Hello #Janeites and welcome to My Jane Austen Book Club! I'm so glad to be opening a new great event here at our online club. Aren't you thrilled too? There aren't so many Northanger Abbey-inspired novels out there so this is a truly special event.
The Doyenne of
Austenesque fiction, Diana Birchall, tours the blogosphere starting today October 28 through
November 15 to share her latest release, The
Bride of Northanger. I'm in truly good company in this adventure: thirty popular bloggers specializing in historical and
Austenesque fiction will feature guest blogs, interviews, excerpts, and book
reviews of this acclaimed continuation of Jane Austen’s Gothic parody, Northanger
Abbey.
INTERVIEW WITH DIANA BIRCHALL
Hello Diana and welcome back to My Jane Austen Book Club. You were one the first
Jane Austen Fan Fiction writers in the 1990s. Can you share your inspiration
to become an Austenesque writer and your career journey so far?
“Think
only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure,” as Elizabeth told
Darcy, and it does give me pleasure, Maria Grazia, for you to invite me to talk
about the past! My Jane Austen adventure began when I won a contest in the
JASNA journal Persuasions, as long ago as 1984, writing Austen style
dialogue, a little sketch of the chatter of Miss Bates, in Emma. It was
so much fun, and I was so pleased at winning, that I decided to do more. Over
the next few years I wrote lots of what I thought of as pastiche (the terms
Austenesque and fan fic hadn’t yet been invented!), and this led to my writing
a full-length novel: Mrs. Darcy’s Dilemma was written in 1992. At the
time there had not been a Pride and Prejudice sequel since the 1940s,
and I thought it was an idea whose time had come. Two other authors had the
same brain wave simultaneously, and there was a fierce competition. I had an
excited New York literary agent and was told to expect a bidding war – but no.
The others (Emma Tennant with Pemberley and Julia Barrett with Presumption)
were better known, I was as yet unpublished, and the publishing world decreed
that there was no ROOM for a third Pride and Prejudice sequel, if you
can believe that, in a world where there are now hundreds!
“I don’t know what
happened,” said the agent, “but put it aside for a few years, and it will
sell.” The book was eventually published in England, and then picked up by
Sourcebooks. After a diverting detour to write a scholarly biography of my flamboyant,
half-Chinese grandmother (she was the first Asian American novelist, Onoto
Watanna), I turned back to Austen and wrote what I believe was the first
Austenesque internet serial story, “In Defense of Mrs. Elton.” This was
written on the Janeites list, then published by JASNA, in 1999, with
illustrations by Juliet McMaster, and was followed by “Mrs. Elton in America.”
Since then, I’ve never stopped writing my Austenesque pastiche stories and
plays, but now I’m very happy to have a new novel again!
What do you see in
Austen’s writing that makes her so admired and cherished?
I
loved her wit first, and then through many rereadings, increasingly realized
and reverenced her exquisite perfection of style. You can read her literally
thousands of times (I know!) and yet find something fresh every single time,
which is an absolutely unique quality in an author. It might be noticing how
beautifully a phrase is turned and balanced, or finding a new sly humorous
nuance, or a whole new meaning and way of looking at a character or situation
that you never fully realized before. Austen is endless – in the best possible
way.
I really enjoyed reading The
Bride of Northanger. What was your inspiration to write a continuation of Northanger
Abbey, Austen’s Gothic parody?
Actually,
I started writing it soon after the last JASNA conference whose theme was Northanger
Abbey, in Portland in 2010. I always found Northanger Abbey very
charming and youthful and was particularly curious about the central
relationship. But life got in the way – little things like full time job (I was
a story analyst at Warner Bros, reading books to see if they’d make movies),
and health problems for my husband. These things resolved, however. Husband got
better, and I retired from job, which left me nothing to do but finish the
book!
Henry Tilney, the charming
hero of Northanger Abbey, and Catherine Morland the naïve heroine, are
some of Austen’s most endearing characters in her canon. What were your
challenges to continue their story?
I
was always intrigued that such a very clever and sophisticated man as Henry
Tilney would fall for such a young naïve girl as Catherine who seemed to have
none of his own entrancing qualities. Nice enough girl, to be sure, but not
especially brainy nor beautiful. Jane Austen says he loved her because she
loved him, which made sense, but I thought there must be more to it than
that. Then while writing a paper about General
Tilney, The Ogre of Northanger it occurred to me that
Henry was sick of his father’s bullying and manipulation, and that an
honest-hearted girl like Catherine would be a complete refreshment to him. And,
in The Bride of Northanger I gave her a little more maturity of mind, as
she would naturally have developed by the time they were married.
What was your research method
to write The Bride of Northanger? Were there other books that you read, or
other people that helped you during the process?
There’s
no getting away from it, if you’re going to work in the world of Northanger
Abbey, you need to be at least a little familiar with the Gothic! I didn’t want to write an “all Gothic novel,”
I mainly wanted to focus on the Austen characters, to get to know and
understand them better, yet Gothic story elements there had to be. So, I did read a few of the tales Catherine
and Isabella delighted in and found the works of Ann Radcliffe particularly
enjoyable. It turned out to be great fun scattering in the Gothic fancies and a
bit of mystery as well!
There is a mysterious
miasma permeating throughout your story along with great chemistry in the
romance of the newlywed Tilneys. How are your characterizations similar and
different from Austen’s?
I
tried to imagine Henry and Catherine developing along the lines Austen seemed
to indicate. Austen is very good at suggesting
things, which is why people have always been drawn into writing sequels to her
novels! Catherine, under a year of
Henry’s tutelage during their engagement, would have read some very serious
books indeed, and I found it was amusing to think what they might have been,
what studies he encouraged, and what their conversations would have been like. Catherine
catches up to him a bit mentally, and I think this makes them more equal and
gives them more chemistry. Henry is of course witty and delightful, but some of
the Gothic goings-on in my book are perhaps horrifying enough to sober him up a
bit!
Can you describe where you
like to write? What do you surround yourself with to inspire you?
At
my computer, in a room full of very old-fashioned books, and three fat cats
wandering in and out!
When you are not writing,
what is your favorite diversion?
As
the original Henry Tilney said in Northanger Abbey, “It is well to have
as many holds on happiness as possible,” so I have several favorite diversions.
I love reading as well as writing; I try to get my body to England as often as
I possibly can; and two more great loves have always been hiking and ballet. My
deteriorating knees are starting to limit such physical delights, but I still
like walking in the mountains, and never fail to think to myself, “What are men
to rocks and mountains?”
BOOK DESCRIPTION
A
happier heroine than Catherine Morland does not exist in England, for she is about
to marry her beloved, the handsome, witty Henry Tilney. The night before the
wedding, Henry reluctantly tells Catherine and her horrified parents a secret
he has dreaded to share - that there is a terrible curse on his family and
their home, Northanger Abbey. Henry is a clergyman, educated and rational, and
after her year’s engagement Catherine is no longer the silly young girl who
delighted in reading “horrid novels”; she has improved in both reading and
rationality. This sensible young couple cannot believe curses are real...until
a murder at the Abbey triggers events as horrid and Gothic as Jane Austen ever
parodied - events that shake the young Tilneys’ certainties, but never their
love for each other...
EARLY PRAISE
“Diana
Birchall once again proves herself the worthiest of Austenesque fiction
writers, with keen powers of observation, discernment, judgment, fire, genius,
and wit on every page.” — Devoney Looser, author of The Making of Jane
Austen
“No
one captures Jane Austen's vibrant style, sense of humor, intelligence, and
voice better than Diana Birchall. I flew through this charming novel, which
makes a delightfully spooky and most welcome sequel to Northanger Abbey.”
— Syrie James, author of The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen
“One
of the most enjoyable returns to Austen to be found. Not to be missed.” — Susan
Franzblau, author and film director
AUTHOR BIO
Diana
Birchall worked for many years at Warner Bros studios as a story analyst,
reading novels to see if they would make movies. Reading manuscripts went side
by side with a restorative and sanity-preserving life in Jane Austen studies
and resulted in her writing Austenesque fiction both as homage and attempted
investigation of the secrets of Jane Austen's style. She is the author of In
Defense of Mrs. Elton, Mrs. Elton in America, Mrs. Darcy's
Dilemma, and the new The Bride of Northanger. She has written
hundreds of Austenesque short stories and plays, as well as a biography of her
novelist grandmother, and has lectured on her books and staged play readings at
places as diverse as Hollywood, Brooklyn, Montreal, Chawton House Library,
Alaska, and Yale. Visit Diana at her Austen Variations author
page, follow her on Twitter, Facebook
and Goodreads.
PURCHASE LINKS
FOLLOW THE BLOG TOUR
October
28 My Jane Austen Book Club
(Interview)
October
28 Austenprose—A Jane
Austen Blog (Review)
October
28 vvb32 Reads (Spotlight)
October
29 A Covent Garden
Gilflurt’s Guide of Life (Guest Blog)
October
29 From
Pemberley to Milton (Excerpt)
October
30 Drunk Austen
(Interview)
October
30 Silver
Petticoat Review (Excerpt)
October
31 Jane
Austen’s World (Review)
November 01 So
Little Time… (Interview)
November
01 Laura's
Reviews (Review)
November
04 English Historical Fiction
Authors (Guest Blog)
November
04 Confessions of a Book Addict
(Spotlight)
November
05 More Agreeably Engaged (Review)
November
05 Vesper’s Place (Review)
November
06 Jane Austen in Vermont (Interview)
November
06 Diary of an Eccentric
(Interview)
November 07 All Things
Austen (Spotlight)
November
07 A Bookish Way of Life
(Review)
November
07 Let Them Read Books
(Excerpt)
November
08 Babblings of a Bookworm (Review)
November
08 vvb32
Reads (Review)
November 11 My Jane Austen
Book Club
(Review)
November
11 Reading the Past
(Spotlight)
November
12 Jane Austen’s World
(Interview)
November
12 The
Calico Critic (Excerpt)
November
13 The Book Rat (Review)
November
13 Austenesque
Reviews (Review)
November
14 Fangs, Wands, & Fairy Dust
(Review)
November
14 The Fiction Addiction
(Review)
November
15 My Love for Jane Austen
(Spotlight)
November 15 Scuffed
Slippers and Wormy Books (Review)
9 comments:
Congrats on the release!
Lovely interview Maria. Northanger Abbey is the most underappreciated of Austen's canon. I am so glad to see a new continuation when there are so few available, and by such a prominent author too. I really enjoyed The Bride of Northanger. It was the perfect read during this Halloween season to put me in the mood, and spend some time with Catherine and Henry.
Congratulations, Diana, on your latest book! Enjoy the blog tour.
What a delightful interview! I've had this added to my list since I heard of it, as I love Northanger Abbey! I truly cannot wait to read this one. Thanks for sharing this post!
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It is DIANA BIRCHALL's latest novel "THE BRIDE OF NORTHANGER" I have read this and all I have to say is that it is a mind-blowing novel.
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