The Black Moth

Unique Elements
– Historical Context

– Detailed 20th Century Historical Analysis
A Historical Romance Literary Classic by Georgette Heyer.
The Black Moth by English author Georgette Heyer is a book of literary fiction first published in 1921 in the United Kingdom.
A celebrated Georgian Era literary classic filled with thrilling adventure and dark mystery.

Sneak Peak
“I do not like your name, sir,” she answered.
“There was no thought of pleasing you when I was christened.” he quoted lazily.”
― Georgette Heyer, The Black Moth

Synopsis
A highwayman who was the son of an earl…
A high-class beauty with a free spirit who is taken…
A shady man who went by the name "The Black Moth"…
The plot revolves around Lord Jack Carstares, an English nobleman who becomes a highwayman after taking the fall for a controversy involving cheating years earlier to save his brother’s honour. Returning after being away for seven years, he runs into his old enemy, the Black Moth, the famous Lord Tracy Belmanoir, Duke of Andover just as the Duke was trying to abduct Miss Diana Beauleigh. Jack saves Diana and they begin to fall in love, but will his troubled past and current occupation pose a threat to their happiness?

A Beautiful Reprint
At Vintage Bookworks, we go above and beyond to guarantee that the original integrity of this book has been preserved to the highest possible standard. This guarantees that the texts contained are unmodified and unaltered from the publication by the original author and keeps the story in its original form for your entertainment. If you value classic Georgian era literature this book would be a lovely addition to your library or a wonderful present for someone in your life. We are prepared to ship this book to you right away for your reading enjoyment.

Title Details
– Original 1921 text

– Literary fiction

When Lord Jack Carstares is falsely accused of cheating at cards, the young nobleman accepts the blame to protect his brother. Alone and friendless in his European exile, Jack is obliged to develop his skills as a swordsman — an accomplishment he puts to use upon his return to England, where he embarks upon a new career as a highwayman. Chivalrous Jack, like Robin Hood, steals only from the rich and shares his loot with the needy. And when he foils the attempted kidnapping of raven-haired beauty Diana Beauleigh, his rescue sets the stage for a thrilling romance and a chance at redemption.
Georgette Heyer's debut novel, written as a diversion for her ailing brother, abounds in the qualities that make her books perennial favorites with lovers of historical romance: colorful characters, sparkling dialogue, and lively plotting punctuated by swashbuckling action. Set in the 1750s, The Black Moth is rich in Georgian-era atmosphere, offering a compulsive page-turner that novelist and critic Margaret Drabble praised as "stylish, romantic, sharp, and witty."

This anthology includes 7 novels, full of romance and adventure and set in different historical epochs:

THE BLACK MOTH BY GEORGETTE HEYER

THE CURSE OF CAPISTRANO BY JOHNSTON MCCULLEY

CAPTAIN BLOOD BY RAFAEL SABATINI

THE ADVENTURES OF KATHLYN BY HAROLD MACGRATH

CLEOPATRA BY H. RIDER HAGGARD

HEARTS OF THREE BY JACK LONDON

ARMS AND THE WOMAN BY HAROLD MACGRATH

This annotated edition of The Black Moth contains:
– The original unedited, uncut version of the text

– A historical contextual overview of the Georgian period in which the novel is set
When Georgette Heyer was born in 1902, she became a writer with an impressive resume that includes both Regency romance and detective fiction. Her first book was written when she was 19 years old for her younger brother, Boris. This book became The Black Moth which achieved commercial success. In essence, this book established what we now know about historical romances–and has been greatly influential on how they are written today because without Heyers' work there would not be such thing as the historical romance or its sub-genre: "Regency Romance."

Georgette Heyer was born in Wimbledon on 16th August 1902, the eldest daughter of George and Sylvia Heyer. Her mother, a gifted musician and father, following his serving as a soldier and receiving an MBE during the World War I taught at King’s College.

While holidaying with her family in December 1920, Heyer met George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer.

The young Heyer was a very talented writer. Her first book ‘The Black Moth’ was written and published whilst she was still a teenager to amuse her convalescing brother. From thereafter she was prolific and an international best-selling author and publishing phenomenon.

Heyer and Rougier became engaged in the spring of 1925. A month later her father died and Heyer assumed financial responsibility for her brothers, aged 19 and 14. Two months later on 18th August, Heyer and Rougier married in a simple ceremony.

Rougier was sent to work in the Caucasus Mountains in October, 1925 but Heyer remained at home to write. In 1926, she released ‘These Old Shades’ in the midst of the unrest of the general strike. The book received no coverage, reviews, or advertising. Such was her reputation that the book still sold 190,000 copies. The lack of publicity had not harmed the novel's sales. Heyer, shy and reclusive, now forsook promoting her books for the rest of her life.

Rougier returned home in 1926 but was then sent to Tanganyika. Heyer joined him the following year.

In 1928, Heyer also went with Rougier to his work in Macedonia but insisted on a return to England before starting a family. She continued to write and every book further cemented her sales and reputation.

During the next few years Heyer broke with her existing publishers, who she felt patronized her and were unable, or unwilling, to give her the status she felt her sales and reputation demanded.

To minimize her tax liability, Heyer formed a company; Heron Enterprises. Royalties on new titles would now be paid to the company, which would pay Heyer a salary and directors' fees to her family. She would continue to receive all royalties from her earlier titles, except from the United States, which would go to her mother. Several years later, a tax inspector found that Heyer was withdrawing too much money and marked the extra funds as undisclosed dividends and declared she owed a further £3,000 in taxes. To pay the tax bill, Heyer wrote two articles for Punch, ‘Books about the Brontës’ and ‘How to be a Literary Writer’.

In 1950, Heyer began working on her magnum opus, a medieval trilogy that covered the House of Lancaster between 1393 and 1435 that would take five years to complete. Her readers however begged for new books and writing them would also solve further tax liabilities.

By 1966 she now owed £20,000. She fired her accountants. The rights to her next book, ‘Black Sheep’, were issued to her personally.

Heyer now sold Heron Enterprises to Booker-McConnell, which already owned the estates of Ian Fleming and Agatha Christie. She was paid £85,000 for the rights to the 17 Heyer titles. This amount was taxed at the lower capital transfer rate, rather than the higher income tax rate.

In July 1973 she suffered a slight stroke and spent three weeks in a nursing home. Her brother Boris died later that year but by now Heyer’s own deteriorating health meant she was too ill to attend his funeral. She suffered another stroke in February 1974 and three months later was diagnosed with lung cancer, a result of smoking 60–80 cork-tipped cigarettes a day.

Georgette Heyer died on 4th July 1974.

Her fans learned her married name for the first time from her obituaries.