Tag Archives: A School for Brides

A School for Brides: A Story of Maidens, Mystery, and Matrimony, by Patrice Kindl – A Review

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A School for Brides, by Patrice Kindl 2015From the desk of Katie Patchell:

In 2012, author Patrice Kindl published her Regency debut, Keeping the Castle. Heralded by critics as part Jane Austen and part I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith’s classic), Keeping the Castle is set in the memorable town of Lesser Hoo, Yorkshire, and filled with quirky (and mostly loveable) characters, witty and very quote-worthy lines, and one very spectacular heroine. Really, what’s not to love? Sadly, a return to the characters and town discovered in Keeping the Castle seemed only possible through a re-read rather than a sequel…until this month, that is! In A School for Brides, Patrice Kindl’s companion novel to Keeping the Castle, readers return to the small village of Lesser Hoo to see the latest comedic mayhem caused by old and new residents alike.

“Mark my words. If something drastic is not done, none of us shall ever marry. We are doomed to die old maids, banished to the seat farthest from the fire, served with the toughest cuts of meat and the weakest cups of tea, objects of pity and scorn to all we meet. That shall be our fate, so long as we remain in Lesser Hoo.” (A School For Brides, p. 1)

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Giveaway Winners Announced A School For Brides

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A School for Brides, by Patrice Kindl 2015It’s time to announce the winners of the giveaways offered with the A School For Brides interview by author Patrice Kindl. The three lucky winners drawn at random are:

  • Carol Settlage, who left a comment on July 29, 2015
  • Kelley Paystrup, who left a comment on August 5, 2015
  • Miss Dashwood, who left a comment on July 29, 2015

Congratulations ladies! To claim your prize, please contact me with your full name and address by August 12, 2015, or you will forfeit your prize! Mail shipment to the US addresses only.

Thanks to all who left comments, to author Patrice Kindl for her interview and to her publisher Viking Books for the giveaways.

Cover image courtesy of Viking Books © 2015; text Laurel Ann Nattress © 2015, Austenprose.com

Q&A with Patrice Kindl, Author of A School For Brides, & Giveaway

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A School for Brides, by Patrice Kindl 2015It is a rare delight in reading to discover a new author that you feel could become one of your most cherished favorites. When “every feature works,” I am revved up and ready to share my excitement.

Such is the case with Patrice Kindl, who until a review copy of A School for Brides landed on my doorstep last month was entirely unknown to me. Further research revealed that this new release was a companion novel to her first in the Lesser Hoo series, Keeping the Castle. Set in the Regency period both novels share many of the same characters, paralleling the same time frame, but from a different perspective. Better and better.

Before diving into A School for Brides I decided to power through an audio recording of Keeping the Castle. It knocked my bonnet off. If I could describe Kindl’s writing in one sentence, I would say that it is a skillful blending of Jane Austen’s genius with social satire, Georgette Heyer’s exuberant humor and Dodie Smith’s poignant romance.

Here is a description of A School for Brides from the publisher:

The Winthrop Hopkins Female Academy of Lesser Hoo, Yorkshire, has one goal: to train its students in the feminine arts with an eye toward getting them married off. This year, there are five girls of marriageable age. There’s only one problem: the school is in the middle of nowhere, and there are no men. Set in the same English town as Keeping the Castle, and featuring a few of the same characters, here’s the kind of witty tribute to the classic Regency novel that could only come from the pen of Patrice Kindl!

Curious to learn more about Patrice Kindl and the inspiration for her Lesser Hoo novels I asked her if she would be game for a brief interview. Happily, she agreed.

Welcome, Patrice: Continue reading →