Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: While I own more copies of Jane Austen’s novels than I will publicly admit, there is just something so enchanting about a beautiful book cover. They totally break down my willpower. So, here I am with new editions of Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility to... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: *throws confetti* Pride and Prejudice turns 211 today. Many Jane Austen fans are celebrating #PrideandPrejudiceDay online and at Jane Austen’s House Museum (the most treasured Austen site in the world) in Chawton, England. Please join the party with my humble contribution honoring my love of the novel, its... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: English novelist Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire, the seventh of eight children of Rev. George Austen and his wife Cassandra Austen, nee Leigh. Her six major novels concern the pursuit of security, and love, for women dependent upon marriage among the landed... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: In honor of lovers everywhere we are highlighting some of Jane Austen’s insights on courtship, love, and marriage in her novels, and in her life, on the most romantic day of the year, Valentine’s Day. Here are 24 of the best quotes to include in a card, express... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: Let me ask you a serious question, Janeites. How many copies of Pride and Prejudice do you own? Fess up. Five, ten, twenty—or more than you will publicly admit to? I fear that I fall into the latter category, having collected new and vintage copies of the classic... Continue Reading →
Jane Austen-themed Twelfth Night Cake by Sprinkles Bakes Today is Jane Austen 239th birthday. Born on 16 December 1775 at Steventon Rectory in Hampshire, England, her many admirers have proclaimed her birthday as Jane Austen Day and are celebrating around the world in creative and diverse ways. Please join us and the Jane Austen Centre Facebook... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Tracy Hickman: Could you tell the story of Pride and Prejudice in 60 pages and make the world of Regency England come alive for a young reader? I pondered this question before reading the author Susanna Davidson’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved novel. The Usborne Young Reading Series provides young readers... Continue Reading →
"You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." - Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice, Ch 34 Today we celebrate another anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice on 28 January 1813 in London. It’s hard to top last year’s incredible, world-wide, over the top festivities, elevating Jane Austen and her most popular... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Besides being trotted out for the opening of every news article containing anything vaguely related to Pride and Prejudice, its author, its characters, its plot... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: One is humbled to review a book considered a classic of world literature. What could I possibly say about Pride and Prejudice that has not been scrutinized by scholars, exalted by enthusiasts, or bemoaned by students who have been forced to read it and just don’t get what... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: Happy dance in the Jane Austen book world today. With the release of Coralie Bickford-Smith’s new cover design of Love and Freindship and Other Youthful Writings, the Penguin Clothbound Classics set of Jane Austen novels now includes seven books: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma,... Continue Reading →
I could not let this day pass without wishing Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice a happy 199th birthday. Written between October 1796 and August 1797, Pride and Prejudice was first entitled First Impression and would not premiere on the printed page until after many revisions and another sixteen years. Publisher Thomas Egerton of Whitehall... Continue Reading →
