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We don’t like treadmills. They are unstable and unsafe. For proof, you need look no further than our experience on one while reading Georgette Heyer’s Black Sheep. Without going into too much embarrassing detail, let us say there was uncontrollable laughter and an uncontrollable tread. We are sufficiently padded, so bruises barely showed. Heyer, a prolific author who died in 1974, wrote primarily about the Regency period — a fascinating period of cultural history. The bawdy Georgians were morphing into the hypocritical, repressed Victorians as the Industrial Age dawned. Little things like democracy (which you may have heard about in the news recently) and women’s rights were invading the British consciousness (a consciousness still reeling from war). And still Nero (aka, George IV) fiddled. All of these elements combined provided the opportunity for sharp and funny social commentary, as evidenced by the works of Jane Austen, William Makepeace Thackeray (Vanity Fair remains of the world’s great satires), and Georgette Heyer. Heyer’s works have been rereleased over the past several years, and we are excited to say it’s happening again.

• New look lifts Heyer sales
• Georgette Heyer