A new book alert: Jane Austen & Marriage by Hazel Jones, to be published in July 2009, is now available for pre-order.
Jane Austen & Marriage
by Hazel Jones
Continuum Books, 2009
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” –Pride and Prejudice
Description:
The question of marriage lies at the center of Jane Austen’s novels. The issues bound up in the pursuit of love, happiness, money, and status were those of her day and informed the plots and morals of her work. In this fascinating book, Hazel Jones explores the ways in which these themes manifest themselves in Jane Austen’s life and fiction, against the backdrop of contemporary conduct manuals, letters, diaries, journals and newspapers. Drawing on original research, this entertaining and detailed study provides a charming and profound insight into the world of Jane Austen.
Table Of Contents:
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1: The Advantage of Choice
2: The Power of Refusal
3: An Acquaintance Formed in a Public Place
4: White Satin and Lace Veils
5: Where N Takes M, For Better, For Worse
6: Wedding Journeys
7: Scandal and Gossip
8: A Contract of Mutual Agreeableness
9: Domestic Happiness Overthrown
10: The Simple Regimen of Separate Rooms
11:The Years of Danger
12:An Old Maid at Last
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Review at Continuum Books:
Hazel Jones has written a masterful accounting of the crucial role played by marriage in Jane Austen’s novels and the world she and her characters lived in. Brilliantly researched and documented — including information taken from the fascinating and sometimes troubling “conduct manuals” on the proper interaction between the sexes — Jane Austen and Marriage offers deep insights that inform not only one’s reading of Austen’s novels but of the treacherous social bedrock underlying the lives of women living in that time. And in so doing, Hazel Jones has presented the reader with another testament to the long, hard march of women throughout history. It is a book that reflects Jane Austen’s own penetrating gaze and insight into Regency society and no doubt will find a place in the library of even the most sophisticated “Janeite”.’
[Alice Steinbach, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman.]
About the Author:
Hazel Jones taught English at Exeter University, specializing in Jane Austen. She tutored courses on the novelist for the thriving Summer Academy Programme, which attracted students from all over the world. She continues to organize Jane Austen residential courses for adults at various venues in the UK, focusing on her novels and her life and times.
Jane Austen & Crime, by Susannah Fullerton. 3rd edition. Jones Books, 2006 [Fullerton is the President of the Jane Austen Society of Australia]
A new approach to Jane Austen seemed impossible, but Susannah Fullerton . . . has brilliantly hit on the theme of crime and punishment in Austen. Fullerton shows how the Regency world . . . was really a dangerous place with a fast rising crime rate and a legal system that handed out ferocious sentences. Her book will be essential reading for every Janeite.”-Claire Tomalin, author of Jane Austen: A Life
I admit to passing over this book when it was first available – somehow, I just didn’t want to sully my love of Austen and the “pictures of perfection” the world of her novels presents. One knows, of course, that it is there, lurking behind the scenes, with a brief reference here, or a shady character there; and as readers of Jane Austen know, these references would have been better understood by her contemporaries than by us today, unless we are well-versed in the social history of Georgian and Regency England.
My interest peaked with my recent absorption in several detective novels set in the Regency period (the Julian Kestrel series by Kate Ross) – these mysteries evoke the time beautifully – the lovely clothes, the balls, the always proper social behaviors – but also the underbelly of this world – the crime, the poverty, the seedy desperate lives, the world that Dickens and his characters inhabited. Indeed there are many non-fiction books on this subject, just on London alone [see below for further reading], but I turned to Fullerton’s book to get not only a quick overview of the crime of the time, but to see it in the context of Jane Austen’s life and works. As Fullerton begins:
Why Jane Austen and Crime? Why the juxtaposition of these seemingly disparate concepts? Simply put, because the relationship is there. Crimes against human life, crimes against property, crimes of passion, social crimes, grim punishments, and even fictional (Gothic) crime were very much a part of the Georgian world. Ever the perceptive observer of her society, Jane Austen does indeed include comments on crime and the effects of crime in her letters, in her juvenilia and, treated very differently, in her mature novels. An examination of crime in Jane Austen’s world and fiction suggests many new perceptions of her work and gives a greater understanding of her genius. [p.3]
And Fullerton ends with:
Jane Austen was not a reformer. She suggests no solution to these problems. Rather she was a highly perceptive observer of her society who commented incisively on the behaviour of men and women. She included criminal behavior in her works and she included punishment even, if unlike Dickens, she never made crime the climax of her story or chose a prison as the setting for a novel. She was aware of the confused laws which governed the Georgian age, she knew of the debates concerning the softening or abolishing of these laws, she wove her knowledge into the fabric of her writing. Crime became a part of her plots, crime revealed character, crime emphasized duty and responsibility, and crime even united some of the heroines and heroes. She examined the inclination to do evil, analysed the faulty propensity which drives a man to wrong-doing, depicted the damage cause by doing wrong and described criminal feelings in her characters. In doing so she reflected and commented on the Georgian criminal scene with accuracy and sharp intelligence. [p. 217]
And in between, Fullerton neatly presents the subject in fine organized fashion:
Crime against life (murder and suicide)
Crime against property (theft)
Crimes of passion (adultery, elopement, prostitution, rape, bastards)
Social crime (duelling, poaching, smuggling, gaming)
Gothic crime
Punishment and the law (gaols, hanging, other punishments, men of the law)
Within each section, the subject is analyzed in its historical context with many factual references to the laws and the notable crimes of the time, then in the context of Austen’s life; for example, her Aunt Leigh Perrot on trial for theft; her brother Edward Knight a magistrate at Godmerhsam. Fullerton then takes us through the novels and letters to show by example how any specific crime drives the plot or shapes a character – we see John Dashwood clearly painted as the thief he is; Willoughby as a serial seducer; the gravity of Wickham’s intended “elopement” with Georgiana and the actual with Lydia; even Mrs. Norris’s petty thefts, rather glossed over in Mansfield Park, but there for the close reader to see; we learn that Harriet Smith’s talking to the gypsies in Emma was actually a crime punishable by death by hanging!; how the theft of the chickens in Emma, actually brings about the marriage of Emma and Knightley; the smuggling of tea and other luxuries, a crime more serious than murder [London tea smugglers operated in gangs of up to 50!, and most of London enjoyed this favored beverage in its smuggled form [p. 142], certainly Jane loved her tea as did many of her characters]; the very brief reference to Brandon’s duelling with Willoughby in Sense & Sensibility, so deftly written by Austen that we barely know of it: “We met by appointment, he to defend, I to punish his conduct.” [Fullerton points out that with this one sentence, Brandon becomes the only one of Austen’s heroes to engage in criminal activity. [p.124]]. We see Emma’s slight of Miss Bates as more than just an uncomfortable rudeness, but really a crime of bad manners, a wickedness [p.217] on Emma’s part that tells us more about her than almost anything else in the book – it is the turning point in the story when Emma finally sees herself. And what of John Thorpe?- his lies and holding Catherine in his carriage against her will; the issues of adultery and imprisonment in Mansfield Park; the gaming laws that allowed only the wealthy to own sporting dogs, as John Middleton and Mr. Darcy. The list goes on with these references, some obvious, some mere mention, Fullerton pulling it all together, and by giving us a better understanding of the contemporary social and moral expectations, we better understand what Austen was speaking of…
”]I most appreciated Fullerton’s many references to the juvenilia – it is in these works that Austen shows us the realities of her greater society, all indeed presented in an exaggerated manner with her youthful humor, but we do see how she understood this underside of life in both London and her country villages, a knowledge also apparent in the quick, short references in her letters. For instance, in this short passage from Letter 95 [Le Faye, p. 248], Austen writes her sister from Godmersham Park:
Edward and I had a delightful morn for our drive there…. He went to inspect the Gaol, as a visiting Magistrate, & took me with him. – I was gratified – & went through all the feelings which People must go through I think in visiting such a Building.”
Austen then goes on to talk of shopping and a party, etc., but what did she actually SEE on that visit, and how frustrating she tells no more! Here Fullerton gives us what Jane doesn’t – she explains exactly what the Canterbury Gaol would have been like, exactly what Austen would have experienced. Austen’s reference to being “gratified” takes us back to the juvenilia where crimes are everywhere, punishment handily doled out, all in high humor.
I highly recommend this book – with all the factual references linked so well to Austen’s world, the many contemporary illustrations, helpful notes and bibliography aside – it is actually a fabulous and entertaining read! This is not a long book or a great scholarly analysis of Austen and how crime figures in her works, but the interweaving of the laws of the day, real crimes and punishments, with the innumerable references to the fiction and letters, some so easy to miss on a casual reading, all this gives us a heightened awareness of how while Austen seems to present a nearly perfect social order on a very tiny scale, that not far behind the scene are some very serious worldly concerns, frighteningly real and not so pretty.
Thomas Rowlandson - The Duel
5 Full inkwells (out of 5)
The book is available from Jones Books. However, the JASNA-VermontChapter has several copies for sale, so, if you would like to support our local group, please contact us directly.
Further Reading:
Fullterton provides a bibliography on the many aspects of crime of the period. I list here only a few:
Bovill, E.W. English Country Life: 1780-1830 [Oxford, 1962]
Collins, Philip. Dickens and Crime [Macmillan, 1962]
Emsley, Clive. Crime and Society in England 1750-1900[ Longman 1987]
Harvey, A.D. Sex in Georgian England [St Martin’s, 1994]
Ives, Sidney. The Trial of Mrs. Leigh Perrot [Stinehour, 1980]
Low, Donald. The Regency Underworld [Sutton, 1999]
McLynn, Frank. Crime and Punishment in Eighteenth Century England [Routledge, 1989]
Murray, Venetia. An Elegant Madness: High Society in Regency England [Viking, 1999]; published as High Society: A Social History of the Regency Period 1788-1830 in the UK in 1998]
Picard, Liza. Dr. Johnson’s London [St. Martin’s, 2002]
Sinclair, Olga. Gretna Green: A Romantic History [Chivers, 1989]
Julian Kestrel returns in this second mystery by Kate Ross [Viking 1994], A Broken Vessel. Several months after his amateur but superior sleuthing at Bellegarde, home of the Fontclairs, [see Ross’s first book, Cut to the Quick, and my review] Kestrel is again thrown into the mix of murder and mayhem when the sister of his manservant, Dipper, shows up in her brother’s life after a two-year absence. Sally Stokes is a prostitute and a thief, made of the same cloth as her now-reformed [hopefully] pick-pocket brother. After an evening of turning tricks with three very different “coves,” from each of whom she steals a handkerchief, she discovers a letter written by an unknown woman, mysteriously locked up in an unnamed place, begging forgiveness and help from her family. But whose pocket did Sally lift the letter from? – Bristles, the middle-aged skittish man; Blue Eyes, the elegant and handsome gentleman of the “Quality”; or Blinkers, the be-speckled young man who played all too rough with Sally, leaving her sore, battered and frightened.
Here is how we first see Sally:
She pulled the pins out of her hair and put them on the washstand for safe-keeping; she was always losing hairpins. Her nut-brown hair tumbled over her shoulders: long at the back, but curling at the front and sides, in imitation of the fashion plates in shop windows. Not that she would ever look like one of them, with their fair skins, straight noses, and daintily pursed lips. She had a brown complexion, a snub nose and a wide mouth, with a missing tooth just visible when she smiled. Still, she was satisfied with her face. There was not much an enterprising girl could not do with a little cunning and a pair of liquid brown eyes.
So Dipper brings Sally to his apartment to get her off the street and give her a chance to heal. He shares this apartment with his employer, Julian Kestrel, the Regency dandy, known far and wide for his fashion and manners, the man everyone emulates in all things dress and gentlemanly behavior. We have already learned in Ross’s first book that there is so much more to Kestrel than this dandified appearance – his growing friendship with Dr. MacGregor serves as a foil for the reader to see Kestrel in more human terms, and MacGregor’s unasked questions become ours: all we know is that Kestrel’s father was a gentleman, disinherited upon marrying an actress, and that Kestrel has been an orphan for a good many years. Although he appears to have money and is viewed as such by his cohorts, we, the reader, and Dipper know this not to be the case – but where DOES he get the funds to lead this gentleman’s life, buy these fine clothes, live in France and Italy for years before settling in London? We learn a bit more in this book…but not much!
Here is Dr. MacGregor, not of London and critical of all the goings-on there, learning about the gentlemanly art of duelling:
‘If you thought he was lying or hiding something. Why didn’t you tax him with it?’ asks MacGregor.
[Kestrel] ‘If I called him a liar point-blank, I should have had to stand up with him, which would have been deuced inconvenient, and not at all part of my plans.’
‘Do you mean to say you’d have exchanged pistol shots with him over a mere matter of words?’
‘Not if there were any honourable way to avoid it. But accusing a gentleman of lying is the deadliest of insults. If he’d insisted on receiving satisfaction, I should have had no choice but to give it to him.”
‘But that’s preposterous! It’s criminal! I don’t understand you at all. One minute you’re investigating a possible murder with all the seriousness it deserves – and the next minute you say you’d stand up and shoot at a man because he took offence at something you said!’
‘Duelling isn’t murder, whatever the press and pulpit say about it. If one gentleman insults another, he knows what the consequences will be: they’ll fight according to the laws of honour, as nations fight according to the laws of war. Killing an unarmed man, or -God forbid!- a woman, is completely different.’
‘Well, I suppose you can’t help those wrong-eaded notions. You probably learned them at your father’s knee before you were old enough to know better.’
‘Oddly enough, my father had much the same view of duelling as you do. But then, my father was too good to live.’ He added quietly, ‘And he didn’t.’
The discovery of the letter wrapped up in one of Sally’s stolen handkerchiefs sets the plot in motion – they must find which of the three men carried the letter, who the woman is, and where she is being held. Many plot twists, many characters appearing, each with a tale to tell – are they all connected in some way, or are they all separate unrelated but oh so interesting mysteries of their own? When Sally finally discovers that the woman who wrote the letter was an “inmate” of the Reclamation Society’s prison-like home for recovering prostitutes and has been found dead from an apparent suicide, Kestrel’s shackles are raised, his detective skills in high gear, and he, Sally and Dipper pursue the three men to find out the truth. And along the way, we see Dr. MacGregor’s astute eye upon Sally and her effect on Kestrel – can this street-wise, sharp little spitfire possibly soften the edges of the leader of the ton? Or is Kestrel immune to such feminine wiles? (and those “liquid brown eyes!)
Ross writes a compelling tale, her research into Regency England, its language (she is adept at presenting the dialect of the streets and the Regency-speak of the “Quality”), the manners and mores, evident on every page; her knowledge of the underside of London life makes the telling very graphic and realistic – you will learn much about prostitution on the streets of London, the religious zealots who acted against it (indeed, the title is from a Psalm), the Bow Street Runners and the all too-ineffective police forces of the time, and best of all, the mystery is excellent! and while I often “figure” these things out, I was most pleased to have the various side stories pull together with a few surprises along the way. All in all, a fine mystery, with wonderfully drawn characters, and enough tidbits about Kestrel’s background to more than gently coax this reader into the third book in the series, Whom the Gods Love.
I love my mailman ~ it seems he brings me a surprise almost daily! Today, I find the latest issue of Jane Austen’s Regency World [Jan/Feb 2009, Issue 37], and here give you some thoughts on the contents:
“End of the Regency” about the soon to be released film on young Queen Victoria [March 2009 in Britain], starring Emily Blunt (on the cover above) as Victoria and Rupert Friend as Prince Albert (he starred in the 2005 P&P as Wickham and was fabulous in Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont)
“Write-on” about the importance of correspondence and the ways of letter-writing in Jane Austen’s time
“Why I Dig Jane” a talk with Alan Titchmarsh, popular British TV personality, gardener, and novelist [his latest book, Folly, is set in Bath and currently on the British best-selling fiction list] ~ He confesses that his favorite character is Emma.
“Illustrating Jane Austen” an article on the incomparable Hugh Thomson
“Playing Mary Bennet” on the actress Ruby Bentall, who acted the role of Mary Bennet in the Lost in Austen series (“with spindly glasses and horrible hair”…)
“Pottery and Poetry” which traces the life of Thomasina Dennis, 1770-1809, a comtemporary of Austen’s who worked for the Wedgwood Pottery family. The article includes some history of Josiah Wedgwood and his business [ironically, this week the Waterford / Wedgwood company announced it is filing for bankruptcy]
“Petticoat Politics” looks at the complex nature of Regency undergarments, never mentioned, but a large part of “dressing Jane” and her contemporaries
“Madame de Stael” and the story of why perhaps Jane Austen refused to attend a London literary salon at which Madame de Stael was to be present (could it have been her tempestuous love-life??)
“My Jane Austen” the column this month by Virginia Claire Tharrington on her months as an intern at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath (she also posted several weekly articles on Austenprose while she was there)
“A Goodly Heritage” by Marsha Huff, President of JASNA, on this past year’s Annual JASNA AGM in Chicago
“Portrait of a Lady” on the Jane Austen Society of the U.K. and the event presented in the fall by History Wardrobe on the fashion of Austen’s time
And Joceline Bury offers three book Reviews:An Aristocratic Affair by Janet Gleeson, a biography of Henriette Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough and sister of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire [The American title is: Privilege and Scandal: The Remarkable Life of Harriet Spencer, Sister of Georgiana]; The Immortal Jane Austen by Maggie Lane, a no-frills biography of a mere 50 pages, but laced with many illustrations and highly recommended by the reviewer; and Jane Austen Visits London by Vera Quinn, the charming little book that concentrates only on Austen’s travels to and writings about London [see my comments on this book here.]
So all in all a fine issue, and a perfect way to spend the upcoming weekend, immersed in all things Regency!
I spent a good part of the December holidays making the acquaintance of Julian Kestrel – Regency dandy, amateur sleuth, and main character in a series of mysteries by Kate Ross [alas! not unlike Jane Austen, Ms. Ross died of cancer at a young age and we have only four of these Kestrel novels to read, and re-read, and likely read again.] I highly recommend you head immediately to your local library or local bookstore and start the first book, RIGHT NOW. You are in for a most fabulous journey!
Cut to the Quick [Viking 1993] is sort of an Agatha Christie whodunit – all the characters together in a large cavernous country house named Bellegarde, partly built in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, with winding staircases and secret passageways; an unknown woman is found dead, everyone in the house has a back story and the plot unfolds….
The novel begins with Julian Kestrel rescuing a very “in his cups” Hugh Fontclair from a game of hazard at a London gaming establishment. In gratitude Fontclair asks Kestrel to be best man at his wedding, though they have only just met, and as Kestrel has no idea why he is being asked, he decides to head to the country to find out why.
Enter the characters: Hugh Fontclair, just 21, forced into a marriage with a woman he does not know; Sir Robert and Lady Fontclair, Hugh’s parents, agreeing to the marriage but obviously hiding something; Lady Tarleton, Sir Robert’s sharp-tongued, very angry sister; Colonel Fontclair, Sir Robert’s brother, a war hero; Guy, the Colonel’s son, a likeable, ne’er do-well, often drunk rake; Philippa Fontclair, Hugh’s eleven-year old sister, immediately smitten with Kestrel; Isabelle, the orphaned cousin with hopeless feelings for Hugh; Maud Craddock, Hugh’s wife-to-be, a pawn in her father’s plans, who befriends Kestrel; Mark Craddock, Maud’s father, a wealthy tradesman shunned by the Fontclairs – but he holds all the cards; Dr. MacGregor, summoned to the house to deal with the dead body – he becomes Kestrel’s confidante and friend; Dipper, Kestrel’s manservant; and of course, the unidentified corpse … WHO is found dead in Kestrel’s bed. As they are the unknown house quests, both Kestrel and Dipper are the prime suspects, and Kestrel is drawn into solving the crime, at first to prove his own and Dipper’s innocence and then because his sleuthing skills are far superior to anyone else’s, including the local magistrates and London’s Bow Street Runners. Not all is as it seems at Bellegarde.
And so we are introduced to Ross’s alter ego, her young Regency dandy, the “top of the tree,” the fashionista of London’s “Quality”, where what Kestrel does (or doesn’t do) is copied by one and all:
Kestrel had first appeared in London society a year or two ago, and hardly anything was known about him, though he was said to be related in some dubious way to a landed family in the north. If he had been anything but a dandy, such vagueness about his pedigree would have been fatal, but of course the most spectacular of the dandies was absolved from society’s usual inquisition into breeding and birth.
‘He always wears black in the evening – it’s all the crack in the dandy set, and of course Kestrel, being such a howling swell, was one of the first to take it up…’
And we learn more about his appearance through the eyes of 11-year old Philippa when she first sees him:
She looked at him approvingly, liking him much better that the dull, handsome men [her sister] Joanna admired. He had a dark, irregular face and hair of a rich brown, like mahogany. His eyes were brown too, but with a green gleam about them, especially when he smiled, or was looking at you very intently. He was slender and spare and not above medium height, but he had presence – the way royalty probably did in the old days, before it was fat and fussy and came from Germany. He looked splendid in his clothes, and yet there was nothing showy or striking about them, except that his linen was so spotless, and everything fit him so well. Being a dandy was not so much what you wore, Philippa decided, but how you wore it.
But we quickly learn that Kestrel too is not what he seems – he has a past we only see glimpses of, his present life of apparent wealth not quite the case; he has a thief for a manservant; and he has a charm and a wit that disarms most every woman he encounters, and many of the men as well. His integrity is never in doubt – he is honest and true, and he can read others with little fuss – in short, the perfect objective detective [even his name is telling!] – he is another Peter Wimsey, Adam Dalgliesh, Alan Grant, Roderick Alleyn – all themselves a mystery to draw the reader in, but here with the setting of Regency England. And in each book, Ross gives out a few tidbits of information about him: see how much we discover about him from this description of his home:
Julian Kestrel lived in a first-floor flat in Clarges Street. The ceilings were high, and the windows large. The walls were painted ivory. The mahogany furniture was handsome but not too plentiful; Julian hated clutter. Here and there were keepsakes he had picked up on his travels: a Venetian glass decanter, a Moorish prayer rug, a marble head of a Roman goddess, an oil painting of the Tuscan hills. Crossed rapiers hung over the mantelpiece; they looked ornamental, but closer inspection revealed they had seen a good deal of use. A small bust of Mozart occupied a place of honor by the pianoforte. Under the piano was a canterbury full of well-worn sheets of music.
And Ross showcases the Regency in all its glories – it helps to know something of the period (the Regency Lexicon is most useful!), as she weaves her story through country roads, in carriages and coaches, in London’s streets, the architecture of the houses, the description of the fashions, the elegant social life – it is all here. And did I mention that this is a MYSTERY?? – it is deftly drawn, Ross a master of characterization and plot. No more on that score, as you must just read the book! But as for me, I am on to the next, Broken Vessel, another mystery with hopefully a few more facts about Kestrel and I will continue my reviewing henceforth!
When, in the spring of 2008, I was offered the opportunity to submit a novella for a proposed Regency Christmas anthology, I was delighted. After all, I love the Regency period, and I love the traditions of Christmas.
But I realized, of course, that tremendous differences exist between Christmas as it was observed in England in 1816 and Christmas as we celebrate it in America today. I immediately understood that I needed to do considerable research into the traditions of a different time and a different culture.
Fortunately, since I’ve had a long-time interest in the Regency period, I already possessed quite a few research resources. I delved into my files and soon found myself learning about the Christmas traditions during the Regency period. This in turn led to my writing a story called “A Tradition of Love” about Alethea, who adores Christmas, and her new husband, Robert, who says he has no time for trivialities such as Boxing Day, the Wassail Bowl, the Christmas Candle, the Yule Log, and Christmas Dinner. With just three weeks to go before Christmas Eve, Alethea struggles to find a way to teach her solemn husband to accept help with his responsibilities and to join her in creating their very own Christmas traditions.
“A Tradition of Love” is one of four novellas that make up the anthology entitled A Cotillion Country Christmas, to be released December 4, 2008, as an ebook by Cerridwen Press. The first story, “A Christmas Surprise” by Cynthia Moore, features Clara, who has loved Julian since she first saw him at a debutante ball in London. Several years later, Julian is forced to marry Clara because of gambling debts. After traveling to India soon after their marriage, Julian is now returning home for the holidays and Clara uses the magical spirit of Christmas to her advantage.
Amy Corwin is the author of “Christmas Mishaps” in which the magic of Christmas transforms a series of misfortunes into a gift of love for Caroline Bartlett. Now it is up to her to overcome her mistrust of the unexpected offer from a younger man.
And Barbara Miller’s “Country House Christmas” tells the story of Diana Tierney, who is so caught up in the past mystery of why Richard Trent was shipped off to war that she doesn’t realize he is coming to love her as much as she has always loved him.
If you enjoy Christmas stories, especially those set in times and places different from our own, I invite you to check out A Cotillion Country Christmas. Simply visit www.CerridwenPress.com anytime after December 4 and download the anthology. You’ll be in for four Christmas treats!
And on my bookshelf … I highly recommend the book Jane Austen’s Christmas: the Festive Season in Georgian England, compiled by Maria Hubert [Sutton Publishing, 1996] (the book is out of print: search at www.biblio.com or www.abebooks.com; available copies are mostly in the UK).
Hubert offers a mix of selections from Austen’s novels and letters, and from other contemporary writers; there are poems about Christmas, along with games and dances and recipes ~ all accompanied by black and white illustrations from various sources. It is a must-have addition to your Austen collection.
You can visit this link at The Christmas Archives for a few excerpts from the book, as well as information on several of the author’s other books on Christmas (Shakespeare’s Christmas; Brontes’ Christmas; Christmas in Wartime are a few examples.]
Here is one of the excerpts ~ a recipe for
BLACK BUTTER
Black Butter would have been a novel recipe indeed, which one of the Austen’s wide circle of seafaring family and friends might have brought them.
Take 4 pounds of full ripe apples, and peel and core them. Meanwhile put into a pan 2 pints of sweet cider, and boil until it reduces by half. Put the apples, chopped small, to the cider. Cook slowly stirring frequently, until the fruit is tender, as you can crush beneath the back of a spoon. Then work the apple through a sieve, and return to the pan adding 1lb beaten (granulated) sugar and spices as following, 1 teaspoon clove well ground, 2 teaspoons cinnamon well ground, 1 saltspoon allspice well ground. Cook over low fire for about ¾ hour, stirring until mixture thickens and turns a rich brown. Pour the butter into into small clean jars, and cover with clarified butter when cold. Seal and keep for three months before using. By this time the butter will have turned almost black, and have a most delicious flavour.
Copyright Maria Hubert von Staufer March 1995
[I will be posting more on the holidays in Jane Austen’s time after our tea this weekend!]
I’ve said it before – I am not an Austen sequel’s reader or a romance reader. I wrote about the Chicago AGM and my delight in the evening on Romance and have since been a regular reader of the “Teach me Tonight” blog. As soon as I returned from Chicago, a quick run to the local used bookstore that stocks romances sent me home with all of the novels of Eloisa James’s “Desperate Duchesses” series. The first was a quick and enjoyable read – the rest await my time!
So with this intro, it is easy to confess that Jane Austen lover that I am, as well as all things English and Regency, I have never read ANY Georgette Heyer (is this perhaps slightly worse than my previous admission that I am a NY Yankees fan?…) and not that I haven’t wanted to…. She has been on my to-be-read list for years, and among some great company, but I’ve never been sure where to start. So I was thrilled to receive a review copy of Faro’s Daughter, originally published in 1941 now reprinted by Sourcebooks, and have finally begun my Heyer journey, and what a delightful beginning!
Deborah Grantham (called Deb, so perhaps I am taken in immediately!), is an independent, feisty, level-headed, take-no-prisoners, absolutely beautiful heroine – living with her Aunt, Lady Bellingham, who runs a high-society London gaming establishment and is presently in serious financial straits. Here is Deb as we are first introduced:
...a tall young woman with chestnut hair, glowing in the candlelight, and a pair of laughing, dark eyes set under slim, arched brows. Her luxuriant hair was quite simply dressed, without powder, being piled up on top of her head, and allowed to fall back in thick, smooth curls. One of these had slipped forward, as she bent over the table, and lay against her white breast… the lady’s eyes were the most expressive and brilliant…. ever seen. Their effect upon an impressionable youth would…be most destructive.
Several suitors seek her favor, the young Lord Adrian Mablethorpe and the older, odious Mr. Ormskirks. The book begins with a Mr. Ravenscar visiting his Aunt, Lady Mablethorpe, Adrian’s mother, who is in a near apoplectic state over Adrian’s wishes to marry Deb; Lady M wishes her nephew to prevent this at all costs, and from here the plot is in motion and the fun begins – a fast-paced, highly amusing high-jinx comedy of manners – the insults and name-calling and behaviors suiting neither a Regency lady nor a proper gentleman run rampant – and I can tell no more, no spoilers here!
Similarities to Pride & Prejudice abound: Deb is not unlike Lizzie Bennet – she speaks her mind, she reacts strongly to insults to her character and social standing (though she goes to quite unlady-like lengths to exact her revenge!) and she is a caring niece, sister and employer…. and of course those “dark eyes” !…. ; there are moments of Mrs. Bennet in both Lady Bellingham and Lady Mablethorpe (Oh! my nerves!); Miss Ravenscar as an interesting mix of Georgiana Darcy and Lydia Bennet; young Adrian needing advice much like Mr. Bingley; and Ravenscar who makes his entrance on page one:
...very tall, with a good pair of legs, encased in buckskins and topboots, fine broad shoulders under a coat of superfine cloth, and a lean, harsh-featured countenance with an uncompromising mouth, and extremely hard grey eyes. His hair, which was black, and slightly curling, was cut into something perilously near a Bedford crop
... so is Max Ravenscar our Darcy, or a Willoughby ? or even a Wickham?
But there are also similarties to Eloisa James’s Desperate Duchesses (perhaps because it is still fresh in my mind, or likely because they all follow a basic formula) – in both books we see gaming strategies, the tensions, sexual and otherwise, the characters of Ravenscar and the Duke of Villiers both made of the same cloth. It is clear that you have been to this place before, but that’s fine ~ it’s a great place to visit!
Filled with Regency terminology and slang, card games and some well-described female and male fashions (and fashion faux-pas!) – have your Regency dictionary close at hand [see this online Regency Lexicon for starters.] Heyer weaves her knowledge of late 18th– early 19th century London: the streets and squares (St. James, Brunswick Square, Grosvenor, Brook St, Vauxhall Gardens), all manner of carriages; card games; horse-racing and betting; the male clubs Brookes’s and White’s; the world of the “good ton” and the not so good; the vulnerability of females – at the mercy of their parents maneuverings, their need to marry for financial security, the risk of social ostracism for not following the “rules.”
Heyer is brilliant at presenting these regency realities with a plot that though predictable, (you don’t need to be a romance reader to know where this is headed from page one!) is so entertaining and the heroine and her sidekicks so engaging, the plot so outrageous within the social confines of the time, that I am not sure when I last read a book I just had to finish RIGHT NOW. Just not sure what to pick up next! Are they all this much fun? … so I seek any suggestions and recommendations from the greater world out there of seasoned Georgette Heyer readers. Can I really have gone through my life thus far without having read a single one of her books? I am shamed!
Further reading: there is a wealth of information on Heyer, both in print and online… I append a few sources for your perusal ~ it is just a beginning…
Reference books (see the bibliography listed in online resources; I list here just a few must-haves)
Georgette Heyer’s Regency World, by Jennifer Kloester [2005, already out-of-print; newly published by Arrow 2008 in pb]
Georgette Heyer’s Regency England, by Teresa Chris [London, 1989] ~ impossible to find at an affordable price.
The Regency Companion, by Sharon Laudermilk and Teresa L. Hamlin [Garland 1989] – ditto
The Private World of Georgette Heyer, by Jane Aiken Hodge [1983] ~ the biography, available from used bookshops.
Georgette Heyer: A Critical Retrospective, by Mary Fahnestock-Thomas [PrinnyWorld Press, 2001] ~ includes Heyer’s short published pieces, reviews of her books, obituaries and responses, and critical articles and books – an indispensible resource.
The Georgette Heyer Challenge Blog” join the blog author’s challenge to read all of Heyer’s works or at least some, or maybe even only one… and review and comment if you would like
I may be late to the table, but just discovered this morning a new Regency site: Nancy Mayer ~ Regency Researcher. Nancy is gradually putting all her many-years worth of Regency and Jane Austen expertise onto her website, and we will be the grateful benefactors of her knowledge. There is an excellent bibliography, a series of links, and the option to ask her any question you might have on the period.
And remember to check back often as she continues to add information.
Thank you Nancy, for this lovely new addition to the online Regency world! [and a thank you to Susanna Ives for hosting Nancy on her website: Susanna Ives ~ Regency Romance Writer!]
Austenprose celebrated its first anniversary this week… so we offer hearty congratulations to Laurel Ann for her consistently insightful “musings” with hopes that she shall continue to enlighten us every day with her “celebration of the brilliance of Jane Austen’s writing.” It has been an especially fine month of Gothic doings delving into the hidden crannies of Northanger Abbey…
Jane Austen’s World was selected for two blog awards… 1) Elizabeth fromScandalous Women, and
2) Alyssa Miller from The Love Coach, (who also selected Austenprose)…these are both great literary blogs to add to your favorites; and then link to Jane Austen’s World to see her choices for best blogs (hint: Ms. Place most kindly chose JAIV … so thank you Vic! I now need to select my own 15 favorites…so stand-by for that!)
AustenBlog has posted information on Sue Forgue’s online Regency Encyclopedia, a first-stop resource for all things Regency, geared toward fan-fiction writers. The site is searchable and browse-able by subject and includes interactive maps, book lists and links to online resources. Go to Austenblog for the information and user password that Mags provides. Expect to be visiting the site for at least the entire weekend… ! I have just taken a fabulous tour through Regency London….and am now perhaps off to Bath…
Jane Odiwe shares one of her watercolors of Austen based on the Cassandra sketch, as well as a few words on the Chawton Cottage and gardens.
Here’s a new one…a horse named Jane Austen won big in the the latest Irish racing event. Read all about it here at the independent.ie
Ellen Moody’s blog on her latest readings on Austen life and works, along with some lovely pictures of Steventon and Chawton.
Two patterns for cross-stich samplers with Jane Austen quotes can be found at Pattern Mart; click here for the second pattern.
Sunday, November 2, 2008, a lecture at the Princeton Branch of the English Speaking Union on “The Facts and Fictions of Jane Austen”by Elizabeth Steele, the regional coordinator of the Eastern PA JASNA Chapter. See the article and website for more information.
Paul Johnson at the Spectator.uk writes on “Jane knew All about a Banking Crisis”, giving some history of Jane’s knowledge of banking issues through her brother Henry’s mostly disastrous banking experiences. But see Jezebelwhere she sounds off on just being plain exhausted with seeing Jane Austen’s name linked to EVERYTHING going on in the world! (I heartily concur!)
See the Regency World of author Lesley Anne McLeod blog for information on a new contest offering the out-of-print book “Everybody’s Historic England” : the contest begins October 31…. there are also several new additions to her website.
See this Architect Design blog post about the 2006 BBC movie about Beau Brummell, the Regency dandy…starring the always fabulous James Purefoy (Vanity Fair, Rome, he also played Tom Bertram in the newest Mansfield Park); however did I miss this one??
Lady Helga at her Jane Austen PodNovel blog has hit the 50 mark, i.e. her 50th show…stay tuned for her next podcast! [she has been reading P&P]
This of interest to those in New England: an interactive touring map linking you to the websites of stores specializing in children’s books in the New England area [the map is at the site of the the New England Children’s Bookselling Advisory (NECBA)] My favorite shop here in Vermont is the Flying Pig Bookstorein Shelburne.
For you lovers of Patrick O’Brian, click on the following link for POB’s Riches, a listing of (nearly) all the literary (and non-literary) quotations and allusions in O’Brian’s books. [with thanks to an alert Janeite who posted this on the Janeites discussion group]…. in a very cursory browse, I find only one direct quote to Jane Austen, though we know he loved her dearly. And speaking of Mr. O’Brian, I have recently added to my bookshelf “Lobscouse & Spotted Dog” a gastronomic companion to the Aubrey/Maturin novels, by Anne C. Grossman and Lisa G. Thomas [Norton, 1997], and will be brushing up on my Whipt Syllabub [page 26], as Jane would be pleased…
For a little much needed humor, here are the rules for “The Jane Austen Drinking Game” created by Mostly Water Theater. Click on the YouTube link for their rendition of the game while viewing Sense & Sensibility.
Book reviews: I link you to only one this week…(more to come I promise): Ms. Place on Mansfield Revisited.
And I end this post, it being Halloween, I give you a fine post by Ms. Place on some Halloween happenings at Jane Austen Today… see also her link to the History of Halloween.
A new approach to Jane Austen seemed impossible, but Susannah Fullerton . . . has brilliantly hit on the theme of crime and punishment in Austen. Fullerton shows how the Regency world . . . was really a dangerous place with a fast rising crime rate and a legal system that handed out ferocious sentences. Her book will be essential reading for every Janeite.”-Claire Tomalin, author of Jane Austen: A Life![The three villains in horsemen's greatcoats [Thomson, NA]](https://janeausteninvermont.blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/thomson-horsemen-crime.jpg?w=663 "thomson-horsemen-crime")
I most appreciated Fullerton’s many references to the juvenilia – it is in these works that Austen shows us the realities of her greater society, all indeed presented in an exaggerated manner with her youthful humor, but we do see how she understood this underside of life in both London and her country villages, a knowledge also apparent in the quick, short references in her letters. For instance, in this short passage from Letter 95 [Le Faye, p. 248], Austen writes her sister from Godmersham Park:
Julian Kestrel returns in this second mystery by Kate Ross [Viking 1994], A Broken Vessel. Several months after his amateur but superior sleuthing at Bellegarde, home of the Fontclairs, [see Ross’s first book, Cut to the Quick, and 
I spent a good part of the December holidays making the acquaintance of Julian Kestrel – Regency dandy, amateur sleuth, and main character in a series of mysteries by Kate Ross [alas! not unlike Jane Austen, Ms. Ross died of cancer at a young age and we have only four of these Kestrel novels to read, and re-read, and likely read again.] I highly recommend you head immediately to your local library or local bookstore and start the first book, RIGHT NOW. You are in for a most fabulous journey!
And on my bookshelf … I highly recommend the book Jane Austen’s Christmas: the Festive Season in Georgian England, compiled by Maria Hubert [Sutton Publishing, 1996] (the book is out of print: search at 
Jane Austen in Vermont 