Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Katie Patchell: Hidden letters. Long-lost relatives. Unlooked-for love. The Letter from Briarton Park is Sarah E. Ladd’s eleventh and most recent Regency novel. Set in small villages, lofty halls, and shadowy forests, its pages tell a page-turning tale created of equal parts chilling suspense and swoony romance. Unknown Beginnings Without... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Tracy Hickman: If friends are family that we choose, then what do our friendships reveal about us? And what might the literary friendships of women tell us about their lives and their work? Authors and friends Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney examine the relationships of iconic literary women in A... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: I often wonder how authors find inspiration for their novels. It is such an incredible skill to create a story from thin air. In the case of bestselling author Fiona Davis, she has made a successful career from reimagining stories surrounding iconic New York City buildings. In The... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Katie Jackson: Come with me, dear readers, as we travel to the ruggedly resplendent cliffs of Cornwall to visit a lighthouse there called Golowduyn—pronounced goal-oh-DEW-in—and learn what secrets may be revealed by its shining light. Esteemed historical romance author Deborah M. Hathaway has crafted a lovely tale of hope through loss... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Katie Patchell:Â Dear readers, what I am about to say will have you thanking your lucky stars: if this was a space for spoiler-filled reviews, I would have written a word count of thousands. Fortunately for us all, this shall be as abridged and spoiler-free as possible; a tricky task, as... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Sophia Rose: It all started when a Wallflower wrote a letter. After the sparkling and fun hit, Mr. Malcolm’s List, author Suzanne Allain returns with Miss Lattimore's Letter, a new, engaging Regency romp featuring an unexpected and reluctant matchmaker and a social season in Bath to determine the outcome of her... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Katie Jackson: Jane Austen—that lauded, shrewd observer and chronicler of humanity—was also a skillful sleuth. Or so readers are thoroughly convinced in the fourteenth book of acclaimed historical mystery author Stephanie Barron’s Being a Jane Austen Mystery series, Jane and the Year Without a Summer. Off to the Less-Celebrated Watering Hole... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Sophia Rose: An atmospheric setting, characters with secrets, a dark shadowy deed at the heart, and a heroine who slowly begins to feel her own acute danger as she seeks to find the truth and her own road to happiness. What an irresistible combo, and just what I was looking for... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: Once upon a time, every young lady who was anyone in British society was presented at court. It involved an official invitation from the Palace, the proper bespoke gown, and a steady, deep curtsey in front of their sovereign. The ceremony heralded in a new crop of debutantes... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Sophia Rose: As many Agatha Christie fans become aware of sometime after they start devouring her books and the TV/Film Adaptions of them, her real life can read like the fiction she wrote. Two events stick with people the most. First, there is her husband’s affair and their subsequent divorce. This... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Katie Patchell:  Henry Tilney (of Northanger Abbey fame) is an underrated hero of a vastly underrated novel. It’s almost impossible for me to name a favorite Jane Austen work, as (like all the best stories) each speaks into one’s life in different ways and seasons. Yet if I applied myself... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Katie Patchell:  Who has seen the 1999 Wives and Daughters miniseries, adapted from Elizabeth Gaskell’s Victorian classic? It’s a powerful study of 19th-century life in a small English village, played by a phenomenal cast. Because of the miniseries, I recently devoured the 720-page volume and subsequently forced a family member... Continue Reading →
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