Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Kimberly Denny-Ryder: Some series are just too good to let go, whether they be movies, TV, or books. Sharon Lathan’s Darcy Saga, inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, is one such series. I’ve had the pleasure of reading all six of the previous novels, and I was sure that book... Continue Reading →
In landscape design, a garden folly is a structure whose only objective is to deceive. They have no purpose other than as ornament—to delight the eye and draw one to their door to evoke a romantic scene or time. How apt that author Candice Hern chose to name her Regency romance A Garden Folly, since... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Veronica Ibarra: Ever love a book so much that it is committed to memory? Have a favorite book that provides comfort and escape from life’s more troublesome realities? Pride and Prejudice is just such a book for many, including Kelsey Edmundson, the heroine of Jessica Grey’s new Jane Austen-inspired novel Attempting... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Sarah Emsley “The closer you look, the more you see,” writes John Mullan in What Matters in Jane Austen? Elizabeth Bennet learns this lesson in Pride and Prejudice when she reads and rereads Mr. Darcy’s letter “with the closest attention” to understand why he separated Bingley from Jane and why he... Continue Reading →
An English gentleman lived by a code of honor, but does that also apply to rakes? Even if he is a gentleman by birth do his actions make the man? An Affair of Honor plays on that premise in an amusing way. After being thrown from his curricle and hitting his head, Colin Herriot, Viscount... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laura A. Wallace:  Originally published in 1989, this 2012 re-issue of To Marry and English Lord is an attractive trade paperback edition by Workman Publishing. Promoted as “an inspiration for Downton Abbey,” Julian Fellowes, the screenplay writer who created the series, has been quoted as saying that he was reading this... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Christina Boyd:Â Now that the third season of Downton Abbey has ended and left us quite reeling, what better balm to soothe our broken hearts than this new Edwardian series, Summerset Abbey by debut writer T. J. Brown. The year is 1913, the prelude to WWI, and three young women gently... Continue Reading →
This is my second selection in the Regency Romance Reading Challenge 2013, our celebration of Regency romance author Candice Hern. We will be reading all of her traditional Regencies over the next nine months, discussing her characters, plots and Regency history. You can still join the reading challenge until July 1, 2013. Participants, please leave... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Kimberly Denny-Ryder: Several months ago I had the opportunity to read Persuaded by Jenni James, a modern YA (young adult) adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. I was really impressed with James’ ability to keep the depth of Austen’s works when translating them into the modern world and make them appealing to... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Jeffrey Ward:Â We know from the surviving canceled chapters of Persuasion that Jane Austen penned an alternative conclusion to her final novel, with stunning results. Based on the now 200-year-old masterpiece Pride and Prejudice, debut Author KaraLynne Mackrory has likewise crafted her own romantic detour. Let us find out, through the... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Lisa Galek: What’s an average girl to do when she wants to add some excitement and romance to her life? Just ask Jane Austen, of course! Sure, she’s been dead for nearly 200 years, but there are ways around that little problem. Cate Kendall spends her days teaching the classics like... 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 →
