Author: BookLady Deb

I have been reader of Austen for many years; was re-introduced when my daughter was in college and reading "Emma" and I read it along with her, and thus re-discovered Austen with a whole new appreciation! Happily my daughter, Jess, "got" that "Emma" was quite funny, the only one to do so in her class, I might add. I re-read the books periodically and find them a tonic for the soul, as well as the best gauge of humanity I have ever encountered....and the humor helps immensely (not to mention Darcy!) My favorite book is Persuasion, I find Fanny the truest of feminists, NOT the major milktoast of all fiction characters, Elizabeth is a delight, and I often forget that these people ARE NOT REAL! I have a group of friends scattered around New England who gather together several times a year to discuss books, most often Austen, as she is really the anchor (all due to the delightful, wonderful Ingrid G. of New Hampshire, who started this all many years ago with a weekend at Pinkham Notch at the base of Mount Washington in NH with a workshop "I'd Rather be Reading Jane Austen"!)...we call ourselves the Wild Women, but really, how can that be possible, trekking about the White Mountains, sipping tea and conversing about Austen! And it all helps that I have a used bookstore called Bygone Books, now only an online presence. Every booklover's dream is to own a bookstore....and I challenge each and everyone of you to try it for a week! I am currently the Advisory Chair for the JASNA-South Carolina Region. I post information about both this region and the JASNA-Vermont Region and its events on this blog.
Jane Austen · JASNA-Vermont events · News

“Austen’s England” ~ A Fine Afternoon!

BookLady DebLeave a comment

We append a guest post from Janeite Marcia who so graciously comments on our Sunday gathering on “Austen’s England”.  With over sixty people in attendance at the Vermont College of Fine Arts Chapel (and with many thanks to the College for the use of this lovely space!), it was a fine way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and we heartily thank John Turner for his delightful and insightful talk.

 

Even though it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon after many dreary ones, the College Hall Chapel at Vermont College in Montpelier was filled with Janeites eager to learn more about our favorite author at the fall quarterly meeting of the Vermont Chapter of JASNA.  We were a group of men and women of all ages, clearly enjoying the companionship of those who shared our interest in Jane Austen.  The Chapel Room is exquisitely decorated and I kept looking for Jane herself to walk into the almost 19th century setting. 

 

 

The afternoon opened with Deb welcoming the attendees, outlining the afternoon’s activities, and providing updates on future Chapter activities as well as other related and interesting news.  See this website for the upcoming events.  So much to do, see and read; so little time.  Alas, I suspect we all feel that way. 

 

After Kelly reminded us that the Vermont Chapter had its origin in the very city we were in, nearly one year ago (November 2007 at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library), she introduced John Turner to speak about “Austen’s England.”  John began by stating that we were not to have a travelogue.  I guess I didn’t expect one, but I did rather expect details on English life of the time.  Indeed, those details were what John talked about, but it was English life as Jane Austen lived it, an entirely different focus than I expected.  And, it was wonderful. 

 

John’s early statement that Jane Austen’s writings revealed England more truly than many scholarly sources was accurate indeed.  With quotes from Jane Austen’s books and letters, and his skillful interpretations of their meanings, we were transported to her time and how she must have lived.  John Turner’s presentation was filled with fascinating information and interpretations, and delivered with his ready wit and humor.  For those of us who were able to be there, we were fortunate indeed.  If you couldn’t attend, John Turner has posted his presentation on his website:  http://wordandimageofvermont.com/.  Whether for the first time or to refresh your memory of the afternoon, it is wonderful reading.  I, for one, will always remember the joy of fully understanding the line from Emma that begins “A mind lively and at ease…” 

 

When his formal talk was finished, John graciously answered questions to the pleasure of all.  Thank you, John Turner!

 

A refreshment break included a delicious variety of cookies and cakes, donated by many of the Chapter’s members.  From the crumbs, and only crumbs, left on the platters, I think everyone enjoyed them. 

 

The second part of the day was a delightful presentation of pictures of Jane Austen related sites taken by Deb during trips to England.  For some it was a refresher of places they had already seen; for others, it was a glimpse of places to see in the future.  But as I looked around the room during Deb’s commentary on the pictures, everyone’s eyes were focused on the screen and smiling as they “traveled” in Jane’s footsteps, as I was. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I’m sure I should close with an appropriate quote from Jane Austen, I can only say the afternoon was delightful and fascinating, not the least of which was being with so many others who felt similarly.

Thank you Marcia for posting this for us!  

Books · Jane Austen · News · Social Life & Customs

A Journey through Jane Austen’s Letters

BookLady Deb4 Comments

I have read many of Austen’s letters through the years, and certainly know the majority of quotes that are repeated over and over…but I am finally committing myself to going through each letter in chronological order and reading through all the accompanying notes and references ( my source and Essential Austen title: Jane Austen’s Letters, collected and edited by Deirdre Le Faye, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 1997)…. and I invite you all to take this journey with me, one letter at a time, one day at a time. 

So often these letters, and the sentences or words from them, are quoted out of context, and I feel compelled to make some sense of it all, to go back to the original source and get a feel for what Austen was really saying.  There are so many gaps in the letters, either from Cassandra’s choice to edit and / or destroy many of her sister’s writings, or because the sisters were not apart and hence no need to write (and of course there are only a few letters from Cassandra herself, and because Austen often refers back to a received letter, and with her constant comments on her sister’s writing abilities and humor, the reader is saddened by this loss.)

There are also many primary and secondary sources on the letters and I will discuss these periodically (see also the Letters Page, which I will continually add to), but I think I better just start the process and let it evolve from there.  I encourage you to comment, suggest sources, offer suggestions or interpretation, so please visit often and participate.  For those of you who know the letters backwards and forwards, and for those just discovering them, please take this journey with me.  I think all of us might learn something new along the way.  I know I already have….

This will be the format: 

  • letter number
  • date
  • sender (their location) / recipient (their location)
  • location of letter today
  • synopsis; quotes of import; comment

So today I start with Letter No. 1:

  • January 9 – 10 (Sat, Sun) 1796
  • Jane (Steventon) to Cassandra (Kintbury, Newbury [Rev. Fowles home])
  • Original MS untraced

 This is Austen’s first documented letter and one of the most quoted.  It is here that Jane writes of her attachment to Tom Lefroy and she refers to him often in this letter…”I am almost afraid to tell you how my Irish friend and I behaved.  Imagine to yourself everything most profligate and shocking in the way of dancing and sitting down together.”  She tells of the balls- “we had an exceedingly good ball last night”, who she danced with (Warren, Charles Watkins, and “fighting hard” to escape John Lyford), commenting on Miss Heathcote (“[she] is pretty, but not near so handsome as I expected”), and the many references to friends that we meet again and again in her letters.  We read of her latest fashion thoughts, the silk stockings she cannot afford but the white gloves and pink persian (silk) she can, and much on her brother Charles and brother Henry and his latest plan to obtaining a lieutenancy.

The letter ends with another lengthy reference to Tom Lefroy:  “he has but one fault…his morning coat is a great deal too light.  He is a great admirer of Tom Jones, and therefore he wears the same coloured clothes, I imagine, which he did when he was wounded.”

So in this first letter,  (Jane was 20 years old writing this letter on Cassandra’s 23rd birthday and the letter opens with “In the first place I hope you will live twenty-three years longer”)  we are introduced into Austen’s life, her family and friends, her likes and dislikes, and her biting wit, her poking fun at others and so very often herself.  Her letters to her sister were entertainment for both of them when they were apart, and in just these few pages we are drawn into this late 18-century world, with all its domestic goings-on, and we are glad to be in such company.  These letters are a veritable feast!

Book reviews · Books

And yet another item in my mailbox….

BookLady DebLeave a comment

…but this time in my REAL mailbox!  I am thrilled to find in the mail today a book I ordered,  titled Brilliant Women:  18th-Century Bluestockings, a book published to accompany the exhibition of the same name held at the National Portrait Gallery, London, from March 13 – June 15, 2008.  Unhappily not in London to see this exhibit, I find that this book must suffice…and a quick skim through its pages proves it will not disappoint.  Written by Elizabeth Eger and Lucy Peltz, these are the chapters:

  • The Bluestocking Circle:  friendship, patronage and learning
  • Living Muses:  constructing and celebrating the professional woman in literature and the arts
  • ‘A Revolution in Female Manners’:  women, politics, and reputation in the late 18th-century
  • The Bluestocking Legacy

and all accompanied by the fabulous portraits of the women of the circle and paintings of their time: Mary Wollstonecraft, Hannah More, Catharine Macauley, Madame de Stael, Elizabeth Monatgu, Elizabeth Vesey, Frances Boscawen, Anna Seward, Elizabeth Carter, Maria Edgeworth, Mary Shelley, Fanny Burney, and many more.

Dear Jane shows up in the last chapter, with the portrait by Cassandra displayed (this likeness is housed in the National Portrait Gallery), and a short paragraph on Austen’s novel writing and her references to it in Northanger Abbey (though the writers make the oft-published mistake of calling NA her “earliest” work), and the importance of Austen writing in the wake of the changing times wrought by the Bluestockings.

So this book heads to the top of my already toppling TBR pile… this needs a close reading and time to savor the lovely illustrations!  

Further reading: see my previous post on the “Bluestockings” where there are several links to more information.

Jane Austen · News

Another “In my mailbox”… more about Austen

BookLady DebLeave a comment

Just got this email from a gentleman who has posted on his website Wild River Review  “Interviews with the Famously Departed” … today his “chat” with Jane Austen  is quite amusing… and click here for his interview with Charles Dickens.

Jane Austen · News

In my Mailbox today…..a few more all things Austen

BookLady DebLeave a comment

In my email box today:  The Jane Austen Centre’s latest newsletter, filled with all sort of interesting articles about afternoon dress, calling cards, the new P&P musical, Stoneleigh Abbey, an Austen quiz and a word search puzzle for a rainy afternoon, and of course, information on the upcoming Jane Austen Festival in Bath from Sept. 19-28.   (you can purchase a DVD of the festival events “Crazy about Jane” on the website)The newsletter also references ( click here ) an interesting musical montage from the newest Northanger Abbey on YouTube….

Jane Austen · News

Web Round-up…all things Austen

BookLady DebLeave a comment

Another tour through cyberspace generated some great tidbits this week…..let me hear from you on any of YOUR Austen finds out there!.

  • Found a wonderful blog called Factual Imaginings, which “consolidates information, both new and old, concerning film adaptations of English History and Literature”…. lots of information on Austen related films, Thomas Hardy’s Tess, and even the upcoming 2009 celebration of the 500-year anniversary of Henry VIII’s coronation.  Click here for the link to the blog’s review of Lost in Austen and another on the history of  the Royal Crescent in Bath.  This is a site I shall be visiting often!
  • The BBC’s Radio 4 broadcasts of “Book at Bedtime” are available online for seven days after airing.  Listen this week of Sept 8 – 14 to Someone at a Distance, a story by Dorothy Whipple; book is available from Persephone Books:  get on their mailing list immediately if you are not already [I LOVE their books!…if any of you are looking for a book list to work on, start here!]
Persephone Books reprints forgotten classics by twentieth-century (mostly women) writers. Each one in our collection of seventy-eight books is intelligent, thought-provoking and beautifully written, and most are ideal presents or a good choice for reading groups.
  •  I may be perhaps the only Janeite out there who has not been watching Lost in Austen (we in the US can see it on YouTube), but there is enough chat about it to keep you busy for a while…Professor Kathryn Sutherland reviewed the show in this Guardian article; see also these posts at Austenblog; Austenprose; and Jane Austen Today (there are a few posts here), for just starters! I will put in my 2 cents after I have had a chance to see it… and any reviews from any of you would be appreciated!
  •  The Art of Manliness (!) site has a wonderful post on the Gentleman’s Guide to the Calling Card.  See also a few posts by Ms. Place at Jane Austen’s World on this topic…. Calling Cards in S&S and Persuasion; the Etiquette of using calling cards; and her most recent, The Etiquette of using calling cards 100 years after Austen.
  • Jane Austen is now the biggest industry in Britain…see this article at NewsBiscuit.  You need to read through the whole article, as it is quite outrageous (oh! what would Jane think!)
  • And speaking of Britain, If you happen to be hanging around Bury St. Edmunds, visit their Georgian Gem festival that runs through Sept. 21.  There is also the annual Jane Austen Festival in Bath from Sept.19 through the 28th. Oh, why am I not in England!  (our meeting this Sunday on “Austen’s England” will just have to do for now…)
  • Jane Odiwe has added a few of her lovely drawings to her blog Jane Austen Sequels:  a portrait of Jane, and a winter scene of Jane and Cassandra walking in Chawton.
  • And another book giveaway of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict:  go to the Bookworm Blog and comment on the Q&A with author Laurie Viera Rigler…winner will be announced Sept. 15.
  • And Laurel Ann at Austenprose, still recovering from her excellent Mansfield Park Madness escapade, is reading some of the Juvenilia…so visit her for an update, and if you haven’t read any of Austen’s early works, start now…they are delightful!  (and hoping that Laurel Ann will continue her posts on this.) 

A review of the book Lace in Fashion , by Pat Earnshaw on the Textile Dreams Blog:  the book traces the history of lace from the 16th to 20th century.  Originally published in 1986 by Batsford, a 2nd edition by Gorse (1991) is still in print.

Book reviews · Jane Austen

Book Review: Pemberley Shades

BookLady Deb5 Comments

Kathleen Glancy in her “Persuasions” article “What Happened Next? The Many Husbands of Georgiana Darcy”(Vol. 11, 1989, pp. 110-116) states that D.A. [Dorothy Alice] Bonavia-Hunt’s Pemberley Shades is the best written of all the sequels she has read, and though “lacking in the irony department….it is a brave try, and an amusing story.”  [spoiler alert!…Ms. Glancy in this article tells the full story, so read this after you have read the book!]

Published originally in 1949 by Allan Wingate in the U.K. and by Dutton in the U.S., Pemberley Shades is finally available again (it was reprinted in 1977 and again in 2007, but quickly out of print, and only available from antiquarian booksellers and sure to finish off your annual book budget…there is one online for $650.), so this Sourcebooks 2008 reprint is welcome indeed!

There is little known about the author, and even if perhaps she ever wrote anything else under another name; but what is known is that she was born in London, the daughter of a clergyman, was educated by a governess and in private schools, and lived with her brother, the Vicar of Stagsden, Bedfordshire, during the time she wrote her Austen Pride & Prejudice sequel.  She obviously was knowledgeable about Austen and the Georgian period, and comes very close to Austen’s style.

The title “Pemberley Shades” refers to Lady Catherine’s angry retort to Elizabeth “Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?” (ch. 56, P&P)  Austen’s use of the word “shades” has generated many theories and some research into the word does little to clarify.  Austen was likely being intentionally ambiguous- with a literal reference to the woods and forests of Pemberley, with the darkness and shadows, as well as the figurative meaning of the ancestral lineage and social standing of the Darcy family (i.e referring to the ghosts of ancestors.)   But there is so much darkness in this book, so many secrets and the sense of “not telling all” and characters living in shadow, the “lightly gothic” atmosphere pervading the story…the author chose the perfect term to headline her tale, in the same ambiguous way as Austen.

So the title itself leads into this gothic realm and the reader is on alert from page one, although it all SEEMS so peaceful and harmonious.  We  re-enter the lives of Darcy and Elizabeth a few years after the end of P&P:  they have a two-year old heir to the estate named Richard (an inside joke perhaps?!).  The action begins with the death of the elderly Rector of Pemberely, leaving his two maiden sisters in the Parsonage and Darcy in search of a successor.  Passing over Mr. Collins, who, on the outs with Lady C, has written an officious (though humorous of course!) letter of application, Darcy heads to London to engage the services of Lord Egbury’s brother Stephen Acworth, who has been highly recommended.

Acworth’s arrival at Pemberley sets the plot in motion:  his first meeting with Elizabeth who “at the moment of first beholding him [it] was her instant conviction of having seen him before”… we meet characters we know and those new to this story:  The Robinson sisters, who seem more like the sisters in Gaskell’s Cranford, set themselves at odds with the Darcys by supporting Acworth; Jane and Mr. Bingley the milquetoasts that Mr. Bennet so predicted; Mr. Bennet is wonderfully drawn here with his insights and many witticisms [“every woman requires a dose of neglect now and then to keep her from being above herself”]; Anne de Bourgh finally getting a moment to shine no longer under her mother’s watch [“Anne was not so much proud and disagreeable as stupid” says Elizabeth]; Lady C exactly the same; Acworth, an odd peculiar lost soul; and a host of servants and maids getting some prime time of their own, a nice touch.

But the story really centers on Georgiana Darcy and her three suitors, all new characters:  Mr. Mortimer, Major Wakeford, and the vicar-in-waiting Acworth.  Miss Darcy is a shadowy figure, aloof and secretive, with “something on her mind” as Elizabeth keeps saying; and the resolution of her courting dilemma propels the tale.  There is no point in telling more….it is a bit of a mystery and so I shall not divulge a thing!  But we can ask Who is Acworth and what are his motives in coming to Pemberley? and why does Elizabeth feel so uncomfortable in his presence? and why is Georgiana so secretive and preferring to be alone with her music?  It is a good story, and this reader was much impressed with the author’s use of language.  But of course there is no duplicating Austen, and so there are disappointments: the story feels a tad far-fetched; Darcy and Elizabeth are a wonderfully harmonious couple, all that lovers of P&P could hope for, but I found them both a little too perfect and more than a little condescending to all those around them; and Acworth is quite the disturbing character, something not quite right with him (I cannot say more!…);  and there is this underlying sadness that pervades the whole novel…but it is certainly compelling enough and has wit enough to definitely be added to your Austen sequel collection, and you shall enjoy the read immensely!

Further reading: see also Laurel Ann’s review at Austenprose.

Jane Austen · JASNA-Vermont events · News

JASNA~VT Event: “Jane Austen’s England” Sept 14, 2-4

BookLady DebLeave a comment

Reminder to all about the JASNA~Vermont gathering this Sunday…hope to see many of you there! [and please note that it is in Montpelier this month, not Burlington ]

**************************

You are cordially invited to JASNA-Vermont’s September Meeting on

Austen’s England

with John Turner

September 14, 2008, 2 – 4 pm

at Vermont College of Fine Arts, The Chapel
Montpelier, VT

(directions and campus map [pdf])

This exciting talk will feature frequent tour leader and Vermont Humanities Council speaker John Turner of Montpelier; John has led many groups to England in search of authors Jane Austen, the Brontes, and Thomas Hardy.  JASNA-Vermont’s co-RC Deb Barnum illustrates, with evocative photographs, all the places every Janeite will enjoy visiting — if only in words and pictures.  Discussion to follow; light refreshments served.  Free and open to the public.

 

Book reviews · Books · Jane Austen · Regency England

Some reading thoughts…. Austen, etc.

BookLady Deb5 Comments

Here are a few of the books lately graduated from my bedside table along with a other few random thoughts for YOUR bedside table ~

First on my list, and as soon as I get the book, will find me engrossed in the latest Keats’ biography, Posthumous Keats:  A Personal Biography, by Stanley Plumly [Norton, 2008]  Click here for the NYTimes review, and run to your local bookstore to pick up a copy…. 

I was in Rome last year and the one thing on the top of my “to-do” list was a visit to the Protestant Cemetery where Keats’s grave was covered in fresh flowers (a daily occurrence) by a still-mourning public… I was quite overcome (to the embarrassment of my husband!)…and not to mention the meandering walk to Shelley’s grave site through this haunting enclave in the center of the City, and then this followed by a lengthy visit to the Keats-Shelley House [right next to the Spanish Steps] where Keats died on February 23, 1821.  Plumly’s book is a loving tribute to Keats’s poetry and his immortality…

…but now back to Austen….

Laurel Ann at Austenprose had recommended these two books, and I quickly added them to my pile and just as quickly finished them off!

Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman [Putnam’s 2006] (see the Austenprose review):  I have been reading several sequels lately in prep for the Chicago AGM, and I find that of late I am confusing the stories!  All these Austen characters who have taken on lives of their own now have these MULTIPLE lives with varying outcomes and I suppose I am left with the ability to choose which “ending” I prefer for any of them…I think perhaps this is why one takes up a pen to write ones own adventure for a given character!  So it was with all these sequels swimming in my head, as well as Laurel Ann’s glowing review that sent me to the library shelves to find Polly Shulman’s Enthusiasm, a book for young adults with the aura of Pride & Prejudice.  This has to be one of the most refreshing reads I have encountered in a long time!  I don’t want to spoil the story for you, but will quote the jacket blurb:

…equal parts romance and comedy as a series of misinterpreted messages and super-awkward incidents, not to mention some rather mystifying poetry tacked to a tree and a valiant foray onto the stage, makes Julie wonder whether she is cut out for Enthusiasm – or True Love – at all…

With characters the likes of Ashleigh, the Enthusiast (whose latest “enthusiasm” is P&P), Ned the Noodle, Amy (the semi-wicked stepmother dubbed “IA”, a.k.a. “Irresistible Accountant”) and the to-die-for Charles Grandison Parr (love the name!), this lovely tribute to P&P sent this reader back to all those wonderful and awful moments as a teenage girl that for some reason we never forget!  And I think what most surprised and pleased me was to find this library book much used!  I recommend highly that you find your way to this book as soon as possible….

Mr. Darcy’s Diary by Maya Slater [Phoenix, 2007] (see the Austenprose review):  Gentle Reader, here is the tale all told from Darcy’s point of view, thanks to the diary he so meticulously kept, and we learn of his love and concern for his sister (and what really happened with Wickham), his escapades with Byron (!), his periodic “tumbling” of the maid,  his growing obsession wih Miss Elizabeth Bennet, and his endless fencing and fisticuffs to overcome his mood swings.  Darcy is so human in this book…Ms. Slater is at turns witty and wise in portraying him in all his glory…. I liked this book more than any other of the sequels I have read so far…this is the Darcy who stays with me the most….the Darcy I had imagined off the pages of P&P.

I skimmed again through The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James in order to answer my co-blogger’s rather scathing review…(see the two reviews on this blog:  Kelly’s and mine and then contribute to the fray if you will!)…. this book seems to have generated a wide range of opinion…

Carolly Erickson’s Our Tempestuous Day [Morrow 1986] is a rapid trek through Regency England.  Erickson, the author of biographies of Elizabeth 1, Anne Boleyn, Bloody Mary, Henry VIII, Empress Josephine and many others…., Erickson here tells the tale of the times not as a linear chronological history, but rather a series of vignettes of events, people, and places, that after you are done you have a much better understanding of the times that Jane Austen was living and writing in… and really a whole new list of books to read! [I will review this book more fully in another post…] 

Charlotte & Leopold: the true story of the original people’s princess,  by James Chambers, a biography of the daughter of King George IV and Caroline, and their Regency times ….here is the blurb from Amazon:

The tragic story of the doomed romance between Charlotte, heir to the English throne, and Leopold, uncle of Queen Victoria and first King of the Belgians. A story that Jane Austen famously declined to tell, declaring: “I could no more write a romance than an epic poem.”

Charlotte was the only legitimate royal child of her generation, and her death in childbirth resulted in a public outpouring of grief the like of which was not to be seen again until the death of Diana, over 150 years later. Charlotte’s death was followed by an unseemly scramble to produce a substitute heir. Queen Victoria was the product.

James Chambers masterfully demonstrates how the personal and the political inevitably collide in scheming post-Napoleonic Europe, offering a vivid and sympathetic portrait of a couple whose lives are in many ways not their own. From the day she was born, Charlotte won the hearts of her subjects and yet, behind the scenes, she was used, abused, and victimized by rivalries-between her parents; between her father (the Prince Regent, later King George IV) and (Mad) King George III; between her tutors, governesses, and other members of her discordant household; and ultimately between the Whig opposition and the Tory government.

Set in one of the most glamorous eras of British history, against the background of a famously dysfunctional royal family, Charlotte & Leopold: The True Story of The Original People’s Princess is an accessible, moving, funny, and entertaining royal biography with alluring contemporary resonance.

A new book out in March by Peter Graham, titled Jane Austen and Charles Darwin: naturalists and novelists (click for the table of contents), and a tad pricey at $99.  reads “3 or 4 families in a country village” : this phrase by which Jane Austen identifies the most congenial subject matter for novels as she chose to write them can also serve to characterize the environment that proved ideal for Charles Darwin’s naturalist observations.” 

Lady Anne at Jane Austen Today has nicely reviewed the new book Jane Eyre’s Daughter, by Elizabeth Newark.

As for the Austen sequels, head over to Austenprose for a review of several being published this September: Pemberley Shades, by Dorothy Bonavia-Hunt [I have just finished this book and will post a review this week; see Laurel Ann’s review hot off the press today!]; Netherfield Park Revisited by Rebecca Ann Collins (Book 3 of the “Pemberley Chronicles”); The Darcys and the Bingleys by Marsha Altman [see Ms. Altman’s post here; I will be reviewing this book shortly], and Impulse and Initiative, a Pride & Prejudice Variation by Abigail Reynolds. 

Just Jane: A Novel of Jane Austen’s Life, by Nancy Moser is given a lengthy review at the BC Blog Critics magazine site.

Ms. Place interviews Diana Birchall on her new book Mrs. Elton in America.

A short blurb on a fantasy fiction book which should excite Austen and Bronte fans:The Magicians and Mrs. Quent,” by Galen Beckett. (Bantam Spectra; $23)

Fans of Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters will be in a familiar landscape reading “The Magicians and Mrs. Quent.” Click here to find out more!

 This fantasy debut uses those authors’ famous works as a template. Does the place name Heathcrest Hall ring any chimes? 
Ivy Lockwell is the eldest of three sisters. It is Ivy who is caught in polite society between holding the family together, after the reclusion of the sisters’ father in his library, and her chafing against the stricture of not being able to use magic (or magick, to use the genre spelling). She is female, after all, and magic also is seen as the cause of her father’s reclusiveness. Of the novel’s three parts, the second, “Heathcrest,” limns relationships nicely from Ivy’s point of view. She applies for governess to Mr. Quent and thinks her troubles eased when hired. If only she had not uncovered an ancient tome about magic still afoot in the world, she would not have met its willful protectors. [quoted from Macon.com]
But also see this glowing review from Rick Kleffel on NPR, and click here for an excerpt from the book:
Though this may look like the sort of book you’d find nestled in a shelf of paperback potboilers at a beach rental, don’t judge The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by its cover. Galen Beckett’s debut cleverly mixes fantasy and literary in a novel that imagines the social strictures that hemmed in Austen’s and Bronte’s heroines are the result of magical intervention. The novel’s supernatural elements and imaginary (but familiar-seeming) setting allow Beckett to examine class and economic conflicts from the outside, without resorting to polemics. The result is a work that mixes the rich pleasures of a Victorian epic with elements of the fantastic, an imaginative eye and a dry sense of humor.

  Kleffel rates this as one of his “nine first books that make a lasting impression,” with a heroine who had a peculiar habit of reading while walking]…now there’s a heroine I can identify with! 

And on that happy note, I should get back to my reading…hope this gives you a few ideas…

Jane Austen · News · Schedule of Events

Jane Austen Weekend in Vermont ~ Persuasion

BookLady Deb1 Comment

 The Governor’s House in Hyde Park, Vermont is offering several “Persuasion” related Jane Austen Weekends…you can sign up for the whole weekend or just take part in one or more of the activities.  Please see below for all the information.  This coming weekend September 5-7 is the next gathering!

 

 

Jane Austen Weekends

The Governor’s House in Hyde Park

100 Main Street

Hyde Park, Vermont

Friday – Sunday, September 5 – 7 [ December 12-14; January 9-11, 2009 ]

Reservations required:  call 802-888-6888

http://www.OneHundredMain.com

802 888-6888 info@OneHundredMain.com

 

A leisurely weekend of literary-inspired diversions has something for every Jane Austen devotee. Slip quietly back into Regency England in a beautiful old mansion where Jane herself would feel at home. Take afternoon tea. Listen to Mozart. Bring your needlework. Share your thoughts at a discussion of Persuasion and how the movie stands up to the book. Attend the talk entitled “The Time of Jane Austen”. Test your knowledge of Persuasion and the Regency period and possibly take home a prize. Take a carriage ride. For the gentleman there are riding and fly fishing as well as lots of more modern diversions if a whole weekend of Jane is not his cup of tea. Join every activity or simply indulge yourself quietly all weekend watching the movies. And imagine the interesting conversation with a whole houseful of Jane’s readers under one roof. Dress in whichever century suits you. It’s not Bath, but it is Hyde Park and you’ll love Vermont circa 1800.

Jane Austen Weekend rates start at $295 for singles and $260 per person for doubles and include two nights’ lodging, Friday evening’s talk over dessert and coffee, full breakfast on Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon tea, Saturday dinner and book discussion, early Sunday Continental breakfast, and the Jane Austen quiz with Sunday brunch. 9% Vermont tax is additional. The usual cancellation policy applies.

Or come for just a single event and choose from these activities this weekend: [reservations required 802-888-6888]

 

*Informal Talk with Coffee and Dessert, Friday, 8:00 p.m., $14.00:  “Jane Austen’s Royal Navy and its importance in the novel Persuasion“

 

*Afternoon Tea, Saturday, 3:00 p.m., $20.00

 

*Book Discussion and Dinner, Saturday, 7:00 p.m., $35.00:  “Persuasion and how the Movies Stand up to the Book”

 

*Jane Austen Quiz and Sunday Brunch, Sunday, 11:30 a.m., $15.00  

 

[All four activities: $75.00]

100 Main Street • Hyde Park, VT 05655
phone: 802-888-6888 • toll free: 866-800-6888
email: info@onehundredmain.com