TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH ... HELENA KELLY, AUTHOR OF JANE AUSTEN THE SECRET RADICAL

Her just released  Jane Austen the Secret Radical  has been animating a new interesting debate around our beloved Regency lady. Helena Kelly has been under the spotlight in the latest days as the author of this interesting non-fiction book which uncovers Jane Austen as a radical, spirited and politically engaged woman writer. So those who have in their minds the tranquil, smiling woman on the new £10 pound banknote apparently got everything wrong about her.  

After receiving my review copy of this brilliant work and after reading its original analysis, I ended up with a few questions to ask Helena Kelly so I wrote them down and was graciously granted the answers. 

I must thank Helena for her kindness and generosity in the fuss that must have been the promotion of her book in the first days after the release. There have been reviews and interviews even in the major press, but she could find some spare time and answered my questions!  Here I am now, happy and proud,  to share my little interview with you.

Maria Grazia

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Hello Helena and welcome to our online Jane Austen book club! My first question is … I’ve always thought Jane Austen was rather revolutionary, but now you’ve taken a step ahead of me: a radical?

Hello, and thank you for inviting me! The title Jane Austen the Secret Radical isn’t actually mine, but it is a good choice for the book. I don’t know that Austen wanted to overturn things, but she did want to dig down and examine them, to show people how they actually worked, and that’s what radicalism is about, isn’t it, getting down to the ‘radix’, the root of things.

REGINA JEFFERS, ANNUITIES IN THE REGENCY ERA AS THE BASIS OF THE PLOT OF 'MR DARCY'S BARGAIN' + GIVEAWAY

Much of the action of latest release,  Mr. Darcy's Bargain, is based around a scam perpetrated by Mr. Wickham upon the citizens of Meryton, as well as Mr. Darcy's attempts to thwart him. Wickham convinces many in Hertfordshire to invest in an annuity scheme. But how exactly did annuities work during the Regency?

First, if you are like me, your eyes blur over when people in other fields start tossing around the "jargon" associated with their occupations. I do not pretend to be an expert in such matters as annuities, but I will attempt to keep my description of public funds at the time as simple as possible.

First, there were Navy five percent annuities that were produced from about fifty millions of stock, partly formed out of navy bills and converted in 1784, into a stock bearing interest at five percent, whence the name.

Four percent consolidated annuities were popular at the time. They were produced from a like stock as was the Navy five percent funds. They offered a profit of 4% as the title indicated. They originally carried a higher percentage rate.

A JOURNEY FROM DUTY TO LOVE: MR BENNET'S DUTIFUL DAUGHTER BLOG TOUR + GIVEAWAY

A new great blog tour premieres today  at My Jane Austen Book Club.  Joana Starnes is here to present her latest Pride and Prejudice tale: Mr Bennet's Dutiful Daughter. Enjoy her wondeful guest post and... may I wish you good luck in the giveaway contest?  

Thank you, Maria Grazia, for your kind welcome at My Jane Austen Book Club today to launch the blog tour for my latest book, Mr Bennet’s Dutiful Daughter, with an invitation to Netherfield.

SPOTLIGHT ON ... MERYTON VIGNETTES: TALES OF PRIDE AND PREJUDICE BY ELIZABETH ADAMS

Mrs. Bennet makes a shocking discovery.

Caroline Bingley learns there’s more to life than chasing after Darcy. 

Elizabeth must navigate a situation she never thought she would find herself in. 

What becomes of Longbourn when the Collins family inherits?

Does Lydia ever realize the error of her ways? 

In this collection of six short stories, the people of Pride and Prejudice move on, grow up, and explore paths not taken. Time leads these beloved characters down roads of self-discovery, courage, and heartbreak. 

And sometimes the journey takes them to surprising places.

Check the book at amazon.com 

 Read an excerpt from "Life After Darcy"

  

Really, what did they expect her to do? Simply move on? Pretend he hadn’t existed? That she hadn’t imagined what their life would be like in the future? Spending summers at Pemberley and the season in town, going to Italy for their ten-year anniversary, presenting their daughters at court, dancing at their son’s wedding. Did they really expect her to just forget it all? Forget him?

Well, she would not. She may not have always loved him as she should, as she did now, but her heart had finally opened and she was not about to give up on this peculiar feeling, no matter what her sister said to her.

KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED FOR JANE AUSTEN TRAVEL GUIDE

TILBURG, 7 November 2016 – Het England van Jane Austen (Jane Austen’s England) is the first – and only – travel guide devoted to exploring locations in England that have a unique connection with either Austen herself, her work, and/or the adaptations of her books. But it is now only available in Dutch. Author Karin Quint and Gottmer Publishing Group announced today that they are launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to publish an English translation of the popular travel guide.

Het Engeland van Jane Austen was written by Karin Quint, a Dutch journalist, photographer and founder of JaneAusten.nl – the only Dutch-language website devoted to the beloved author. ‘I often received requests for information from people who wanted to visit locations associated with her,’ says Quint. ‘It made me realise there was nothing like this out there.’  In 2013 she travelled almost three months through England, researching over 200 locations connected with Jane Austen’s life, books, and the film adaptations of her work. Het Engeland van Jane Austen was published in the spring of 2014 by the renowned Dutch publisher Gottmer. In response to public demand, a second edition was published in July 2016.

MR BENNET'S DUTIFUL DAUGHTER BY JOANA STARNES - COVER REVEAL & GIVEAWAY

Book Description

When Colonel Fitzwilliam’s disclosures are interrupted by the bearer of distressing news from Longbourn, Miss Elizabeth Bennet is compelled to consider an offer she would have otherwise dismissed out of hand. An offer of marriage from the all-too-proud Mr Darcy.

Yet how is she to live with a husband she hardly knows and does not love? Would she be trapped in a marriage of convenience while events conspire to divide them? Or would love grow as, day by day and hour after hour, she learns to understand the man she married, before she loses his trust and his heart?

On the cover

The portrait on Joana’s new book is titled Portrait of Miss Frances Vinicombe. 
It’s an oil on canvas that measures 92x71 cm. The portrait painting, ranked 2nd most prestigious genre by the French Académie de peinture et de sculpture, depicts the visual appearance of a human subject. While portraitists often strive for exact likeness, the viewer's recognition of the subject is of primary importance. It was common for artists to alter the image to accentuate or minimize the subject's physical, psychological or social traits. Traditionally, portrait paintings have memorialized the rich and powerful. Overtime, however, it became more common for middle-class individuals to commission portraits of their families and colleagues.  

John Opie was a British landscape and portrait artist, who painted quite a few famous people, including the author, Mary Wollstonecraft. (see image below)

DARCY'S HOPE ~ BEAUTY FROM ASHES, A GREAT WAR ROMANCE - AUTHOR INTERVIEW + GIVEAWAY

 Darcy’s Hope ~ Beauty from Ashes
A WW1 Pride & Prejudice Variation
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Escape to the era of Downton Abbey and experience all the drama of World War 1 alongside literature’s iconic Elizabeth Bennet & Fitzwilliam Darcy. You'll watch their tender love unfold as they learn to work together and reconcile their differences amidst the carnage of war.

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1916. World War I has turned French chateaux into bloody field hospitals, British gentlemen into lice-infested soldiers, and left Elizabeth Bennet's life in tatters.

Her father is dead and her home destroyed. Never again will Elizabeth depend on a man to secure her future!

But when an opportunity arises to advance her dreams of becoming a doctor, she is elated—until he arrives....

Heartbroken. Devastated. Captain Fitzwilliam Darcy is left rejected by the woman he loved and reeling from the slaughter of his men on the battlefield. “Enough!” Darcy vows. “No more sentimental attachments!”

But arriving at a field hospital to pursue a covert investigation, Darcy discovers his beloved Elizabeth training with a dashing American doctor and embroiled in an espionage conspiracy.