Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Tracy Hickman: We are spoiled for choice when it comes to biographies of Jane Austen these days, but that was not always the case. As Helen Amy notes, it was not until fifty years after Austen’s death that a growing number of readers wanted to know more about her life. At... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Jenny Haggerty: For those who love Jane Austen’s novels, her early death is a tragedy we feel anew each time we contemplate the scant space she takes up on our bookshelves. What Austen fan doesn’t long for more than six completed novels, especially since she left behind several tantalizing story fragments?... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: A spirited English heiress, a dashing cavalry officer, and a beguiling Austrian Empress form a love triangle that on first glance may look like characters from a romance novel, but in reality, are based on actual people: Charlotte Baird, Bay Middleton, and Elizabeth, Empress of Austria. Set in... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Kimberly Denny-Ryder: It seems to be a great injustice indeed that we, as lovers of all things Jane Austen, spend such a small percentage of our time thinking about Jane’s own love life, as we are instead wrapped up in the lives of her amazingly-created characters. With that in mind, I... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Tracy Hickman: Ask any fan of Jane Austen what they love about her works and they can readily describe cherished characters, pithy quotes, and probably several screen adaptations that are especially close to their hearts. But what about what Austen loved? Jane’s niece Anna Lefroy remembered her aunt as a lover... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Lisa Galek: If you’re like most Janeites, it’s never enough just to read Austen’s novels. You want to live in them, too. That means decorating your house with Austenesque items, baking Regency era goodies, and throwing fabulous book-based soirees. So Jane: Crafts and Recipes for an Austen-Inspired Life by Jennifer Adams... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Jenny Haggerty: In Pride and Prejudice when Mr. Darcy wrote that post-proposal, world-altering letter to Elizabeth Bennet, telling her the truth about charming Mr. Wickham’s duplicity, I was as shocked and shaken as she was, but due to the discretion of the characters, readers get just a bare outline of what... Continue Reading →
A new Pink Carnation novel is always the highlight of my reading season, though the anticipation for The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla was stifling. How could Lauren Willig’s eleventh addition equal or surpass her previous highly-successful novels seeped in Napoleonic spies, romance and burlesque comedy? Yes, comedy. They say "dying is easy; comedy is... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Christina Boyd: Everyone in my world knows of Jane Austen. Alas, I can speculate that there are those who might not recognize the name. If they look her up on Wikipedia they would learn that: 'Biographical information concerning Jane Austen is "famously scarce"… Only some personal and family letters remain (by... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Br. Paul Byrd, OP: What is it about Pride and Prejudice or Mansfield Park or any other of Jane Austen’s novels that draw readers in and then keep them coming back again and again, even though they already know what is going to happen? In The Hidden Jane Austen, Australian Austen... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Katie Patchell: In most novels, the heroine has some kind of quirk, trait, flaw, or unique quality—physical or otherwise--which the hero (and the reader) falls in love with. She could have a temper (Serena, Bath Tangle) or a limp (Sorrel, Friends and Foes). She might stutter (Horry, The Convenient Marriage) or... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Tracy Hickman: It seems only natural that an author would be interested in names. My writer friends collect interesting names for future characters and are constantly putting together different combinations. A young Jane Austen playfully tried out a selection of husband names for herself in her father’s parish register of marriages.... Continue Reading →
