Finding Inspiration in Jane Austen:
Introducing Miss Price’s Decision
Thank you, Maria Grazia, for having me today!
It is a pleasure to be amongst Janeites to present Miss Price’s Decision, my latest novel in the Austeniana series.
Jane Austen’s novels have accompanied me since
my teens. To me, they are a source of solace, amusement and hope. But my
favourite thing about Jane Austen is that, no matter how many times I re-read
her novels, I always discover something new.
At times the finding is about me. Austen’s
stories connect with my inner world in a way few other books do, and as a
result, immersing myself in them is different every time, depending on my
circumstances and what I am experiencing in life.
On other occasions, however, I notice elements
in the novel that were always there, but I had not seen before. And sometimes,
these nuggets of new information will develop into full-blown ideas for my own
stories.
This is precisely what happened two summers
ago, upon re-reading Mansfield Park, when I came across a particular sentence
that inspired a great deal of Miss
Price’s Decision.
The
Price siblings
Austen begins Mansfield Park with the story of the Ward sisters. As we well know,
the youngest marries a Lieutenant Price, whom her family does not approve of,
and ends up in Portsmouth with a rather miserly life, a drunk husband and a
large brood.
Fanny, the eldest Price daughter, is sent to
live with the Bertrams in Mansfield Park aged only 10. When, later in the
novel, she returns to her parents’ home for a visit, she sees for the first
time in years her younger siblings, who still live there: Susan, Sam, Tom,
Charles and Betsy.
As for the other Price children, William is in
the Royal Navy, Mary is deceased, and the remaining two older boys are no
longer at home. John, the second boy, is “a clerk in a public office in
London”, whereas Richard is “midshipman on board an Indiaman.”
On board an Indiaman
‘Indiaman’ was a generic name used for any
merchant sailing ship travelling to and from the East or West Indies. There
were ‘East Indiamen’, which sailed to India, and ‘West Indiamen’, built
specifically to withstand storms in the Atlantic in their trips to the East
Indies.
Indiamen weren’t small ships. They were
designed to carry substantial loads, some of over 1,500 tons. The dangerous
journey also required them to be well-armed and prepared to fight piracy if
necessary.
Finding out about Richard really helped to
shape my story about Susan Price. Richard was the closest brother to Susan in
age; they were probably playmates as children. And there was no reason to
believe that Richard left for the East Indies on his own.
A new
character
Enter Jamie Gartner, a Portsmouth orphan: he
is a childhood friend of Richard’s who has just lost his poorly mother and is
desperate to find a future for himself. Richard decides that he, too, wants to
sail to seek adventure and his fortune, so off they go.
Jamie is charismatic and good fun, but also
kind-hearted. He is a great comfort to Susan upon the death of her sister Mary,
who is her best friend. Needless to say, Susan is quite in love with him at
fourteen.
What follows is an excerpt of Miss Price’s Decision in which Susan’s
memories of Jamie right before he and Richard leave Portsmouth for the East
Indies. I hope you enjoy it!
Read an excerpt
I thought a lot about Jamie and our
shared past. A memory in particular, one that I had long kept hidden in the
depths of my heart, became particularly recurrent. On the day before his
departure, my mother sent me to fetch my brothers, and I found them by the
Square Tower on Broad Street, where local boys often congregated to fly
homemade kites. It was getting dark and the wind was as cold as an icy knife.
Huddled by the wall of the old medieval fortress, my younger brothers, under
Richard’s supervision, were untangling the lines of several kites that the wind
had bundled together. Jamie was standing nearby, and the minute he saw me,
signaled me to follow him to the steps at the back of the building, where the
mighty walls of the Tower hid us from the sight of anyone but the fishermen in
their boats that appeared on the horizon. I had never seen him look so serious.
“Susie, do you know why I am leaving?”
“Of course I do. You want a better
life,” I mumbled.
“If I remain in Portsmouth, I will
forever be poor orphaned Jamie.”
I nodded and lowered my head. Clumsily,
he took my hand in his.
“We will hear of each other through Richard.
I will make sure he writes home like no other sailor has done before.”
“I’m not sure you will remember,” I
mumbled. “The world is a big place.”
“Perhaps, but I could not forget you,
even if I tried.”
I blushed, and he gave me a sweet, sad
smile. In the distance, I heard Richard shout my name. The boys must be ready
to go back to the house, but I was rooted to the spot.
“I will be back, Susie. I will bring you
a Chinese cabinet, just like the one in Mrs Maxwell’s front room, and then I
will ask you to marry me. I promise.”
He gazed lovingly into my eyes. My
brother’s voice was growing insistent, but not even the sound of a fire bell
would have made me look away. Slowly, as if pulled by an invisible force, our
heads became closer. I closed my eyes and our lips met for the first time. His
lips were soft and his chin prickly, for he had just begun to shave on Sundays,
and he smelt of sea bream and musk. It lasted an instant, but my whole being
tingled at his kiss and I was changed forever. I began to shake.
“You are trembling. Let us get you
home,” he whispered.
We returned to the front of the
building, where my brothers were waiting. Thankfully, only Richard seemed to
understand what might have happened, and other than winking at Jamie, he did
not give me grief.
The following night, after waving him
goodbye from the pier, I cried myself to sleep. Jamie, my best friend since
Mary’s death, with whom I had shared time, dreams, secrets and fears, was to be
no longer by my side, and I did not think I could ever love another.
Eliza Shearer
About Eliza Shearer
Eliza Shearer has been a Jane Austen fan for as long as she can
remember, regularly convincing family and friends to join in on pilgrimages to
Austen-related sites and events. She is the author of the Austeniana series of Austen-inspired variations, which include Miss Darcy’s Beaux and Miss Price’s Decision.
Having lived in different countries, Eliza is fluent in several
languages and now lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with her husband, two children,
and a tortie cat. Eliza is very partial to satin slippers, but like her
namesake Elizabeth Bennet, she has never cared much for cards.
Social Links
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3 comments:
Love the premise and enjoyed the excerpt. It made me wonder if her and Jamie meet again in the story?
Poor Susan and Jamie, how sweet
This sounds like a great idea! I’ve never heard of a story about Susan Price before, but now that you’ve written one, I cannot believe it isn’t a more common story continuation.
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