Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Elaine Simpson Long:Â I was 15 when I first read A Civil Contract and I remember being slightly disappointed at the lack of a dashing alpha male hero with matching heroine, but now that I am older and wiser, I find this Georgette Heyer to be a deeply and quietly satisfying... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Brooke: The Unknown Ajax begins with Lord Darracott reaming out his daughter-in-law over dinner for her prattle. Then the point of view switches briefly to the new servant Charles from whose perspective we learn that Lord Darracott is an extremely unpleasant man. What makes him more unpleasant is that his oldest... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laura Gerold: Originally published in 1954, The Toll-Gate is a regency novel by Georgette Heyer. Unlike the other books I've read by Heyer, The Toll-Gate is not so much a regency romance as a regency mystery with a bit of romance. The novel is set in 1817 in the Peak District,... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Deb Barnum: The return of Gervase Frant, Earl St. Erth, to his ancestral home of Stanyon Castle following the death of his father should, by all events, be a time for celebration. But he finds his step-mother and younger step-brother quite disappointed that he has managed to survive his war service... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Vic Sanborn:Â Headstrong, spoiled and impetuous, Lord Sheringham wants to be married. Not because he is in love, but because he wants control of his fortune, his father having left it so that he would be either 25 or married before he could rid himself of his trustees. He has some... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Kara Louise: The heroine of Georgette Heyer’s novel, “Arabella” is Arabella Tallent, daughter of a clergyman from a country neighborhood and one of eight children. Her father raised his family to care about those less fortunate, to shun extravagancies, and most of all, to live a principled life. The fortune of... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Claire: Originally published in 1948, The Foundling was one of the very few Heyer Regency novels I had not read. As is always the case when you’re working against a deadline, I had some trouble tracking down a copy (even the library large print edition had multiple holds!) but I found... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Joanna Go: Published in 1941, Faro’s Daughter was written during a trying time in Georgette Heyer’s life when she was at odds with her agents and publishers, and war was wreaking havoc on the publishing industry. She was forced to put this work aside in favor of another, but reading the... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Christina Boyd: I was anxious to read The Man Who Loved Pride & Prejudice: A Modern Love Story with a Jane Austen Twist, by Abigail Reynolds as I have been a fan of her Pemberley Variations series for a few years, own all her other commercially published and self-published books and... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress:Â There are several biographies in print on Jane Austen (1775-1817) revealing her life, family, and her inspiration to become a writer. Two very famous books come to mind: Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin (1998) and oddly the same title published in the same year by David... Continue Reading →
Stepping into the 21st-century, Elizabeth Aston’s new novel Writing Jane Austen offers a completely different vintage of Austen inspired paraliterature than her previous six books based on Pride and Prejudice characters and their families from the early 19th-century. Set in present-day London, readers will immediately discover that Austen’s influence of three or four families in... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Virginia Claire Tharrington: In the new novel Dearest Cousin Jane, author Jill Pitkeathley paints a wonderful portrait of Jane Austen’s cousin Countess Eliza de Feuillide. Eliza seems to have had an intoxicating effect on most of the Austen family, but Henry, James, and Jane are the most taken with her. It becomes... Continue Reading →
