In which we get to know our members a little better…
Name: Clara Shipman
Nationality: American
How old were you when you read your first Georgette Heyer novel?
I was 14.
What was it?
Frederica.
How did you discover her work?
My grandmother encouraged me towards my first Heyer, trying to wean me off my Twilight addiction. It worked, too.
Did Heyer lead you to read other authors in similar genres?
Absolutely! I’ve gotten into a lot of “modern Regency”, and I love authors like Anne Gracie and Grace Burrowes and Mary Balogh.
Which of her books have you read the most often?
Frederica. But Arabella is a close second.
Which, if any, would you never read again?
Probably the histories. Specifically The Conqueror. I just didn’t like it at all.
If you could be a Heyer heroine, which would you choose?
I love Frederica so much, but I think of all the Heyer heroines, Prudence Tremaine has the best life. All that cross-dressing adventure, a woman privy to man’s business, and then she gets to be an heiress and finds love with a man who knows all her secrets and loves her in all her many facets.
Which Heyer hero (or heroine) would make the best husband/wife/partner?
Freddy Standen is just about perfect husband material. And Alverstoke… well, of course.
How has Georgette Heyer influenced your life?
In so many ways! Discovering her books inspired me with a love of literature, helped me get through so many classes at school, and has given me names for every pet I have had since I began to read them. Luff says hi!
Clara Shipman is a voracious reader of all kinds of Romance, Mystery and Women’s Fiction (whatever that is). She lives on the outskirts of Boston, where she spends her days writing algorithms and her nights writing her own (so-far unpublished) Regency romances, when not on long walks with her dog, Lufra.
