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Barren Corn
When Hugh Salinger announced the news of his disastrously ill-assorted marriage with Laura Burton, his family expected him to bring home an adventuress. It might, in the end, have been better, for Laura, undeniably beautiful, simple & selfless in her love for Hugh, was not of the stuff facile imitators are made from, & her very singlemindedness prevented her from shedding her carefully taught gentility.
282 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1930
352 people want to read
About the author
Georgette Heyer
254 books5,530 followersGeorgette Heyer was a prolific historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother into the novel The Black Moth.
In 1925 she married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer. Rougier later became a barrister and he often provided basic plot outlines for her thrillers. Beginning in 1932, Heyer released one romance novel and one thriller each year.
Heyer was an intensely private person who remained a best selling author all her life without the aid of publicity. She made no appearances, never gave an interview and only answered fan letters herself if they made an interesting historical point. She wrote one novel using the pseudonym Stella Martin.
Her Georgian and Regencies romances were inspired by Jane Austen. While some critics thought her novels were too detailed, others considered the level of detail to be Heyer's greatest asset.
Heyer remains a popular and much-loved author, known for essentially establishing the historical romance genre and its subgenre Regency romance.
In 1925 she married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer. Rougier later became a barrister and he often provided basic plot outlines for her thrillers. Beginning in 1932, Heyer released one romance novel and one thriller each year.
Heyer was an intensely private person who remained a best selling author all her life without the aid of publicity. She made no appearances, never gave an interview and only answered fan letters herself if they made an interesting historical point. She wrote one novel using the pseudonym Stella Martin.
Her Georgian and Regencies romances were inspired by Jane Austen. While some critics thought her novels were too detailed, others considered the level of detail to be Heyer's greatest asset.
Heyer remains a popular and much-loved author, known for essentially establishing the historical romance genre and its subgenre Regency romance.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
January 23, 2025
This is the first time since I've been on GR that I have read a book I was sure I was going to hate.
A copy of this, one of the titles the strong minded Heyer suppressed, turned up at the op (charity) shop I volunteer at.
Lucky (I guess) that I was there, as normally broken spine books get thrown straight in the recycling bin. Anyone who has paid collector prices for this - read & weep. My lovely boss refused to accept my offer & I paid NZ$8 for it.
There are some positives - mainly that it isn't as bad as Helen (the other suppressed Heyer contemporary I have read) That one was every bit as leaden as Heyer's medieval historicals. My GR friend Kate has written a really good review of thatturkey book.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This one made a decent beginning & the book stayed with a light touch but with none (absolutely none) of the wit & humour that has made Heyer such a beloved author. Oddly enough there was a scene between the repulsive Hugh's mother & Lady Powys that reminded me of an exchange between Lord Alverstoke's sisters in Frederica - a romance Heyer wrote over 30 years later.
The book is a horrible tale of Staying With Your Own Kind and the ending made me turn to GH's favourite tipple - a gin & tonic.
Don't read this book without one firmly clutched in your hand!
Edit; I've read a couple of terrible books recently & decided in spite of this books classist ideas & horrid "hero" that it is well written enough to deserve 2★. I try to keep 1 or 1.5★ for DNF & books I struggle to read.
A copy of this, one of the titles the strong minded Heyer suppressed, turned up at the op (charity) shop I volunteer at.
Lucky (I guess) that I was there, as normally broken spine books get thrown straight in the recycling bin. Anyone who has paid collector prices for this - read & weep. My lovely boss refused to accept my offer & I paid NZ$8 for it.
There are some positives - mainly that it isn't as bad as Helen (the other suppressed Heyer contemporary I have read) That one was every bit as leaden as Heyer's medieval historicals. My GR friend Kate has written a really good review of that
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This one made a decent beginning & the book stayed with a light touch but with none (absolutely none) of the wit & humour that has made Heyer such a beloved author. Oddly enough there was a scene between the repulsive Hugh's mother & Lady Powys that reminded me of an exchange between Lord Alverstoke's sisters in Frederica - a romance Heyer wrote over 30 years later.
The book is a horrible tale of Staying With Your Own Kind and the ending made me turn to GH's favourite tipple - a gin & tonic.
Don't read this book without one firmly clutched in your hand!
Edit; I've read a couple of terrible books recently & decided in spite of this books classist ideas & horrid "hero" that it is well written enough to deserve 2★. I try to keep 1 or 1.5★ for DNF & books I struggle to read.
October 4, 2022
After the horrible reviews from other Heyer fans, I ordered a copy Barren Corn through my library's ILL service.
Short conclusion: I did not find it as repulsive as others have found it.
It felt like an exercise in writing, as if she were practicing and not editing herself very well. Everything that happened in the story was obvious well in advance, no surprises here. The stupidity of most of the characters built a wall that prevented me from caring much about any of them. Character development, other than Laura, I felt to be stilted. Penhallow roused deeper feelings, although mostly dislike and loathing of the characters!
Mediocre Heyer at best, really.
Short conclusion: I did not find it as repulsive as others have found it.
It felt like an exercise in writing, as if she were practicing and not editing herself very well. Everything that happened in the story was obvious well in advance, no surprises here. The stupidity of most of the characters built a wall that prevented me from caring much about any of them. Character development, other than Laura, I felt to be stilted. Penhallow roused deeper feelings, although mostly dislike and loathing of the characters!
Mediocre Heyer at best, really.
April 5, 2012
The best I can say of this is that it's an interesting social document. I can dismiss Georgette Heyer's sexism and classism when she's writing escapist romances and mysteries, but in plain fiction these views are repellent and melodramatic. I guess the pacing and descriptions are good as always, but the book leaves a bad taste (on so many levels). Ugh.
July 20, 2009
Did not like at all. Can't believe it was Georgette Heyer.
September 21, 2009
This is the only time I've been disappointed by Georgette Heyer. The story is haunting, but there is nothing positive about it.
April 8, 2011
I intend to read Ms. Heyer's biography when this year is done. I'm very anxious to know what she was going through when she wrote this one. A sad, sad tale. Would not recommend this to anyone...
December 22, 2012
I really wanted to like this "contemporary" novel (set in the 40's) since I love Heyer's Regency-era fiction... Unfortunately it is pretty boring and the characters never really engaged my interest.
September 5, 2022
And then she COMMITS SUICIDE ? My goodness.
That being said, despite the pathos and the head-banging-against-a-wall feeble spirits of the two main figures, the novel was entirely readable and many pleasurable hours were easily absorbed in doing so.
That being said, despite the pathos and the head-banging-against-a-wall feeble spirits of the two main figures, the novel was entirely readable and many pleasurable hours were easily absorbed in doing so.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 6, 2023
After reading the reviews I almost didn’t read this one. Not near as bad as the reviews would have you believe - just very unsettling and no happy ending like I have come to expect from Georgette Heyer.
February 21, 2024
This was a last resort find overseas, I was expecting to endure a dirty Victorian romance but ended up enjoying and reflecting on the themes of classism and the limitations of love. Maybe biased as I'm desperate for a novel but was interested in disappointed by how everything comes to a close.
April 28, 2022
Agree with other reviewers, full of snobbery and melodrama
December 6, 2025
I cannot decide if I’m frustrated about the book or melancholy about the ending. Definitely different than any other Heyer novel I’ve read. Read with caution.
February 8, 2010
Yikes, not what I was expecting. Georgette Heyer's regency romance books follow a very specific pattern: boy meets girl, boy seems very unlikely to get girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy woos girl, girl falls in love with boy, boy gets girl. There are some variations, of course, but pretty much that's what I expect to happen. Which is why I love her books so much. Sometimes you just want a dependable, predictable, comfortable, happy plot. When I want something not so comfortable I read something by Brandon Sanderson. Or Count of Monte Cristo, or Gone With the Wind.
So, given this information and what I thought I was reading, imagine my surprise and dismay when the main characters get married in the first 50 pages even though they are of very differing classes, it doesn't work out so well and in the end girl kills herself because she knows that will make boy happier in the long run, quite effectively making it look like an accident so he will never know.
Yikes, right? I'm not going to say I disliked this book, I did like it. I probably would have liked it a lot more if I had some idea what the outcome might be before reading it (the copy I got had no plot description whatsoever). So yes, interesting experience. It's kind of like drinking a glass of what you thought was water, only to discover it's actually Sprite. Still something you like drinking, it just comes as kind of a shock.
So, given this information and what I thought I was reading, imagine my surprise and dismay when the main characters get married in the first 50 pages even though they are of very differing classes, it doesn't work out so well and in the end girl kills herself because she knows that will make boy happier in the long run, quite effectively making it look like an accident so he will never know.
Yikes, right? I'm not going to say I disliked this book, I did like it. I probably would have liked it a lot more if I had some idea what the outcome might be before reading it (the copy I got had no plot description whatsoever). So yes, interesting experience. It's kind of like drinking a glass of what you thought was water, only to discover it's actually Sprite. Still something you like drinking, it just comes as kind of a shock.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 18, 2010
I did not like it at all. Started like it could be interesting, but got more and more depressing, and then ended awful. Made me cry. Wished I had never read it. Laura and Hugh meet in Italy, on a hill, where she was for a short vacation, and he was painting a picture, also in Italy for a recovery from a sickness. They end up getting married, in spite of their difference in social status. Hugh gets increasingly upset over her lack of ability to pick up the mannerisms of his class, and her awkwardness when entertaining his friends. Deciding he would be happier if she was out of the picture, she thinks of something to do that she feels will make sure he will be happy in the future. She ends up doing something dreadful that she feels will ensure his happiness.
May 18, 2011
An unusual entry for Heyer - sort of an anti-romance. Whereas many of her romance novels features men and women from different social classes overcoming obstacles to find true love, this story is the inverse. While it may be more realistic to imagine a poor outcome for such a marriage, I found the love part of this story the most difficult to believe. Why would this level-headed woman fall for a ne'er-do-well? Well-written, but the author's outlook on her characters was more cynical than I am used to from her.
October 2, 2011
One star is pushing it. I had to skip through the text that follows the whirlwind cross-class romance and dreadful marriage of a woman who worked in a hat shop and an aristocrat with a ratty mother. I don't know if this one was realism when it came out, but boy is it drippy melodrama now, with attendant anti-feminism, Good Girl set up to fail, and wastrel upper class Brits. And it ends with Our Heroine's suicide! Oh, Heyer, No! Originally published 1930.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 10, 2011
Only the second book I've read by Heyer with a sad ending. Interesting read - I didn't like the male main character, and I thought the girl too good for him. Made me wonder how she was able to love someone w/ such glaring faults, enough to give up her own life... Anyway, I enjoyed Heyer's style, as always, but I don't think I'll reread this one, unlike the majority of her books (some of which I've read three times already).
January 18, 2009
A tragedy, caused by a shop girl allowing herself to be persuaded to marry the nephew of a baron. BARREN CORN was later suppressed by the author. I couldn't read it for long -- eventually I looked at the end and decided not to put myself through it.
August 2, 2012
Like watching a train wreck in agonizing slow motion. The most depressing Heyer book. I need to read Fredrica after this to restore my humor.
May 31, 2015
Not a happy story, but a good tragedy. Heyer herself believed in a rigid class system, and this story gives some validity to her views.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews