reading her novels.

One of the delicious things about fiction as opposed to non-fiction is being able to make things up. It took me a little while to give myself permission to do that but it turned out be incredibly liberating. I love writing my characters' back-stories because I discover all sorts of things about them that I didn't know but that will influence the the things they do and say in the book.

The other big difference for me between writing fiction and non-fiction is how it feels to be published. It was thrill to have my two Georgette Heyer books published but having my first novel come out was incredibly exciting! I think the difference was that the first two books were factual but The Cinderella Moment was my very own imagined story. I still can't quite believe it's real!

Anne: Tell us a little about The Cinderella Moment. That's the USA cover above left. 

Jennifer: It's a romantic, escapist novel set mainly in contemporary Paris and is full of fashion, romance and intrigue - kind of Cinderella meets the Prince and the Pauper only in a modern setting. My heroine, Angel, is 16 and dreams of being a fashion designer. She's entering a competition called the 'Teen Couture', run by her idol, the world-famous couturier, Antoine Vidal. When things go horribly wrong, Angel's best friend convinces her to go to Paris in her place and try to fix things before it's too late.

It's a book about mistaken identity, friendship, high society, love and betrayal. Plus it's full of great clothes (probably the Heyer influence!).

Anne: Can you share a brief excerpt?

Jennifer: Certainly.

‘Lily!’ The clipped English tones sounded across the arrivals hall. Oblivious to her new name, Angel kept walking.

‘Lily! Lily de Tourney.’

Angel stopped dead. Surely there couldn’t be someone else who knew Lily? She spun round and found herself looking up into a pair of sparkling brown eyes beneath a tangle of curly chestnut hair.

She held her breath.

‘Lily de Tourney, after all these years.’ Noticing her blank look, he said, ‘It’s me – Nick Halliday. As soon as I saw Henri,’ he nodded to the chauffeur, ‘I knew it had to be you.’

She stared at him, speechless, while inwardly cursing Lily for her blithe assurances that no one in Paris knew her.

Anne: Lovely. There's a longer excerpt here, or you can buy the book here. Jen, I can see you had fun writing this book.

Jennifer: Yes, I had a great time writing it and really enjoyed the research - especially the bits in Paris. I'm now working on the sequel The Rapunzel Dilemma which is the best friend, Lily's story.

Anne: Excellent. I'm looking forward to it.  And now onto the quiz, which Jennifer provided the facts for. So many people found my Regency Slang quiz too easy, I approached Jen, as the greatest living Heyer expert — to get some obscure but interesting facts about Georgette Heyer. The information can be found or deduced from the contents of her Heyer Biography.

As with my previous quizzes, you'll need a pen and paper to note your answers, then click on the link at the bottom to get the answers. Then come back and tell us how you went — and any facts you found surprising.

Quiz: Ten Things You Might Not Know About Georgette Heyer

1) As a child Georgette enjoyed:
        a) donkey rides on the beach at Worthing
        b) competing in the local gymkhana 
        c) watching the local hunt ride out 
        d) fishing

2) When she signed her first book contract, Georgette was living in:
         a) Wimbledon
         b) Paris
         c) Weybridge
         d) Tanganyika

3) Georgette's agent L.P. Moore also represented:
         a) Barbara Cartland
         b) George Orwell
         c) Beatrix Potter
         d) Roald Dahl

4) When living in Sussex, Georgette had a cat called:
         a) Puck
         b) Winston
         c) Shakespeare
        d) Marlowe

5) Georgette's first serialized novel had its title changed without permission from Regency Buck to:
        a) The Earl's Bride
         b) The Heiress and the Beau
         c) Gay Adventure
         d) The Gay Buck

6) Georgette felt very proud of her first attempt at:
         a) jumping on horseback
         b) knitting a pair of socks for her brother
         c) writing a story when she was eight
        d) making a silk and brocade patchwork cushion

7) Georgette was reviewed by the Times Literary Supplement:
         a) twice
         b) eight times
         c) forty times
         d) twenty-three times

8) Georgette's personal favourite among her Regency novels was:
        a) These Old Shades
         b) The Grand Sophy
         c) Venetia
         d) Friday's Child

9) One of Georgette's all-time favourite characters was:
         a) Damerel from Venetia
         b) Léonie in These Old Shades
        c) her villain, the Duke of Andover, who she remade as the Duke of Avon, her hero in These Old Shades
         d) Ferdy Fakenham who later became the basis for Freddy in Cotillion

10) Georgette's husband, Ronald Rougier, assisted her with the plots of all her detective novels except:
         a) Death in the Stocks
         b) Why Shoot a Butler?
         c) Pistols for Two
         d) Penhallow

To get the answers and check your score, click here. Don't forget to come back and tell us how you went. Jennifer Kloester is giving away a copy of The Cinderella Moment to someone who leaves a comment.

Comments

[Fiona McArthur]

Umm. Confession. I haven't read my JK Biographies yet, bought in Fremantle. Do have both. So will come back to quiz after same. Can't wait now. And I thought I was a good little Georgette Heyer fan. Fun as always, Anne Gracie xx Fi

[Anne Gracie]

Oh dear, I'm worrying that we made it too hard this time. Oh well. At least people will learn some new facts about Heyer and can dazzle their friends with their obscure knowledge.

Thanks Fiona for having a go.

[Andrea Penrose]

Congrats on the novel, Jen! Yes, the fun part of fiction is that you CAN make up things, and let your imagination whirl as you invent characters and their backstories. Love the plot—Paris and couture clothes? That's hard to resist!

Okay, now back to the heyer quiz . . .are we allowed to cheat by sneaking a peek back at the book

[Lucy]

Hmnn. You might want to go back and double-check the answer to question #10. One of the options listed is a short-story collection, not a detective novel--which should be the answer to the question, but it isn't the answer provided on Anne's website. :-)

Oh, and I flunked the rest, but I'm pretty sure I got that one. :D

[Shannon]

Wonderful news on your first novel.

I didn't cheat; got two right. I have to say it's been 20 years since I actually read Heyer. Of course, there were 10 years where I read no fiction. Ahh, for more time on my TBR list.

[Janga]

Maybe teachers never get over their fondness for quizzes, Anne. I loved this one. I got six right without cheating, but I confess that three of them were guesses, two educated, one lucky. :)

Jennifer, The Cinderella Moment sounds like a fun read. I'm always looking for good books for the oldest grand, who, at fourteen, is a devoted romance reader. She's a late bloomer. I was hooked on romance at ten. Maybe we can share TCM.

[pearl]

I did not do well on the quiz but enjoyed this wonderful post. Learning about the author and her new book was fascinating. I will once again attempt the quiz and hope for a better result. Congratulations and best wishes on your first novel and much success.

[Janice]

Good job, Anne, those were truly obscure questions. I didn't remember that Georgette ever had even one cat - I think of her as a dog person.

[Anne Gracie]

Andrea, of course, if you have the books you can check on the answers. The quiz is just for fun.

Lucy, I know one of the answers to #10 is a collection of short stories, but that's just to make it a little easier to guess the right one. Heyer's detective stories are not as well known as her other books.

In any case, any mistakes you find are mine, not Jennifer's. She just gave me 10 facts about Heyer and I made up the quiz.

[Anne Gracie]

Shannon, two is great. I'm not sure how many I would have got right if I hadn't started with the facts. In any case, it's not about getting them all right, it's about finding out fun facts to do with Georgette Heyer's life.

But I do think the first regency Slang quiz I made up was too easy for most wenchly readers, and maybe this one is too hard, so hopefully the next one I do will be "just right." :)

[Anne Gracie]

Janga, I also love a good quiz. I'm not sure whether it's the teacher in me, or whether the kind of people who enjoy quizzes sometimes become teachers. :) Thanks. I hope you and your grandie enjoy The Cinderella Moment.

Pearl, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I certainly had fun interviewing Jen and making up the quiz alternatives.

[Anne Gracie]

Janice, she was, I think, much more a dog person. There is a lovely photo of her with a dog -- maybe a borzoi or something like that.

Actually in that question, I pinched the names of two cats that belong to a current day very well known regency historical author. If anyone wants to guess who that might be, here's a hint -- she's not a wench.

[Jennifer Kloester]

I'm thrilled you have the biography, Fiona, and I think you might be able to guess a few of the answers without having read it. I think there are always surprise about GH for even the most diehard fan. Thanks for posting.

[Jennifer Kloester]

You're so right, Cara, I confess I found Paris and couture an irresistible combination. And of course you can cheat (a little) by looking at the biography for the quiz answers. Have fun, that's my motto.

[Jennifer Kloester]

Wow, Janga, you did well on the quiz. I don't know how I'd go on it if I hadn't done all that research. I've loved romance novels forever too. I hope you and your daughter enjoy TCM, it's aimed at all ages.

[Jennifer Kloester]

I'm with you Janice, it was a total surprise to me that GH had a cat, but s/he was a beautiful Siamese and actually used to sleep in the her dog's mouth!

[Jennifer Kloester]

Thank you so much for your kind wishes Pearl. It's been an amazing journey so far and I've loved writing both the Heyer books and the novel.

[Sherrie Holmes]

Sherrie here. Well, I actually did better than I expected: 4 correct answers. Not bad, considering I haven't yet read GH's biographies! *g*

Like the others, I was surprised GH had a cat. I had her pegged as a dog lover, and not especially fond of cats. She certainly does dogs well in her novels, showing an intimate knowledge of dog behavior!

How delightful that you've moved from biography to novel, Jennifer. I think doing a biography must give you a good foundation for research and discipline, so that writing an actual work of fiction must almost seem like an easy skate!

[Jennifer Kloester]

Thanks so much Sherrie. It's been an amazing shift from non-fiction to fiction and I've had a lot of fun - though hard at times too. Yes, isn't it funny about GH and her cat. But she obviously adored him/her. It was during their years in Sussex so they had plenty of room. I don't think she had a cat once they moved to Albany.

[Karin]

I did horribly on the quiz, only one right, but I had lots of fun guessing!
What I would like to know is, was Antoine Vidal's name inspired by Heyer's hero in Devil's Cub?

[Jennifer Kloester]

You are quite right,Karin, it was inspired by one of my favourite Heyer novels. Plus I kept thinking of Antoine as a descendant of the noble Marquis! I love to pay tribute to GH in ways that only her fans might recognise and there are a couple of other tiny homages to her in The Cinderella Moment.

[Jenny Reid]

Oh dear. I have read your books Jennifer, but obviously have a leaky memory. Only got two questions right. But I did enjoy your efforts on the life of Georgette Heyer. I use them as a reference source whenever I re-read Georgette's books.

[Lucy]

Ah, so #10 was a purposeful inclusion. *grin* I wondered about that. Blame too many years of overthinking multiple choice tests.

I'll be on the lookout for Jennifer's book, however--or rather, both of them, now that my interest has been so soundly hooked. Even the snippet was enough to tempt me: I could just imagine being in that situation and thinking, "Oh, ****!"

[Lucy]

And I cringe at not being able to edit my own typos in comments. So much for proofreading....

[Anne Gracie]

It's all right, Lucy, I just fixed your typo for you. The blog poster can edit comments. I sometimes think that the fingers just type words without quite connecting to the brain.

As for the deliberate mistake, no, it was a mistake, I just grabbed the titles from some of the books on the shelf at my side. I don't reread Heyer's detective novels all that often, so can't really remember which is which. So it was my mistake, but it doesn't really matter because it was supposed to be a red herring anyway.

[Jennifer Kloester]

I'm so glad you liked them, Jenny, and delighted that they're a useful reference. That was always my hope. The quiz is such fun - Anne has put in some delicious red herrings.

[Jennifer Kloester]

Thanks Lucy, I'm so glad you liked the snippet. There are lots of twists and turns in The Cinderella Moment - I think I was definitely influenced by GH's wonderful plots.

[Jo Banks]

Ah I dont know as much about Heyer as I would like to think I do !! I shall have to read Jennifers biographies ! I did get two right pure guesses both of them !!

[theo]

Sadly, I didn't bother to take the quiz because I knew I would fail miserably and I'm too happy today to be miserable :)

And don't throw something at me, but I think I've only read one Heyer and that was years and years ago though I've bought two of her contemporary mysteries now and they're on my TBR short list.

[Ella Quinn]

I read Georgette Heyer's Regency World, but I hadn't read the biography. So, unfortunately I did not do well on the quiz. Great interview though!!

[Cathy P]

Hi, Anne and Jennifer! I didn't do very well on the quiz. I only got one right. Sad to say, I don't think I have ever read Georgette's books. I guess I need to find some so I can see what I have missed.

[Gram]

I didn't do too badly on the quiz seeing that I haven't read Heyer for quite a while and haven't read the bio's. I will be looking for the bio's soon.

[Jennifer Kloester]

Well done on the guesses Jo. I think the quiz proved harder than we thought. And I never throw things at people who haven't read her Theo :) I'm more likely to be jealous because you so many great books ahead if you do get started!

[Jennifer Kloester]

Thanks Ella. I'm so glad you enjoyed the interview. Anne always does a great job. I hope you enjoy the biography if you get the chance. GH has lots to say about her her books and being published in it.

[Jennifer Kloester]

Thank for posting Cathy, you might like to try The Grand Sophy or Venetia or Sylvester or Arabella or... there are so many good ones.

Gram well done on the quiz. It was a challenging one. Hope you enjoy the biog.

[Lucy]

Anne, if you ever do get back to Heyer detective novels, go for Footsteps in the Dark. It's got that tasty Gothic flavor of ghosts and secret passages, and the snarky Charles is the finishing touch.

Oh, and I did like The Unfinished Clue. I'd have wanted to kill him too.

:-)

[Jennifer Kloester]

Dorothy L. Sayers really liked The Unfinished Clue too. She adored Lola, the Mexican dancer.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Jennifer, congratulations on adding your first novel to your impressive non-fiction credentials! May it be the first of many fictional successes.

Mary Jo, who sent in revised ms. this just past midnight

[Jennifer Kloester]

Thanks so much Mary Jo and congratulations on getting the manuscript in - I'm sure it will be another terrific book!

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, everyone for having a go and joining in the fun. I'm hoping next time I make up a quiz, it will be neither too hard nor too easy but just right. ;)

Theo I'm trying to think of which Heyer novel you should start with. I'm tempted to say Venetia, because it's so romantic and the hero, Damerel, is delicious, but that might spoil you for the others. Devil's Cub, I think you'd love, too, and . . . oh, choosing is too hard.

Lucy, thanks for those recommendations. Having just, like Mary Jo, put in a book, I have time to read again. And a lovely teetering TBR pile to choose from.

[Lucy]

If we're going to corrupt--ahem, I mean induct--Theo and company, I think we should start with The Grand Sophy. :D

--Although, the first Heyer novel I really fell in love with was Beauvallet--my teenage self was carried away by all that romantic swashbuckling.

[Anne Gracie]

Lucy, The Grand Sophy is another of my favorites, but it's less romantic than Venetia, that's all. It's very funny tough, and I think Theo would love the Lord Bromford thread. . . And Charis and Endymion and the possibility of a diplomatic post.

Oh dear, I think I have a Heyer attack coming on, Might have to reread Sophy.

[Lucy]

I think my favorite part of Sophy is watching her drive Charles Rivenhall to the brink of insanity, which probably says more about my warped sense of humor than it does about anything romantic in the novel. ;-)

It's odd--Heyer, for writing what are essentially romantic comedies, tends to be quite light on the romance. Venetia, Beauvallet, These Old Shades, are probably some of her most romantic novels. The Foundling, too, although it's a quieter story. And yet, she remains one of the most popular romance novelists of her genre, because she was just that good. I tend to reread her books over and over because the language and dialogue are so satisfying.

[Jennifer Kloester]

I totally agree with you about rereading Heyer, Lucy, and I don't think you can go past her humour. just thinking about Eugenia hovering over Lord Bromford in the guest bedroom with the door closed makes me laugh. And the ducklings...! She was a wonderful writer who deserves to endure.