Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: Today we are celebrating the release of Austen at Sea, by Natalie Jenner from St. Martin’s Press. BOOK DESCRIPTION Two pairs of siblings, devotees of Jane Austen, find their lives transformed by a visit to England and Sir Francis Austen, her last surviving brother and keeper of a... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: Â My summer reading took me down under to Australia with a new-to-me author, Paula J. Beavan. I was encouraged by the glowing reviews of her debut 2021 novel Daughter of the Hunter Valley and wanted to start with her latest book Among the Grey Gums as an... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress:   Do you enjoy reading novels that are homages to classic stories? They are quite popular. I have read dozens paying tribute to Jane Austen’s novels. And then there are books inspired by Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, and the enormous universe of... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: Happy autumn equinox dear readers. It’s time for all the fall feels—pumpkin lattes, fall leaves, and cozy-up reading. In celebration, I present the best historical novels of the new season; a curated list of my favorites for fall 2024. As always, I scoured the publisher’s sales catalogues and... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: Happy news, Janeites! Natalie Jenner, the author of the international bestselling novel, The Jane Austen Society, has just revealed the cover of her new novel, Austen at Sea. It is a stunner, and I am pleased to share it with you here today along with the description of... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: As summer winds down, it was time for me to embrace my seriously neglected good reading habits. I have many books calling to me on my TBR pile, yet they got pushed back when a favorite Australian author’s forthcoming novel dropped on US NetGalley! With one click and... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: Have you ever read a book that was so captivating that your own thoughts vanish, and you totally escape into the lives of the characters? Every historical fiction writer aspires to achieve this pinnacle, but few succeed as well as Laura Frantz. Her new novel, The Seamstress of... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress:  I am rather fond of Shakespeare and his iconic heroes and heroines. Romeo and Juliet is one of his famous tragedies—or is it a love story? It’s debatable. It certainly contains one of the most renowned romances in literature whose love ends in a tragedy, so there... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: I read a lot of historical romance novels. Sometimes I like to go in a totally different direction to clear my palate. This time around I chose Chenneville, a historical fiction novel set in the American post-Civil War western frontier. Like the rough country and characters that protagonist... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: When temperatures drop in the Pacific Northwest, I know that fall has officially arrived. Soon I will be decorating with pumpkins, leaves will be turning, and yard clean-up calls. As I finish up gardening projects, my thoughts return to inside activities—like reading, a favorite inside sport. I am... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: Books by Natalie Jenner can never arrive quick enough for me. Her last novel, Bloomsbury Girls, was released in May of 2022. I adored it. I just wanted to live in the charming world that she created in a post WWII London bookstore. Vivien Lowry was my favorite... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Jayda Justus: An exploration of the personal life of Lucy Maud Montgomery, one of the most revered authors in history steps into the story in this poignant tale of love and heartbreak. BOOK DESCRIPTION Lucy Maud Montgomery is a young woman who dreams of writing about the fanciful characters that dance... Continue Reading →
