Please join us today in welcoming Austenesque author Belinda Roberts for the official launch of her book blog tour of Mr. Darcy Goes Overboard: A Tale of Tide & Prejudice, a new Pride and Prejudice contemporary retelling that was released on June 1, 2011 by Sourcebooks. GUEST BLOG Salcombe is a lively, fashionable seaside town... Continue Reading →
Group Read of Evelina by Frances Burney Begins Today at The Duchess of Devonshire’s Gossip Guide
Head's up for literature lovers. The Duchess of Devonshire's Gossip Guide to the 18th Century Blog is hosting a group read of Evelina or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World, by Frances Burney during the month of June, 2011. Evelina is an epistolary novel in three volumes written by English novelist,... Continue Reading →
Jane Austen: A Life Revealed, by Catherine Reef
Little is known of the life Jane Austen (1775-1817), but amazingly there are some hefty, scholarly biographies in print. Two of my favorites were both published in 1997 and confusingly share the same title. Jane Austen: A Life, by Claire Tomalin and David Nokes are both detailed and far-reaching in scope, elaborating on Austen’s life,... Continue Reading →
A Preview of Sense and Sensibility Stage Play at Book-It Rep in Seattle
We are very fortunate to have one of the nation’s premiere small theater companies right in our own backyard. For the last 20 years the Book-It Repertory Theater of Seattle has been exclusively adapting written work for the stage. Among the sixty plus world premier adaptations they have presented are stage productions of three Jane... Continue Reading →
The Annotated Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen, Edited and Annotated by David M. Shapard – A Review
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 →
Jane Austen Centre Online Giftshop Website Re-Launch
Becca Hemmings, manager of the Jane Austen Centre Giftshop has contacted us to announce the re-launch of their new online website, selling exclusive and unique Austen merchandise Worldwide! This wonderful retailer offers an incredible assortment of Austen-inspired, books and craft items. One of my favs is the Pride and Prejudice Peacock Shopper. It is a... Continue Reading →
Rare Jane Austen Manuscript of The Watsons to be Auctioned at Sotheby’s in London
An incredibly rare handwritten manuscript of Jane Austen’s unfinished work The Watsons will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in London on July 14th, 2011. It is valued at £200,000 to £300,000. The Watsons is a fragment of a novel that Austen began around 1803 when she was residing with her parents and sister Cassandra in Bath.... Continue Reading →
Preview of A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman: Complete Short Stories, by Margaret Drabble
Home from the bookselling trenches today and eager to share my great find. As I passed by the new release fiction bays at my store - a familiar name just leapt out at me. Margaret Drabble! Any die-hard Janeite will recall her wonderful introductions to the Penguin Classics and Signet Classics editions of Jane Austen's... Continue Reading →
Tea with Jane Austen, by Kim Wilson – A Review
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 →
Mr. Darcy and the Secret of Becoming a Gentleman, by Maria Hamilton – A Review
From the desk of Christina Boyd: “You are mistaken Mr. Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way than it spared me the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner.” Elizabeth Bennet, Pride and Prejudice, Chapter XXXIV... Continue Reading →
Join Jane Austen Inside Her Novels at the Classroom Salon (via AustenBlog)
Mags at AustenBlog shares news on a new beta website, Classroom Salon for Sense and Sensibility, by Carnegie Mellon University. The first lucky 50 Janeites to sign up get to participate, so make haste if you are interested in this innovative way to learn, share insights and discuss one of Jane Austen's novels. Cheers, Laurel... Continue Reading →
Persuasions No. 32 in the Mail to JASNA Members
Farley Castle, Somersetshire, from the essay by Janine Barchas in Persuasions No. 32 Huzzah! An Austen Alert for JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America) members. Watch your mailbox this week. The new issue of JASNA’s journal, Persuasions No. 32, has been mailed to all members. Here is the lowdown from the JASNA website: Persuasions... Continue Reading →