Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
Here we are at the ninth novel in the Being a Jane Austen Mystery series, Stephanie Barron’s sagacious slant on “our dear Jane” as a sleuth! The spring of 1811 finds Jane in London staying with her banker-brother Henry Austen and his sophisticated wife Eliza at their residence on Sloane Street preparing her first novel,... Continue Reading →
Jane Austen’s personal life is a bit of an enigma. We know a bit about her day-to-day life from her remaining personal correspondence; of which a few snippets allude to her beaux and friends. Readers are often puzzled how a spinster wrote so perceptively about romance and the human heart. One would think that first-hand... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laura A. Wallace: I must acknowledge that it is well-nigh impossible for me to be objective when it comes to reviewing Jennifer Kloester’s new biography of Georgette Heyer which was released this month in the UK. Rarely have I looked forward so much to reading a biography. But be assured, gentle... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Christina Boyd: “It is only a novel… or, in short, some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour are conveyed to the world in the... Continue Reading →
Guest review by Kimberly Denny-Ryder of Reflections of a Book Addict What do you get when you cross Pride and Prejudice with werewolves? You get a dark and adventurous tale that follows Lizzy and Darcy as they grapple with a definite twist that has arisen in their relationship. This time, Mary Lydon Simonsen takes us... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Christina Boyd: In Jane Austen’s Persuasion, the famed seawall of Lyme is perilous to the heedless, naĂŻve Miss Louisa Musgrove, whose fall is a critical turning point in the original novel. But in award winning author Carrie Bebris’ new Austen-inspired mystery, The Deception at Lyme (Or, The Peril of Persuasion), the... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laura A. Wallace: The Unknown Ajax is one of Georgette Heyer's funniest Regencies. It is populated with some of her more memorable characters and ends with a protracted scene reminiscent of comic opera, with a dozen people coming in and fading out in a seamless composition that builds to a climax... Continue Reading →
Even though it has been two hundred years since the world was first introduced to sisters Marianne and Elinor Dashwood's financial, social and romantic trials, their story remains for me, as fresh and vibrant as any contemporary story you might read of, experience yourself, or hear tell tale of today. I give full credit, of... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Jeffrey Ward: Author Juliet Archer has undertaken the daunting task of re-writing Jane Austen’s classic novels with a modern and contemporary twist. Her first novel in the series, The Importance of Being Emma (2008), was warmly embraced. Now, Persuade Me is the second offering in her Darcy & Friends series. Reading... Continue Reading →
There is a trail that winds through the edge of the grand country estate of Godmersham Park in Kent owned by Edward Austen-Knight, elder brother of the authoress Jane Austen. Pilgrims have traversed this foot-path for centuries on their way to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Chaucer based his... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Christina Boyd: Debut author Jan Hahn’s novel, An Arranged Marriage, begs the question, “can a marriage of convenience ever lead to true love?” In Hahn’s impressive alteration of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, days after Miss Elizabeth Bennet stringently refuses the proposal of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy at Hunsford, her beloved father... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress:Â It is 1809, a significant year in the life of our esteemed authoress Jane Austen. After close to five years of being shuffled about England between relatives, the three unattached Austen ladies: widower Mrs. Austen and her two unmarried daughters Jane and Cassandra are given permanent refuge by... Continue Reading →
