I uploaded my very first Pride and Prejudice fanfic to the internet on April 23, 2014. Barely over two years later, I’m here at My Jane Austen Book Club, embarking on a blog tour celebrating the release of my first Austen-based novel. This seems to me to be a very large distance covered in only two years. For most of that time, Side by Side, Apart has been occupying a huge chunk of my mind. Since I am sort of a clingy person and not quite ready to let go, I want to use my blog tour as an opportunity to talk about all the things that went into building the world of the novel and how, even though this is a Pride and Prejudice story, Jane Austen’s other completed works were never far from my mind as I wrote it. Today, I want to talk about world enough and time and Sense and Sensibility.
Side by Side, Apart picks up eleven
years after the marriage of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. One of the
first things I had to consider was how eleven years had changed the characters
since last we saw them. And that went for everyone, not just Lizzy and Darcy.
Where is Kitty? Where is Georgiana? Has Mr. Collins inherited Longbourn, or is
Mr. Bennet still around? If Mr. Bennet is alive, how is he managing living at
Longbourn with just the missus and no daughters acting as a buffer?
Since these questions are mostly answered
in the book, I won’t to spoil you too
much. (Though I will tell you that while I am sure nearly every character knows
the answer to Whatever Happened to
Caroline Bingley? absolutely none of them spend any of their time
discussing it. I know. You were on the edge of your seat.)
But what about the people Elizabeth would
want to keep in touch with? What happened to them? Who did they marry? Where do
they live? How many kids do they have? Are they happy? There aren’t too many of us that think Lydia Wickham can
look forward to bright future with her bridegroom of choice, but what about
Elizabeth’s other sisters? Did they make a short sighted mistake, too? Or did
they hold out for the person best able to answer all their wishes?
And what on earth does this have to do
with Sense and Sensibility?
Though Side by Side, Apart is a Pride
and Prejudice story first and foremost, it borrows a lot from Mansfield Park. Not in the themes, but
in the world building, in the conditions of the character’s lives and the
places they find themselves. When I wanted to build a families for Elizabeth
and Darcy, and Lydia and Wickham, Mansfield
Park was the book I turned to for a blueprint.
But while I was doing that, it occurred
to me: everyone else needs a family, too. Mary and Kitty and Georgiana need
husbands and homes and children. Those husbands and children (and homes, if
they have an estate) need names.
Where better to find the names of lovers
than the story of the foolishly romantic Marianne Dashwood?
It’s not a crossover. None of the Sense and Sensibility men will wake up
one day finding themselves suddenly married to the minor ladies of Pride and Prejudice. But I did pilfer the names. Changed some
genders, sewed this person’s last
name to that person’s first name.
Mary is married to a Mr. Steele. Probably no relation to Lucy Steele, but the
name shouldn’t fill you with the warm fuzzies, either. And if his just sharing
a name with that scheming Lucy Steele isn’t enough to make you condemn him, Mr.
Darcy doesn’t like him, either. But then again...Georgiana’s husband has the
first name of a fool and the last name of a different fool and Darcy’s only
issue with him is how far away his
estate is from Pemberley. I guess we can’t judge a character by their name,
only the choices they make.
The blog tour is continuing until May 16
with excerpts, reviews, an interview and more guest posts! Including eight
chances to win a copy of Side by Side,
Apart! I hope you will all join me on this journey across the internet!
“You
see what a strange circumstance it is,” she said, feeling some fleeting relief.
“You know our acquaintance has not been easy.”
Author Bio
Ann started writing sometime before she knew how
letters functioned. Her first books were drawings of circus poodles heavily
annotated with scribbles meant to tell a story. Upon learning how letters were
combined to represent words, she started doing that instead. This has proven to
be much more successful.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Blog Tour Schedule
Ann Galvia
Book
Blurb
Elizabeth
Bennet—stubborn, quick to judge but slow to revise her opinions, and entirely
prejudiced against the man who had just proposed marriage at Hunsford—awakens
to learn she has been in an accident. Bedridden in an unfamiliar house, she
learns eleven years have passed since the last moment she can remember.
She
finds herself a married woman, the mother of four, and pregnant yet again. Her
children are strangers, and most mystifying of all, Fitzwilliam Darcy is her
husband! How could she have married a man she loathes?
Confined
to the house by her injury, Mr. Darcy’s company is inescapable. But is just
being side by side enough to overcome their differences? What happens when
Darcy, improved in manners and happily married to Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy, is
faced with an obstinate, bewildered Miss Elizabeth Bennet?
Links
Author Bio
Sometime after that, she decided she wanted to
study Anthropology and sometime after that, she decided she liked cats more
than dogs. And sometime after that, she decided to become an educator and teach
a new generation of kids how to combine letters to represent words, and use
those words to express ideas.
And sometime after that, she realized all she
really wanted to do was write, which probably should have been evident from the
beginning.
Giveaway
Side by Side, Apart by Ann Galvia
Blog Tour Schedule
18 comments:
Thanks so much for hosting the first stop on the Side by Side, Apart blog tour! I am so happy I get to share a little bit about my new book with your readers!
and now I want to read about the other Bennet sisters and how badly did they fare
Great book!
Love the cover.
looks like a wonderful variation
denise
Elizabeth with memory loss, how interesting & how wonderful that she can fall in love with Mr Darcy all over again :)
I love this book, such a wonderfully bittersweet story!
Looks like an interesting concept! Looking forward to reading it!
Loved Bruises, looking forward to re-reading the edited version!
This sounds so good. Look forward to reading this!
I loved this story and it's funny that you mention S&S; while there aren't plot connections, there is a similar mood to parts of this story and S&S, IMO. That may be another reason I loved it so... S&S is my second favorite by Austen, and it is such a haunting book in many ways, similar to this one. It doesn't have all of S&S's heaviness, but certainly some of it.
Wow! Such a cool idea!
This sounds such an interesting premise. How does Elizabeth become reconciled to the missing eleven years or does she get her memory back? Four children and a fifth on the way and married to a man she only remembers as not liking? That is a LOT to become reconciled to!
It was lovely to read about the background to the construction of all of the characters' histories and names.
Good luck with the launch Anna.
Intrigued by this new variation. Look forward to read it!
Question to the author: When did you decide to become a writer?
Hi, Mai T. To answer your question, I've always been a writer. I've written stories as long as I can remember. But, the idea of publishing anything wasn't something that was on my mind at all until a few Meryton Press authors encouraged me to submit one of my JAFF stories to MP.
Hello, I am very happy for you, in 2 years you have started from publishing a fanfiction to a novel by Meryton Press. Congratulation.
I love the idea of a 11years gap, and Elizabeth not remembering it allow her and us,readers, to learn about the changes together, to experience it with her.
It seems really a good book.
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