Georgette would be able to manage the household without the need for a maid or cook-housekeeper. His absence during term time enabled them to move into a service flat with meals provided and regular cleaning. With bombs falling on Sussex with nerve-wracking regularity, Georgette and Ronald had decided to send Richard away to the Elms, a boarding school in the much safer Malvern Hills. Many housemaids, cooks and housekeepers were easily tempted away from the drudgery of domestic service to the better-paid-with-better-hours work on offer in factories, public transport or on the land.
One of the most lasting changes brought about by the War was the dramatic shift in employment – especially for women. She had grown up in a world where domestic servants were an unquestioned part of life and, as an author and the mother of a young child, servants had been a vital support – allowing Heyer to write for as often and as long as she needed without having to think about cooking or cleaning or childcare. Heyer had written a dozen successful novels at Blackthorns but the Second World War had changed many things and she and Ronald could no longer cope with such a large house. Just before Christmas 1940, Georgette and Ronald, with their eight-year-old son, Richard, left Blackthorns, their home for the past seven years, and moved to Brighton.
The gorgeous 1941 Heinemann first edition jacket for Faro’s Daughter From house to flat – the move to Brighton
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