TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH ... KATHLEEN ANDERSON & SUSAN JONES, AUTHORS OF JANE AUSTEN'S GUIDE TO THRIFT

Welcome at My Jane Austen Book Club, Kathleen and  Susan! I'm always really glad when I find new Janeites to share with. Then, if they happen to be teachers of English literature like me, I become very curious. So, my first question is linked to my job, our job. Do you teach Jane Austen and what do you think young people can learn from her?

Susan: I do teach Jane Austen, especially in upper level courses where students need to connect with excellent writing.  Austen models the level of perfection a writer can achieve through scrupulous review and revision:  sentence clarity and style, precise word choice, understanding of audience, to name a few.  You don’t reach millions of readers over two centuries without doing your homework in those areas.

Kathleen: We incorporate Austen novels into our courses whenever possible.  We all have so much to learn from Jane Austen.  Especially young people can become more sensitized to effective, grammatical, elegant language by absorbing her beautiful, witty narrative style.  Moreover, all of the novels emphasize the importance of the feelings of others and of the preservation of the social fabric, a beneficial reminder to all of us.  We often forget that we live in community.

KIM IZZO'S "THE JANE AUSTEN MARRIAGE MANUAL" TO BE ADAPTED FOR THE SCREEN

Do you remember Kim Izzo, journalist and writer, author of The Jane Austen Marriage Manual who guestposted here at My Jane Austen Book Club sharing the report of her meeting with the one and only Mr Darcy, Colin Firth? No? Yes? Well, anyway, if you've missed it, have a look HERE. 

I  immediately thought she was a very lucky lady on that account, but today my conviction has even been made greater. Kim Izzo IS a very lucky, talented woman and her Austenesque marriage manual is going to be adapted . 

Canadian film producer David Cormican announces the acquisition of the rights to bring  Kim Izzo’s debut novel The Jane Austen Marriage Manual to the screen. 

Kim’s charming and witty first novel, The Jane Austen Marriage Manual – a must-read for Austen die-hards – explores the modern day love story with a meaningful message.  Izzo tells the story of Kate Shaw, an acting beauty editor at a fashion magazine who is about to turn forty.  

AUTHOR GUEST POST - P. O. DIXON, FRIENDSHIP AND THE PANGS OF DISAPPOINTED LOVE + GIVEAWAY OF "LOVE WILL GROW"

I'm very glad to welcome P.O. Dixon back to My Jane Austen Book Club. Her new book has just been released and she's here with a new great post to give the you the chance to win your own kindle copy of Love Will Grow. Read P.O.'s piece and take your chances in the rafflecopter form below. The giveaway is open internationally and ends on 27th March. 

“Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.”

This quotation from Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey aptly illustrates the theme of Love Will Grow. The premise of the story is one of love’s disappointments and the lengths one is willing to go to remedy said sufferings in service of a friend. Love Will Grow begins with Miss Elizabeth and her intimate friend Charlotte Collins. In keeping with Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte is just the sort of friend one can always count on to speak the unvarnished truth. Who would not benefit from wise counsel from time to time? Of course, Elizabeth tends to trust her own opinion over that of others. She considers her friend Charlotte merely intends to tease her by implying that Mr. Darcy admires her.

Then there is the matter of Mr. Darcy and his particular friends. As regards Darcy’s relationship with Colonel Fitzwilliam, I like to suppose the two are more than cousins but rather the best of friends. Although, I must admit the colonel’s boasting of Darcy’s role in separating his friend Bingley from a young lady in Hertfordshire gives me pause. Surely he must have had some inkling that Elizabeth might know the family of the young lady whom Darcy found objectionable. What was he thinking? Without calling his motives into question, I find the colonel’s verbosity is not exactly the truest indication of a friend.

COMPETITION - WIN JANE AUSTEN LITERARY WALKING TOURS IN LYME REGIS

© Literary Lyme Walking Tours 

Have we got the competition for you! For all you Jane Austen Persuasion fans, we have got the chance to visit Lyme Regis, where Persuasion is set and go on a Jane Austen tour of the town.

Jane Austen visited Lyme Regis in England on at least two separate occasions and set Persuasion, her last novel, in the town. On the Jane Austen tour we follow in the footsteps of Jane Austen and her characters around Lyme Regis. During the Jane Austen tour we take a walk along the Cobb to see the steps from which Louisa Musgrove fell on the famous harbour wall and visit the inns mentioned in Persuasion. We see the house in which she stayed and enjoy the pleasure of Lyme Regis's views, knowing that you are seeing the same sights as Jane Austen saw and loved.

REGINA JEFFERS AT MY JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB - THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF MR DARCY BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY

Welcome to a friend of My Jane Austen Book Club and a very special guest, Regina Jeffers, on her blog tour for the launch of THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF MR DARCY. As usual, Regina has granted us a very interesting piece, this time a thoroughly researched article about the historical context of her new book. Thanking her very much, I invite you to read it and then to take your chances to win an autographed copy of the Regina Jeffers's new book in the rafflecopter form below. The giveaway contest is open worldwide and ends on March  21st.

With the onset of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, the idea of a European Grand Tour for English aristocratic class lost its appeal. Instead, English men and women turned their sights on popular British destinations, such as Brighton, Margate, Lyme, and Weymouth. In England, inland spas, such as Bath, were the models of health spas like Lourdes. Among the early fashionable Georgian-Regency resorts (from approximately 1789 – 1815) was one favored by King George III, but Mudeford never achieved the popularity of the other tourist destinations.

Some jokingly account the lack of development to the Christchurch district’s name. Mudeford was then part of southwest Hampshire. The idea of “mud” was likely not very appealing to the public. Also to the area’s detriment, Highcliffe was not adopted as a village name until 1892. Before that time, the local hamlets were known as Chuton, Newtown, and Slop Pond. The district’s other name was Sandhills.

In the summer of 1789, George III arrived in Weymouth to partake of the healing waters, a good sign for a concerned English population, which saw its King as a man going slowly mad. Each day, during his visit, as the King partook of his royal plunge into the salt waters, a band played “God Save the King.” Dips in the “curative waters” at Weymouth helped popularize the idea of “spa” towns.

SPOTLIGHT ON ... RETURN TO LONGBOURN BY SHANNON WINSLOW

The Book

What will happen to the Longbourn family when Mr. Bennet dies? - seeing that his estate is entailed away from the female line.  The question was first posed by Jane Austen herself 200 years ago, in the opening chapter of Pride and Prejudice, and it’s still hanging there unanswered. Shannon Winslow settles the matter once and for all in this next installment of her P&P saga. Return to Longbourn picks up the story a few years after the close of The Darcys of Pemberley, and it centers on Mary, Kitty, and the new heir to Longbourn (the unappealing Mr. William Collins having met with a premature end in the earlier book).

With Mr. Tristan Collins on his way from America to claim his property, Mrs. Bennet hatches her plan. The heir to Longbourn simply must marry one of her daughters. Nothing else will do. But will it be Mary or Kitty singled out for this dubious honor? When the gentleman in question turns out to be quite a catch after all, the contest between the sisters is on. Which of them will be the next mistress of Longbourn? Or will the dark horse in the race win out in the end?

Darcy, Elizabeth, and the rest of the Pride and Prejudice cast are back as the socially awkward Mary emerges from the shadows to take center stage in this captivating chapter of the Bennet family’s story.  

AUTHOR GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY - ALEXA ADAMS, SECOND GLANCES: A TALE OF LESS PRIDE AND PREJUDICE CONTINUES

I’m so excited to be once again at My Jane Austen Book Club, especially to discuss my new book, Second Glances: A Tale of Less Pride and Prejudice Continues. I thank my always gracious hostess, just as warm and welcoming as she was almost four years ago when we first became known to one another online. At the time, I had just completed my first novel, and I had no idea what to do with it. The very writing of First Impressions: A Tale of Less Pride and Prejudice came as something of a surprise. The idea arrived suddenly - what would have happened if Darcy and Elizabeth danced at the Meryton Assembly? - and in a month I had written the first draft. I intended the story as a purely selfish entertainment, but after reading it to my husband and listening to his outbursts of appreciative laughter, I had to know if others might find the same joy in my work.  Few things in my life have ever given me the satisfaction I discovered in learning that I could make others laugh. In Second Glances, I’ve tried to replicate the comic tone of the first novel, but its writing was a very different process. I began the book in 2010 and struggled with it for two years before deleting nearly everything I had written and starting over again from scratch.

AUSTEN ON STAGE - SENSE & SENSIBILITY THE MUSICAL : INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR AND CHOREOGRAPHER, MARCIA MILGROM DODGE.

The Denver Center Theatre Company has assembled a stellar group of Broadway performers to bring Jane Austen's beloved romance to life in SENSE & SENSIBILITY THE MUSICAL, with book and lyrics by Jeffrey Haddow and music by Neal Hampton. It  will receive its world premiere production April 5. Many thanks to its director and choreographer, Marcia Milgrom Dodge, for accepting to answer some questions about her work, Jane Austen and Sense & Sensibility.  

-        Your  Sense & Sensibility The Musical will receive its world premiere production soon,  on April 5th.  Does it take more sense or more sensibility to bring such a beloved novel to life on stage? 

(picture courtesy of Marcia Milgrom Dodge)

-          What a great quest­­ion!  It takes sense to pull together all of the technical aspects of creating a production of this size and it takes lots of sensibility to dig into the relationships of the characters.

-           How different is Sense and Sensibility from anything you’ve worked on so far?

-          It’s the most romantic show I’ve ever worked on. 

-          You’ve assembled a stellar group of Broadway performers for this grand musical.  Can you tell us something about them ?

-          Sure.  Our sisters will be played by two exciting young leading ladies: Stephanie Rothenberg (Elinor) and Mary Michael Patterson (Marianne) who bring such beauty and vitality to these roles.  Our trio of suitors: Nick Verine (Edward), Jeremiah James (Willoughby) and Robert Petkoff (Col. Brandon) are all handsome leading men with enormous charisma and depth of feeling.  Mrs. Jennings and Sir John are played by Ruth Gorttschall and Ed Dixon, two of the livliest Broadway performers who last appeared together on Broadway in Mary Poppins.  And rounding out the company are the versatile Joanna Glushak (Mrs. Dashwood and Mrs. Ferrars), the saucy Stacie Bono (Lucy), the hilarious Liz Pearce & Andrew Kober (Fanny & John Dashwood), Daniella Dalli, Preston Dyar, Kate Fisher, Jessica Hershberg, Steven Strafford, Josh Walden and Jason Watson who play Society People, Servants, Country Gentry and (with a few surprises) everyone in between!

JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY TO CELEBRATE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF PRIDE & PREJUDICE - MARCH 15

The Greater Louisville Region of the Jane Austen Society invites you to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's masterpiece, Pride & Prejudice, on March 15, 7-9 p.m. in the Visitors' Center of Locust Grove.

The evening will include a trivia contest with prizes, film clips of various versions of Pride & Prejudice and discussion of favorite scenes, tea and scones, and a chance to meet Mr. Darcy!

Anyone interested is welcome to attend and asked to RSVP  to Locust Grove at 502-897-9845.  Attendees are encouraged to wear Regency attire. Information will also be available about the 6th Annual Jane Austen Festival, July 20 & 21 to be held at Locust Grove.

Locust Grove is located at 561 Blankenbaker Lane (between Brownsboro Rd & River Rd), Louisville, Kentucky.   For more information about the Greater Louisville Region of the Jane Austen Society, call Bonny Wise, Regional Coordinator at 502-727-3917 or visit www.jasnalouisville.com