Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
Guest review by Kimberly Denny-Ryder of Reflections of a Book Addict There are few readers of Jane Austen’s Persuasion who have finished the novel and not been more than a little in love with the dashing Captain Frederick Wentworth. His famous “you pierce my soul” letter to heroine Anne Elliot is one of the most... Continue Reading →
Did you know that many published Jane Austen sequel writers got their start on fan fiction sites on the internet? If you skim the book shelves at The Meryton Assembly, you will notice many familiar names. Sara Angelini, Marsha Altman, Jack Caldwell, Mary Simonson and Sharon Lathan; all Sourcebooks authors who contributed stories to the... Continue Reading →
An old Richmond, Virginia plantation, a festive wedding, and family disputes set the stage for murder in Tracy Kiely’s novel Murder on the Bride’s Side, the second novel in the Elizabeth Parker mystery series inspired by Jane Austen’s classic novels. A year ago, Kiely wowed me with her debut novel Murder at Longbourn loosely based... Continue Reading →
Was fictional hero Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice based on a real person who author Jane Austen met and fell in love with in 1810? In this reissue of her 2006 novel, author Sally Smith O'Rourke cleverly re-engages our fascination with Austen's ultimate romantic hero Mr. Darcy and presents readers with a contemporary heroine... Continue Reading →
When a book written twenty five years ago is reissued as confidently as Mansfield Park Revisited: A Jane Austen Entertainment by a publisher who specializes in Jane Austen sequels, you hope that it is laudable. Of all of the past sequels to select, (and there are more than a few), why choose one based on Jane... Continue Reading →
Gentle Readers, please do not be fooled! Neatly tucked into this slim volume are nine short stories entitled "Intimations of Austen", and not "Imitations of Austen", which on first glance at the thin and fluid type face on the cover stopped me cold! To imitate Jane Austen would be only a forgery! I am happy to... Continue Reading →
The true misfortune, which besets any young lady who believes herself destined for fortune and favour, is to find that she has been born into an unsuitable family. Lydia Bennet of Longbourn, Hertfordshire, not only believed that her mama and papa had most likely stolen her from noble parents, but also considered it a small... Continue Reading →
She knew herself that sometimes she overstepped the proper boundries and could only do so safely with me. In later years, when she wrote something particularly scandalous she would urge me, ‘Take the scissors to this at once.' She was right to surmise that others might judge her comments more harshly, but with me she... Continue Reading →
More accurately, Lady Catherine conversed. Anne listened silently, her attention straying to other parts of the busy room as her mother soliloquied unchecked. Wandering concentration, however, was endemic to participants in Lady Catherine’s conversations. It was how one survived them. Chapter 2 Austenesque author Carrie Bebris ventures into her fourth excursion in the Mr. and... Continue Reading →
Now they had come to it, the moment he dreaded. "We are to marry in nearly two days -" "It has not escaped my notice, I assure you." "- and I find myself in need of some . . . advice." Mr. Bingley & Mr. Darcy, The Darcys & the Bingleys And so gentle readers,... Continue Reading →
It is with great pleasure that I learned that the classic Pride and Prejudice sequel, Pemberley Shades by Dorothy Alice Bonavia-Hunt, would be re-issued in September by Sourcebooks. Originally published in 1949, it was the second Jane Austen sequel ever to be written and not easily available for purchase unless you were lucky enough to... Continue Reading →
