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Everyone has a secret or two in their past that they would rather forget. In Regency times, where a breach in propriety could ruin a reputation with a withering look, people had many secrets to hide. Are we surprised to learn that the residents of Pemberley, the palatial estate of the Darcy family in Jane... Continue Reading →
Guest review by Shelley DeWees – The Uprising “Of the parents who survive [in Austen’s novels] only Catherine Morland’s and Charlotte Heywood’s are unexceptionable. For the rest, Mrs. Dashwood is kind and loving but admits that she is imprudent. Most of the others are foolish (Mrs. Bennet, Lady Middleton, Lady Bertram, Sir Walter Elliot), ill-judging... Continue Reading →
Guest review by Kimberly Denny-Ryder of Reflections of a Book Addict Have you ever finished reading Pride and Prejudice and wondered how Darcy became so filled with pride and conceit? Now, you might find your answer. Pamela Aidan, author of the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy is back with Young Master Darcy, a novella focusing on... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: Manners meet mayhem again in the second Being a Jane Austen Mystery, Jane and the Man of the Cloth. It is 1804 and Jane and her family are traveling by post chaise to Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast to escape the oppressive summer heat in Bath when... Continue Reading →
Our Janeite sensibilities tell us that the notion of Jane Austen as a vampire is pretty wacky. It’s just so hard to visualize “our” Jane as one of the undead, still here after two hundred years, and struggling with life challenges and her condition. Author Michael Thomas Ford understands this too. He has created a... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Christina Boyd: The latest spin-off from Jane Austen’s masterpiece Pride and Prejudice is the debut novel Darcy and Fitzwilliam, A Tale of a Gentleman and an Officer, by author Karen V. Wasylowski. Divided into two volumes, volume one, entitled Fitzwilliam Darcy, A Gentleman, 1815 begins shortly after the marriage of Mr.... Continue Reading →
Guest review by Shelley DeWees – The Uprising “I deftly slipped free as soon as I could with a pretty, breathless show of resistance, enough to make him smile as he let me return to the ball. Seduction was better played in several acts, and we both knew it. But that single kiss had excited... Continue Reading →
Today I am reviewing the bestselling, feel good, let’s laugh and cry novel of 2010, The Three Weissmanns of Westport, by Cathleen Schine. It will be released in paperback on February 1st, so no more procrastinating because of pocketbook woes. There are so many raving reviews of this novel on the Internet I feel very... Continue Reading →
It is always a very special day when a new Pink Carnation novel is released. I had marked my calendar on January 20th with a big red X in anticipation. Lauren Willig is one the few authors that I just go nuts over. (How unprofessional to gush like a schoolgirl. I will be kind on... Continue Reading →
I was once told by an academic that Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey was the least read of her six major novels. Shocking. I can’t think why; or why we even need to rank masterpieces among masterpieces. I adore it. I will admit that it was the last of her major novels that I read, so... Continue Reading →
The book positively reeks of academic and literary esteem. Written by the great Hazel Holt, who is known far and wide for her Mrs. Malory mystery series, My Dear Charlotte had all the appearances and praise of a work of one seriously admired author. It boasts a beautiful cover and spectacular printing, but, more impressively, also includes a raving introduction by Jan Fergus, a noted and appreciated literary scholar from Lehigh University. By the time you’ve flipped through the first few pages, you’ll begin to think, “Wow. This is gonna be good.” And to some extent, you’d be right.
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: Imagine being present when Jane Austen’s unknown personal journals are discovered in an outbuilding on an ancient Maryland estate, Dunready Manor. Your friends the Westmoreland’s are distantly related to the authoress, and after restoration, they place the manuscripts in your care before they are donated to a major... Continue Reading →
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