Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
From the desk of Laura A. Wallace: A Civil Contract is an atypical Georgette Heyer novel. While the setting is firmly Regency, beginning at the time of the Battle of Orthez (February 1814) and ending with that of Waterloo (June 1815), it is neither lively nor witty. It is a quiet book, with a love... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: As 2011 marks the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, we are offered another annotated edition to help us understand the social and historical context of the world that Jane Austen places us into in late eighteenth century England. The Sense and Sensibility... Continue Reading →
Last year, the good folks at the Harvard University Press presented the first installment in their commitment to annotate all six of Jane Austen’s major novels. Pride and Prejudice: An Annotated Edition, by Jane Austen and edited by Patricia Meyer Spacks set the standard for the series: an unabridged first edition text, annotations by an... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Christina Boyd: Best-selling author Linda Berdoll’s Mr. Darcy Takes A Wife and Darcy & Elizabeth have been hailed as “sexy, hilarious, poignant” and “wild, bawdy and utterly enjoyable (Booklist.)” But also, “blasphemy, smut and trash,” are not uncommon adjectives used by her severest critics. Rarely has there been such a clear... 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 Kimberly Denny-Ryder: I’m delighted to again read another fantastic work by Rebecca Ann Collins. She is the critically acclaimed author of the bestselling 10 novel series, The Pemberley Chronicles. Her writing style is unparalleled in its depth and completion, and I’m always amazed at how detailed and engaging her novels are. ... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Br. Paul Byrd, OP: ‘What is it that you read now?’ Mrs. Cobbold gestured to the volume on Harriet’s lap. ‘Another stupid book.’ Harriet put it down. ‘First Impressions is its title; and by A Lady, as usual.’ ‘It does not divert you?’ ‘Divert me, Aunt! I have no wish to... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laura A. Wallace: Georgette Heyer’s novel The Toll Gate is a little different from her typical Regencies. It is more of a mystery than a romance and is told primarily from the point of view of the hero. The hero, Captain John Staple, shares several characteristics with Hugo Darracott of The... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Christina Boyd: In Jane Austen’s Persuasion, the famed seawall of Lyme is perilous to the heedless, naïve 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 →
Regular readers of Austenprose will know that I am a huge fan of author Lauren Willig novels. I absolutely adore her bestselling Pink Carnation series set during the Napoleonic Wars, filled with spies, humor and romance. I was thrilled beyond words when Lauren agreed to write a short story for my upcoming Austenesque anthology Jane... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Kimberly Denny-Ryder: Historical fiction? Check. Magic? Check. Awesome heroine? Check. Lord Byron?! Check! Did you ever imagine those four items to be in the same novel together? I sure didn’t, so I was in for a definite surprise when I started reading The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss. Set in the... Continue Reading →
