Editing Georgette Heyer (section)

==Marriage==
While holidaying with her family in December 1920 Heyer met George Ronald Rougier, who was two years her senior.<ref name="hodge21">Hodge (1984), p. 21.</ref> The two became regular dance partners while Rougier was studying at the [[Royal School of Mines]] to become a mining engineer. In the spring of 1925, shortly after the publication of her fifth novel, they became engaged. One month later Heyer's father died of a heart attack. He left no pension and Heyer assumed financial responsibility for her brothers, aged 19 and 14.<ref>Hodge (1984), p. 22.</ref> Two months after her father's death, on 18 August, Heyer and Rougier married in a simple ceremony.<ref>Hodge (194), p. 23.</ref>

In October 1925 Rougier was sent to work in the [[Caucasus Mountains]], partly because he had learned Russian as a child.<ref name="hodge27"/><ref name=byatt292>Byatt (1975), p. 292.</ref> Heyer remained at home and continued to write.<ref name="hodge27">Hodge (1984), p. 27.</ref> In 1926 she released ''[[These Old Shades]]'', in which the Duke of Avon courts his own [[ward (law)|ward]]. Unlike her first novel, ''These Old Shades'' focused more on personal relationships than on adventure.<ref name=hughes38>Hughes (1993), p. 38.</ref> The book appeared in the midst of the [[1926 United Kingdom general strike]]; as a result the novel received no newspaper coverage, reviews or advertising. Nevertheless, the book sold 190,000&nbsp;copies.<ref>Hodge (1984), p. 25.</ref> Because the lack of publicity had not harmed the novel's sales, Heyer refused for the rest of her life to promote her books, even though her publishers often asked her to give interviews.<ref name="Hodge-1984">Hodge (1984), p. 69.</ref> She once wrote to a friend that "as for being photographed at Work or in my Old World Garden, that is the type of publicity which I find nauseating and quite unnecessary. My private life concerns no one but myself and my family."<ref name="Hodge"/>

Rougier returned home in the summer of 1926, but within months he was sent to the East African territory of [[Tanganyika Territory|Tanganyika]]. Heyer joined him there the following year.<ref name=hodge2730/> They lived in a hut made of [[Pennisetum purpureum|elephant grass]] in [[the bush]];<ref name=byatt293/> Heyer was the first white woman her servants had ever seen.<ref name=hodge2730/> While in Tanganyika Heyer wrote ''[[The Masqueraders]]''; set in 1745, the book follows the romantic adventures of siblings who pretend to be of the opposite sex in order to protect their family, all former [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]]s. Although Heyer did not have access to all of her reference material, the book contained only one&nbsp;anachronism: she placed the opening of [[White's]] a year too early.<ref name=byatt293/> She also wrote an account of her adventures, entitled "The Horned Beast of Africa", which was published in 1929 in the newspaper ''[[The Sphere (newspaper)|The Sphere]]''.<ref name=ft4>Fahnestock-Thomas (2001), p. 4.</ref>

In 1928 Heyer followed her husband to [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], where she almost died after a dentist improperly administered an anaesthetic.<ref name=hodge2730/> She insisted they return to England before starting a family. The following year Rougier left his job, making Heyer the primary breadwinner.<ref name=hodge2730/><ref>Byatt (1975), p. 294.</ref> After a failed experiment running a gas, [[coke (fuel)|coke]] and lighting company Rougier purchased a sports shop in [[Horsham]] with money they borrowed from Heyer's aunts. Heyer's brother Boris lived above the shop and helped Rougier, while Heyer continued to provide the bulk of the family's earnings with her writing.<ref name=hodge2730>Hodge (1984), pp. 27–30.</ref>