Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Christina Boyd: Jane Austen’s most serious and compelling work, Persuasion, is all about retribution, forgiveness and second chances. Her masterpiece begins seven years after the broken engagement between the young heiress, Anne Elliot, and a junior naval officer, Frederick Wentworth—when he is thrown back into her sphere and both must face... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: For two hundred and one years readers have had the pleasure of reading Jane Austen's first published novel, Sense and Sensibility. For the bicentenary celebration last year, Penguin Classics issued this new edition with an introduction by Cathleen Schine (The Three Weissmanns of Westport) and cover illustration by... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Br. Paul Byrd, OP: “What I want to examine in this study is how the poet Wordsworth and the novelist Austen represent a marriage of interests, an economy of literary sympathies, and a shared thematic melody that plays across their often-disparate works” (Dabundo, 9). Laura Dabundo joins a number of scholars... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Jeffrey Ward: I’m going to tell on myself. I’m a sniveling, sentimental sucker for a good Christmas story. It is only October and I’ve only devoured two of them so I’m way behind my normal seasonal curve. Thank heavens for author Victoria Connelly, who sensing a good thing, has smartly thrown... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: We can only imagine what life would have been like in the great Georgian resort town of Bath, England circa 1800. There are vintage illustrations of buildings, maps of the winding streets, and descriptions from travelers and writers of the time to help us visualize. And then there... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Christina Boyd: Author Mary Lydon Simonsen is making quite a name for herself as a writer who successfully uses Jane Austen’s characters and themes in other historical times and settings. Her latest Pride and Prejudice re-imagining is set in WWII England with the Bennet girls conscripted into the workforce to support... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Shelley DeWees: Tell me. Do you think this sounds like a Jane Austen novel? “Gawain!” he screamed as he pulled himself free at the sound of his dog’s cry. From the corner of his eye, he could see his assailant grab the other man’s cane out from under him and raise... Continue Reading →
This charming journal completely missed my radar when it was released last November. Not surprising, really. Who would know from the title listed online that it was inspired by Jane Austen? The actual cover is more helpful; it has a subtitle, 365 Witticisms by Jane Austen, that was unfortunately omitted in the online listings. Bingo!... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Aia Hussein-Yousef: In chapter five of Claudia L. Johnson’s new book Jane Austen’s Cults and Cultures, she notes that in the first Jane Austen Society Report for the years 1943 – 46, a memory belonging to an elderly village woman named Mrs. Luff was recorded in which she remembers watching Jane... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Christina Boyd: There is something so satisfying about reading the third book in a trilogy. We have become personally entrenched in the characters and we know that important events will be resolved soon. Book 3, The Lady Must Decide, of author Laura Hile’s Mercy’s Embrace series does not disappoint; resolving some... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Christina Boyd: Author Laura Hile's So Lively a Chase, Book 2, in her lovely Mercy's Embrace trilogy, continues with Miss Elizabeth Elliot struggling to manage her feckless, frivolous father and dwindling finances, all the while contriving to make a most propitious match for herself. In this follow-up to Jane Austen’s Persuasion,... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Christina Boyd: In a sea of Darcy, Darcy, Darcy, I regret to admit that I may have over-indulged this winter and now suffer from post-Pride and Prejudice fan fiction fatigue. While perusing a generous stack of novels sent to me from our blog mistress, Laurel Ann, I was delighted to discover... Continue Reading →
