A Preview of Longbourn’s Songbird: A Novel, by Beau North

From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress:

Just released this week is a new Jane Austen-inspired novel, Longbourn’s Songbird. Based on Austen’s iconic novel, Pride and Prejudice, author Beau North has transported the action to post WWII South Carolina.

While Pride and Prejudice has spawned the largest number of sequels in print, most of those are set during the same time period, the early nineteenth-century. Fewer still are set during contemporary times. Faithfully transferring the themes and social conflicts from a novel set in Regency times to modern times is a challenge that few authors have attempted, however some of my favorites have been: Pride and Prejudice and the Perfect Match, by Marilyn Brant, Unleashing Mr. Darcy, by Teri Wilson and Mr. Darcy Came to Dinner, by Jack Caldwell.

Readers of Jane Austen-inspired fiction can never have too many Pride and Prejudice-inspired stories, especially those focusing on their favorite iconic hero and heroine, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. I am always pleased to see a new contemporary re-telling arrive on the scene. Longbourn’s Songbird is an intriguing new option for Janeites. Debut author Beau North may have transported Austen’s characters and plot across the ocean to the American south and one hundred and thirty five years into the future, but the lyrical transfer is creative and engaging.

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BOOK DESCRIPTION

“Someday some lark is gonna spell you with a song, Will Darcy. She’ll call you with music and you’ll be as good as lost.”

In the autumn of 1948, young millionaire Will Darcy comes to the sleepy, backwater town of Meryton, South Carolina to visit his best friend, Charles Bingley. When Darcy becomes enchanted by a local beauty with a heavenly voice, his business dealings with Longbourn Farms may close the door to his romantic hopes before they are given a chance to thrive.

Still healing from heartbreak, Elizabeth Bennet takes solace in her family, home, and the tight-knit community of Meryton. That foundation is shaken when Will Darcy makes a successful offer to buy the family farm. Blinded by hurt, will Elizabeth miss the chance to find in him the peace and comfort her heart truly needs?

Confronting the racial, economic, and social inequalities of the times, Longbourn’s Songbird is an imaginative romance inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice and told through the lens of postwar America, a story layered with betrayal and loss, love and letting go.

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AUTHOR BIO

Beau North is a native southerner who now calls Portland, Oregon home with her husband and two cats. She attended the University of South Carolina where she began a lifelong obsession with English Literature. In her spare time, Beau is the brains behind Rhymes With Nerdy, an internet collective focused on pop culture.  Longbourn’s Songbird is her first novel.

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BOOK INFORMATION

• Longbourn’s Songbird: A Novel, by Beau North
• Meryton Press (2015)
• Trade paperback, & eBook (300) pages
• ISBN: 978-1681310022
• Genre: Austenesque, Contemporary Romance

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Cover image and book description courtesy of Meryton Press © 2015; text Laurel Ann Nattress © 2015, austenprose.com.