After answering in her first novel Experience some burning questions that Pride and Prejudice fans have always asked — just how happy ever after were Elizabeth and Darcy following their wedding? And what became of the other Bennet sisters?—in her upcoming companion novel, Devotion, Meg Kerr continues the story of the Darcy family, with particular attention to Darcy’s younger sister, Georgiana.
While
her brother sets out without her knowledge to secure her a husband, Georgiana,
upon receipt of a long-delayed letter, embarks on a secret journey—leading to a
chance meeting with a charming yet wicked young man with nefarious intentions.
Full
of intrigue, romance and humour, Devotion also brings to the forefront
stories of some other characters first introduced in Jane Austen’s beloved
Pride & Prejudice, including Caroline Bingley and Pen Harrington, and
seamlessly introduces new characters while maintaining the integrity of
Austen’s beloved classic tale.
DEVOTION IS OFFICIALLY OUT 18 AUGUST!
MY INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR MEG KERR
Hello
and welcome to our online book club, Meg. My first question is, do you remember
your first encounter with Austen and her work? What was it like?
Thank
you for inviting me. I love thinking and talking about Jane Austen’s work!
I was
about twelve when I first read Pride and Prejudice. I can’t remember now
exactly what impression it made on me, but it must have been a significant one,
because I have re-read P&P many many times since then. And every single
time I’ve read it, it’s been a different novel—sometimes a little different,
sometimes a lot different. I had read it several times but was still a teen
when I finished it and first wondered whether Elizabeth really loved Darcy when
she accepted him. (I loved Darcy of course! Nothing to wonder about
there!)
Good!
Second question is about Pride and Prejudice.
What is it that you especially like in it and why did you decide it
needed to have a sequel, Experience, and a companion sequel, Devotion?
Does
anyone read Pride and Prejudice and not become a member of the Bennet family?
Jane Austen draws her characters so clearly and fully that you feel as though
you know them as well as your know your own friends and sisters, relatives and
neighbours. Maybe better—your best friend might surprise you by what she does,
but not Elizabeth and Jane Bennet.
Then
you close the book, and it’s like your family has moved away and forgotten to
write to you. Where are their letters? Why aren’t they keeping in touch and
letting you know everything that is happening?
So
Experience and Devotion are a big packet of news that took a long time to be
delivered.
And
now, Mr Darcy! Is he your favourite Austen hero? What is he like in your
novels?
I had
to look into my heart to answer this question.... I’m very fond of Captain
Wentworth from Persuasion...but no, Darcy still reigns supreme.
In my
novels he is Darcy as Jane Austen wrote him. What right do I have to tamper
with perfection? Others may change but Darcy and Elizabeth as we last saw them
in P&P are eternal.
Darcy
is the perfect romantic hero, but his antagonist, George Wickham is also an
interesting character with his own charms. What was it like to rewrite his
story?
I
didn’t rewrite Wickham’s story; I continued it in accordance with Jane Austen’s
notes on his and Lydia’s relationship (in Experience); and I concluded it (in
Devotion). He was a soldier at the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Just two and a
half years after the end of Pride and Prejudice, in June 1815, the Battle of
Waterloo was fought....
I
find George Wickham interesting and attractive in the same way that Elizabeth
Bennet did. Unlike Darcy, his spell does not last!
What
is it with Austen bad boys? Wickham, Willoughby, Frank Churchill. Aren’t they
as unforgettable as Austen heroes?
You
left Henry Crawford out of your list!
Well, let's add John Thorpe and Mr Elliot too, then!
Jane
Austen’s relationship with her bad boys is at least as fascinating as the bad
boys themselves. She definitely felt a powerful attraction for them and
(probably with the exception of Wickham) she wanted to believe that they could
be redeemed. But she never redeemed any of them more than partially, or for a
brief time. I think they are so unforgettable because we feel them through Austen’s
own strong and conflicted feelings.
And I
had to follow in Austen’s footsteps to see where they would lead me. I had to
get entangled with a bad boy myself. In Devotion readers are introduced to John
Amaury.
Did
you change anything in the Georgiana/Wickham story line in Devotion?
No;
Georgiana and Wickham never meet again. But that does not stop them from having
a potent influence on each other that is the initial driving force of Devotion.
What
I did change was our window on Georgiana. In Pride and Prejudice we see her
only through the eyes of other characters (Darcy, Caroline Bingley and Mrs.
Hurst, Elizabeth Bennet—“interested people” as Jane Bennet would say, who have
perhaps misrepresented her to us)...until the very end when Austen shows us
Georgiana directly, first telling us about the letter she writes to Elizabeth
on her engagement (“Four sides of paper were insufficient to contain all her
delight, and all her earnest desire of being loved by her sister.”), and then
about their relationship as sisters-in-law: “They were able to love each other
even as well as they intended. Georgiana had the highest opinion in the world
of Elizabeth[.]”
For a long time I have thought that Darcy’s description of Georgiana’s feelings for Wickham says a great deal more about the attitude of an older brother towards the sexual awakening of his little sister than about any thoughts Austen herself had on the subject. (Darcy wrote to Elizabeth, “[Wickham] so far recommended himself to Georgiana, whose affectionate heart retained a strong impression of his kindness to her as a child, that she was persuaded to believe herself in love, and to consent to an elopement. She was then but fifteen, which must be her excuse[.]”) I know what it’s like to be a fifteen-year-old in love! So do most women. And certainly Austen knew what it was like to be a sixteen-year-old in love; her amazing and naturalistic portrait of Marianne in Sense and Sensibility shows a young girl who is exalted by her first love and then crushed nearly to death by its loss. “Affectionate heart”? I don’t think that hits the mark.
The
Georgiana in Experience and then in Devotion is no little girl playing with
dollies.
You’ve
also given more space to secondary and minor characters like Caroline Bingley or Pen Harrington. What about them in
Devotion?
How
can you call Caroline Bingley a minor character? She’s the wicked witch who
keeps the P&P plot boiling! But I will admit that Pen Harrington is a very
minor character.
In
Experience I treated Caroline Bingley like one of the Bennet daughters—I
followed her equally. She’s a mean girl who got her comeuppance; but then what
did she do? I wanted to know. She was mean, but she was interesting. Think how
dull those several days at Netherfield would have been without her and Mrs.
Hurst making snide remarks!
As
for Pen, I didn’t want to leave Meryton behind while Mr. and Mrs. Bennet were
still resident there. In P&P we only saw Pen and her sister Harriet out of
the corner of our eye, so to speak, but when we look full on, she’s worth
getting to know, as are the new family who come to live in Netherfield
Hall...and their noble guest....
Which
was the character you had more fun writing? Which was, instead,
the most complicated one?
When
it comes to fun, Mr. Collins is always my Number One character—especially now
that I know what he’s doing in his study when he’s supposed to be writing
sermons. Letters to Darcy! Two-volume novels! Epic poetry! However I completely
understand Charlotte Collins’ wish to keep him engaged in healthful exercise
outdoors, and, when indoors, confined to his study.
The
most complicated character to write was John Amaury, who is both very
attractive and very bad. His charisma and immorality have to stay in balance.
Is
there a third P&P related book in the making? Will this become a trilogy?
Yes
there is a third (and final) novel, Camden-place. It’s a Bath novel. I knew I
would have to go there, probably for the same reason that Austen does—people
from all over mix in Bath.
Camden-place
is still in the pre-writing stage.
Looking forward to reading Camden-place too! Thanks for being my guest, Meg.
Book Blurb
About
the author
What
do you do when you live in the twenty-first century but a piece of your heart
lies in the early nineteenth? If you are author Meg Kerr you let your head and
hand follow your heart. With her love of country life—dogs and horses, long
walks in the woods and fields, dining with family and neighbours and dancing
with friends, reading and writing and the best conversation—and her familiarity
with eighteenth and nineteenth century history and literature, Meg has a
natural gift to inhabit, explore and reimagine the world that Jane Austen both
dwelt in and created, and to draw readers there with her.
GIVEAWAY
1 comment:
Added both to my wish list
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