Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Laura A. Wallace: One of the things about Georgette Heyer is that the question “which of her books is your favorite?” tends to invoke a response corresponding to: “whichever one I am reading now.” Every time I reread one of her novels, I am always amazed at how fresh it is,... Continue Reading →
It is the fall of 1808 and Jane Austen and her family are in mourning after the sudden death of Elizabeth “Lizzy” Austen, the elegant and enchanting thirty-five-year-old wife of Jane’s elder brother Edward and mother of eleven children. To entertain the two eldest boys while they stay with her in Southampton, Jane takes them... Continue Reading →
I am amazed at how many Austenesque novels continue to have “Mr. Darcy” worked into the title. Recently there has been: A Wife for Mr. Darcy, by Mary Lydon Simonsen, The Trouble with Mr. Darcy, by Sharon Lathan, The Truth about Mr. Darcy, by Susan Adriani, Mr. Darcy and the Secret of Becoming a Gentleman,... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Kimberly Denny-Ryder: Mary Lydon Simonsen, author of Searching for Pemberley and The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy, is back with yet another opportunity for us to wander down that “what if” path with our favorite Pride and Prejudice characters: Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. This time, our variation begs the question:... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laura A. Wallace: “To own the truth,” replied Miss Morville candidly, “I can perceive nothing romantic in a headless spectre. I should think it a very disagreeable sight, and if I did fancy I saw such a thing I should take one of Dr. James’s powders immediately!” Thus Drusilla Morville sadly... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Christina Boyd: "…She ruffles her readers by nothing vehement, disturbs him by nothing profound: the Passions are perfectly unknown to her… what throbs fast and full, though hidden, what the blood rushes through… this Miss Austen ignores... if this is heresy – I cannot help it.” Charlotte Bronte in a letter... Continue Reading →
In the winter of 1807, we find Jane Austen in the seaport of Southampton living in hired lodgings while her brother Francis Austen’s new residence is made ready for them at Castle Square. The Austen women (Jane, sister Cassandra, their widowed mother, and a dear family friend Martha Lloyd), will all be residing together under... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laura Wallace: "I know! She was the delightful creature who cut up her brother, and cast the pieces in her papa’s way, wasn’t she? I daresay perfectly amiable when one came to know her." —Venetia on Medea. Venetia is about soul mates. Two people who, despite completely dissimilar life experiences, recognize... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: How appropriate that The Annotated Sense and Sensibility is being published during the bicentenary year of Jane Austen’s first published novel. This new book includes the complete text of Jane Austen’s classic with annotations by Dr. David M. Shapard, an expert in eighteenth-century European History who also brought... Continue Reading →
Guest review by Shelley DeWees – The Uprising If there was ever an “About the Author” section that seemed to speak to me, directly to me, it is this one: Marsha Altman exists more as a philosophical concept than an atom-based structure existing within the rules of time and space as we know them. She... Continue Reading →
We are always happy to see an author’s work go into a second edition, especially when they are as deserving of reprint as Kim Wilson’s beautiful Jane Austen-inspired books: Tea with Jane Austen and In the Garden with Jane Austen. Previously published in 2004 and 2008 respectively by Jones Books in the US, this new... Continue Reading →
Touring the Derbyshire countryside in the summer of 1806, Jane Austen, her mother, sister Cassandra, and cousin Rev. Edward Cooper are staying at the Rutland Arms in Bakewell, in the Peak District. While on a day excursion out into the country with Mr. Cooper and his friend Mr. Hemming, the gentleman enjoy angling along the... Continue Reading →
