Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Kimberly Denny-Ryder: Mary Lydon Simonsen, author of Searching for Pemberley and The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy, is back with yet another opportunity for us to wander down that “what if” path with our favorite Pride and Prejudice characters: Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. This time, our variation begs the question:... Continue Reading →
Guest review by Br. Paul Byrd, OP I hate William Deresiewicz for writing this book—but only because I would have loved to have written it myself. A Jane Austen Education resonates so closely with my own approach to studying the Austen canon—living and learning from Austen’s works, as if from a collection of sacred texts... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laura A. Wallace: “To own the truth,” replied Miss Morville candidly, “I can perceive nothing romantic in a headless spectre. I should think it a very disagreeable sight, and if I did fancy I saw such a thing I should take one of Dr. James’s powders immediately!” Thus Drusilla Morville sadly... Continue Reading →
Guest Review by Aia A. Hussein Judging by the number of writing guides available in bookstores today, as compared to the number of guides available twenty or thirty years ago, it would seem that there has been an increase in demand for books about writing. Admittedly, many of these guides are similar in scope and... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Christina Boyd: "…She ruffles her readers by nothing vehement, disturbs him by nothing profound: the Passions are perfectly unknown to her… what throbs fast and full, though hidden, what the blood rushes through… this Miss Austen ignores... if this is heresy – I cannot help it.” Charlotte Bronte in a letter... Continue Reading →
Guest review by Kimberly Denny-Ryder of Reflections of a Book Addict There are many reasons why books published well over a hundred years ago are still relevant and well loved today. One of these reasons is that as a reader you become so invested in the lives of the characters that you can’t help but... Continue Reading →
In the winter of 1807, we find Jane Austen in the seaport of Southampton living in hired lodgings while her brother Francis Austen’s new residence is made ready for them at Castle Square. The Austen women (Jane, sister Cassandra, their widowed mother, and a dear family friend Martha Lloyd), will all be residing together under... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Shelley DeWees: “Of his younger daughter, Melody, he had no concerns, for she had a face made for fortune. His older daughter, Jane, made up for her deficit of beauty with rare taste and talent in the womanly arts. Her skill with glamour, music, and painting was surpassed by none in... Continue Reading →
Little is known of the life Jane Austen (1775-1817), but amazingly there are some hefty, scholarly biographies in print. Two of my favorites were both published in 1997 and confusingly share the same title. Jane Austen: A Life, by Claire Tomalin and David Nokes are both detailed and far-reaching in scope, elaborating on Austen’s life,... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laura Wallace: "I know! She was the delightful creature who cut up her brother, and cast the pieces in her papa’s way, wasn’t she? I daresay perfectly amiable when one came to know her." —Venetia on Medea. Venetia is about soul mates. Two people who, despite completely dissimilar life experiences, recognize... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: How appropriate that The Annotated Sense and Sensibility is being published during the bicentenary year of Jane Austen’s first published novel. This new book includes the complete text of Jane Austen’s classic with annotations by Dr. David M. Shapard, an expert in eighteenth-century European History who also brought... Continue Reading →
Guest review by Shelley DeWees – The Uprising If there was ever an “About the Author” section that seemed to speak to me, directly to me, it is this one: Marsha Altman exists more as a philosophical concept than an atom-based structure existing within the rules of time and space as we know them. She... Continue Reading →
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