A MOST CLEVER GIRL BLOG TOUR: TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH ... JASMINE A. STIRLING

 

Hello Jasmine and welcome to My Jane Austen Book Club! My first question for you is “When was your first encounter with Jane Austen”?

I first fell in love with Jane Austen while reading Persuasion at age nineteen while studying abroad as an associate member of Keble College at the University of Oxford.

Soon thereafter, I read Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park. In all three instances, I was struck by Austen’s realistic heroines. It was the first time I had ever encountered female characters in any novel that seemed so relatable—so like me, in fact! I loved seeing complicated, bookish, outspoken, flawed women change and grow through the course of each novel.

TALKING SANDITON WITH ... JANET TODD

The first-ever television adaptation of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel SANDITON will air on PBS Masterpiece from 12 January 2020.  Written by award winning screenwriter Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice, Les Miserable, Mr. Selfridge), the first TV trailer for the 8-part series has just been released. (Watch it HERE)

Today December 1, 2019 a new and easily accessible edition of Sanditon is published by Fentum Press. It includes an innovative introductory essay by Janet Todd, a leading Austen scholar, plus the text of the novel.

Jane Austen's Sanditon

Written as a comedy, Sanditon continues the strain of burlesque and caricature Austen wrote as a teenager and in private throughout her life. She examines the moral and social problems of capitalism, entrepreneurship, and whether wealth trickles down to benefit the place where it is made. She explores the early 19th century culture of self: the exploitation of hypochondria, health fads, seaside resorts, and the passion for salt-water cures. Written only months before Austen's death in 1817 the book was never fully completed by the author.

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT DARCY - INTERVIEW WITH DR GABRIELLE MALCOM

Hello and welcome, Dr Malcolm! Thanks a lot for accepting my invitation. First of all, can you tell us how you came to write There’s Something About Darcy? 

Hello – and thank you for inviting me, it’s a great pleasure to be here.

My inspiration to write the book, firstly, comes from my fascination for Austen’s characters and – of course – huge admiration of her work and legacy. But I also had an encounter soon after I moved to Bath when I was standing at a bus-stop. I saw a young woman carrying a tote bag with the slogan ‘I “Heart” Darcy’ on it. This got me thinking – what other 19^th Century character from a classic novel could possibly provoke such a sentiment? So much so, that merchandise would be created, and people would buy it! From there, it took me to investigating – why Darcy? Why does he provoke such interest and adoration around the world?

  

What is your personal interpretation of Darcy’s appeal, especially to contemporary readers? 

I simply love what Austen did with her hero. This is at the heart of his longstanding and continuing appeal. I think it’s because she created a character with a fascinating story arc. She expertly crafted his learning process, in company with and apart from Elizabeth, with input from other family members and new acquaintances. Without drawing attention to it, Austen cunningly demonstrates Darcy’s education in the world. She even has him write a long essay explaining himself halfway through! Stroke of genius. He accounts for his actions and apologises. I think that goes down well with contemporary readers. He is also devoted and full of hope. He carries out his tasks for Elizabeth’s family without knowing if he will ever have the chance to see her again. He remains hopeful and in love throughout the second half of the book.

BE MORE JANE BY SOPHIE ANDREWS - REVIEW & GIVEAWAY

There are books that change our lives dramatically when we happen to find them. They become a treasure we guard jealously so that we can resort on them when we find ourselves in need.  

Sophie Andrews found her treasure book very early in life. She was nine when her mother sat her down to watch a new movie, the 2005 adaptation of Pride ad Prejudice. Little did either of them realize then how meaningful Jane Austen would be in Sophie’s life. A few years later, aged 16 she would start a blog, Laughing with Lizzie,  after studying Jane Austen’s novel at school.

Since that moment she has become a very active, enthusiastic and creative Janeite: she organizes events such as picnics, balls and house parties for other Austenites and she was even featured in the BBC documentary, My Friend Jane, which focused on the fun and friendship she has found with fellow Janeites.

Now Sophie owns 100 different editions of Pride and Prejudice and has just released her first Austen-inpired book, Be More Jane, with which she tries to help us bring out our inner Austen to meet our lives’ challenges.  

This book is first of all an object of beauty, especially so thanks to the lovely illustrations by Jane Odiwe . Then it is a precious handbook in which Sophie searches and finds significative connections between Jane Austen’s work and real life. What can we learn from such a beloved writer which can be helpful in our every day predicaments?

PRAYING WITH JANE: A NEW DEVOTIONAL BASED ON THE PRAYERS OF JANE AUSTEN

“Reading Jane’s prayers is a bit like looking into her heart.”

A New Devotional Based on the Prayers of Jane Austen:

Praying with Jane: 31 Days Through the Prayers of Jane Austen by Rachel Dodge

While much has been written about Jane Austen’s life and novels, less is known about her spiritual side or the three prayers she wrote. In Praying with Jane, Christian readers and Jane Austen fans can explore Austen’s prayers in an intimate devotional format as they learn about her personal faith, her Anglican upbringing, and the spiritual truths found in her novels.

Jane Austen’s faith comes to life in this beautiful 31-day devotional through her exquisite prayers, touching biographical anecdotes, and illuminating scenes from her novels. Each daily entry includes examples from Austen’s own life and novels, as well as key Scripture verses, ideas for personal application, and a prayer inspired by Jane’s petitions. 

The author, Rachel Dodge,  teaches college English and Jane Austen classes, gives talks at libraries, teas, and Jane Austen groups, and is a writer for the popular Jane Austen’s World blog. She is passionate about prayer and the study of God’s Word. A true “Janeite” at heart, Rachel enjoys books, bonnets, and ball gowns. She makes her home in California with her husband and their two young children.

HOW TO SPEAK LIKE JANE AUSTEN AND LIVE LIKE ELIZABETH BENNET - MEET AUTHOR KAELYN CALDWELL + BOOK GIVEAWAY

First of all Kaelyn, welcome to our online book club. I’m really glad you’re here today to introduce yourself and your new book to our readers.

Thanks so much for having me!

Of course, my first question is: How did it come that you decided to write about Jane Austen’s world?

I became enamored with the BBC/A&E Pride and Prejudice miniseries … to the point that I was watching it multiple times each year. I couldn’t figure out why a woman of “sense and education” would repeatedly watch the same movie again and again (and again!) … and then it occurred to me: Being able to hear the language of Jane Austen and see the lifestyle of Elizabeth Bennet was just so pleasurable – beyond even what the novel could provide. That’s when I decided to “translate” Austen’s language and Elizabeth’s lifestyle for contemporary fans.

How to Speak Like Jane Austen and Live Like Elizabeth Bennet, A Pride and Prejudice Primer: Your Guide to Livelier Language and a Lovelier Lifestyle is available as an ebook. How would you interest our Janeite friends in your book in about 50 words?

I would say: If you can’t get enough of Pride or Prejudice in book or movie form, you can now put down the novel and step away from the DVD! How to Speak Like Jane Austen and Live Like Elizabeth Bennet makes it easy to incorporate Austen’s lively language and Elizabeth’s lovely lifestyle into our everyday lives.

TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH ... DEBORAH YAFFE, AUTHOR OF "AMONG THE JANEITES: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE WORLD OF JANE AUSTEN FANDOM"

First of all Deborah, welcome to our online book club. I’m really glad you’re here today to introduce yourself and your new book to our readers.
Thank  you for inviting me!

Of course, my first question is:  “How did it come that you  decided to write about  Austen  fans,  the so – called Janeites” ?

I’ve been an Austen fan since I was a child, and over the years I attended a couple of the Jane Austen Society of North America’s annual conferences, which I loved.  About eight years ago, I read Karen Joy Fowler’s novel The Jane Austen Book Club and decided it would be fun to found a book club like that, dedicated to reading all the novels in order. I roped several neighbors into the group, and during our Pride and Prejudice discussion, a question came up about the entail, that legal device that’s so important to the inheritance issues in P&P. The next day, trying to research this question online, I decided to drop in on the Republic of Pemberley, the largest online Austen fan site, which I’d vaguely heard of but never visited.  I fell instantly in love with this community of fellow Austen obsessives  and started spending inordinate amounts of time there, to the point that I would get embarrassed when my husband caught me at it – after all, I was supposed to be hard at work on a book on a completely different subject.  One day, I was telling him about this wonderful community and its many quirky personalities, and he said, “You should write a book about that.” It took me a few years, but eventually I did.

TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH ... EMILY BRAND, AUTHOR OF MR DARCY'S GUIDE TO COURTSHIP

Thanks Emily for taking the time to answer my questions and agreeing to talk Jane Austen with me. This is my first curiosity:  when and how did you come to write a Jane Austen sequel?

Mr Darcy’s Guide to Courtship is more of a prequel: it is set shortly before the events of Pride and Prejudice, and imagines the advice that Darcy might have given Bingley on how to attract a suitable lady before he is let loose on Hertfordshire’s female population.

As an historian, my recent research has focused on the real seduction manuals – often just collections of what we’d now call ‘chat up lines’ – that were in circulation in and around Jane Austen’s lifetime. Many of them are really entertaining, and I wanted to bring them back into public view somehow. Austen’s books have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and it only seemed right to reveal how men really went about winning a lady’s affections through the medium of Regency England’s most eligible bachelor himself!

MR DARCY'S GUIDE TO COURTSHIP - THE SECRETS OF SEDUCTION FROM JANE AUSTEN'S MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELOR

If I were a man, I'd ask him for advice in courtship, wouldn't you?  But since I am a woman, I'm  terribly curious to know what he would suggest to another man and what he really thinks about us.  Fitzwilliam Darcy has been so many women's dream man for 200 years now and he must know one or two secrets to  succeed with them.

Since the publication of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in 1813, Mr Darcy has been the romantic hero par excellence, fancied by ladies of all ages all over the world. Who better than him could write a guide to the seduce the opposite sex?  

Now, in his Guide to Courtship,   he offers advice to make you successful in love but,  be warned, he wrote this book  before been mellowed by contact with Miss Elizabeth Bennet. So, please,  imagine the Darcy you met at Meriton Assembly, which means all pride and prejudice,  as the author of this little precious book.

TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH ... AMY ELIZABETH SMITH - GIVEAWAY OF "ALL ROADS LEAD TO AUSTEN"

Amy Elizabeth Smith has an undergraduate degree in music and a masters and PhD in English. She teaches writing and literature (including a course on Jane Austen) at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. She loves travelling, dancing, classic cinema, and watching squirrel videos on YouTube.

With a suitcase full of Jane Austen novels in Spanish, Amy Elizabeth Smith set off on a yearlong Latin American adventure: a travelling book club with Jane. In six unique, unforgettable countries, she gathered book-loving new friends— taxi drivers and teachers, poets and politicians— to read Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice.

All Roads lead to Austen is an interesting account of those experiences and of how she met her “Seῆor Darcy”...

Leave your comment + your e-mail address, add the country you live in and you can have a chance to win this new interesting Austen-dedicated travel book. The giveaway is open worldwide and ends  on June  16th.

JANE AUSTEN IS ... HAPPINESS!

Isn't it true that we read and re-read Jane Austen because her novels and her wit can make us happy? It is undeniable truth. The subject of Jane Austen and happiness is even analized in academic paper, sometimes boasting and pedantic but nonetheless interesting. 

This is what I've been reading about this afternoon.  I'm not working on any lecture about Austen in this period, I'm teaching other authors from other literary periods. It was just out of curiosity.

The first paper I found is by Robert Miles, Chair of the Department of English at the University of Victoria, Canada. His lecture/paper available online, Jane Austen, Happiness and Moral Luck aims at arguing that Austen’s capacity to make her readers happy is a key datum in understanding Austen’s place in modernity. Traditionally Jane Austen has been thought of as an Augustan writer. For recent critics, to revise Austen as ‘Romantic’ has generally meant rescuing her from the Janeites with their insistence upon the novels as ‘hetero-normative’ fairytales of domestic bliss. In this lecture Robert Miles sides with the Janeites, instead,  and Charles Taylor’s recent, revisionary account of secularization, in A Secular Age,   provides the critical framework for his reading of Austen.

It was Jane Austen who first represented the specifically modern personality and the culture in which it had its being. Never before had the moral life been shown as she shows it to be, never before had it been conceived to be so complex and difficult and exhausting. Hegel speaks of the “secularization of spirituality” as a prime characteristic of the modern epoch, and Jane Austen is the first to tell us what this involves. (from Lionel Trilling’s Sincerity and Authenticity ,Oxford University Press  1973,  p. 308 )

Among Robert Miles's academic publication, Jane Austen: Writers and their Work (Northcote House Publishers, 2003)

By assessing what was original in Jane Austen's fictional technique in the context of the history of the novel, Robert Miles takes a fresh look at how Austen came to be constructed as a model of Englishness. For many readers Jane Austen is the quintessential English author. Jane Austen sets out to explore the history of this identification with Englishness in the context of a tradition of criticism that has frequently tried to achieve the reverse: to establish her difference, and distance, from 'us'. Rather than simply showing how Austen differs from the heritage, Jane Austen argues that many of the reasons for her construction as an English cultural icon are to found in the works formal qualities, and often in her most innovative techniques.

Another interesting contribution to the discussion about Austen and the theme of happiness comes from Claire Eileen Tarlson , Seattle University , Washington. Her article is Jane Austen, Persuasion, and the Pursuit of Happiness ( Lethbridge Undergraduate Research Journal. 2006. Volume 1 Number 1).

Abstract. This paper argues that there is a Romantic shift in the feminist and individualistic ideology of Jane Austen's work as her career progresses, and Austen begins to admire different cognitive qualities in her heroines. At the end of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth's confessed love for Darcy is a carefully reasoned one - Darcy has righted the wrongs cited in Elizabeth's original refusal and Elizabeth can justify her own acceptance of him by objective standards. Anne Elliot of Persuasion, by contrast, accepts Wentworth ultimately not on the basis of anything he has done differently, but merely by the realization of her own original emotions and motives as valid. Throughout the novel, Anne develops as this individual on her own, and by the time she finally marries Wentworth at the end of the novel, the marriage is not needed to complete her because she has already made her emotional transformation independent of the marriage proposal. The contextual frameworks for both of Jane Austen's novels Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion are so similar that they demand side-by-side comparison, but the heroines of these novels show a very different approach to characterizing the admirable woman. The evocation of Elizabeth by means of Anne's character serves to elucidate and cement this shift in Austen's tone and feminist worldview. 

The similarities juxtaposed with a discernible shift in the qualities of the heroine strongly suggest that Anne Elliot is a reworking of Elizabeth Bennet, and that the purpose of Persuasion is to reinvent Pride and Prejudice in a way shows Austen's reconsideration of the value and motives of marriage and gives even more intellectual and emotional credit to Persuasion's heroine. There exists a carefully crafted language of allusion in Austen's works, and especially between these two bookends of her career, which seem to serve almost as a privatized discourse for Austen's own benefit. In this way, Austen is showing her own shift into Romanticism, valuing the emotional over the reasonable, and how this shift should play out into the lives of women. Elizabeth is representative of women being capable and worthy to reason in the world of men, whereas Anne's individualism gives women something even more important in Austen's assertion of the validity and worth of female emotions.

If you are interested in reading these papers,  you can find them in pdf format online:

1. Jane Austen, Happiness and Moral Luck

2. Jane Austen,  Persuasion and The Pursuit of Happiness

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CAROLYN EBERHART - LOVING JANE AUSTEN AND REGENCY PASTIMES. GUESTPOST AND GIVEAWAY

Hello dear readers ,

I'm Carolyn Eberhart. This is my second time at My Jane Austen Book Club . First I visited for one of Maria Grazia's "Talking Jane Austen with..." interviews (HERE) where I also talked about my novella published in the collection "A Darcy Christmas". (see picture on the left)

I was born on Valentine’s Day, so it is any wonder that I enjoy the classic stories of love and relationships written by Jane Austen.

I grew up in Michigan and currently live in central Virginia, near the homes of three presidents Jane may have heard about – Jefferson, Madison and Monroe.

I first read Jane Austen after the 1995 mini-series of Pride and Prejudice.  I watched the series at least once a week for months! I started writing my sequels back in 1996 after I read one of the few published sequels available at the time and found it wanting.  I like to fill in the parts of the story that Jane only hints at her writing.

Besides a day job, I have been on the committee of the Republic of Pemberley for many years, first as the Bits of Ivory hostess and currently on the Austenuations board for minor works and sequels.  I am also the membership chair for Virginia Romance Writers.

In my spare time, I enjoy trying recipes from an extensive cook book collection (I never met a cook book I didn’t like). October is the start of my “truffle season” where I make between 30-40 different varieties of hand rolled truffles for Christmas presents. I also enjoy making Regency inspired Barbie clothes.  

In fact, the theme of today's guestblog should be games and pastimes. And one of them we can date back to the 18th century is ...Jigsaw Puzzles!

Jigsaw puzzles began as a simple educational tool.  The first one was invented by Englishman John Spilsbury in the mid-1760s. Spilsbury attached a map to a piece of wood and then cut out each country with a marquetry saw.  Jane Austen may have used one in the schoolroom as they proved quite popular as a learning aid.  Puzzles as we know them were not developed until the mid-1800s.

John Spilsbury map puzzle (above).  Only two of Spilsbury's puzzles are known to exist. 

Regency Pub Puzzle (above).  Not a period piece but it shows the elaborate or fanciful shapes often used in older jigsaw puzzles.

GIVEAWAY TIME!   This is the puzzle I am giving away.  The puzzle scene is Darcy's first lamentable proposal to Elizabeth.  The puzzle box looks like a book, so you can store on your bookcase and tell friends you have a rare copy of the Jane Austen's "Jigsaw Puzzle".

The giveaway is open WORLDWIDE and ends on August 13th when the winner will be announced. Good luck, everyone. Comment this post, telling us what is your favourite game or pastime. Don't forget to add your e-mail address to be contacted by Maria Grazia.

Carolyn Eberhart

TALKING ABOUT JANE AUSTEN IN BAGHDAD: THE TRUE STORY OF AN UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP

Bee Rowlatt and May Witwit, Talking about Jane Austen in Baghdad, Penguin Books 2010  (Sognando Jane Austen a Baghdad, Edizioni Piemme 2010)

Book cover of the English version

I’ve literally just this minute  closed the book on its last page and I can’t explain how deeply moved I feel. I’m profoundly touched by its happy ending. Maybe,  it is because it’s not a novel but a true story and the thought that all I have been  reading  really happened moved me to tears more than once while reading . I’m getting older and at the same time  more sensitive,  I know. But what can be done to change that?

Honestly, I bought this book  thinking there would be much more Austen in it. In fact, there was very little. However, I’m not disappointed,  I liked it a lot.  More than liked it, loved it!

What is this book about?  It is an exchange of e-mail messages (from January 2005 to October 2008) between two very different women who, little by little,  develop a firm friendship based on a strong feeling of sympathy.

May teaches English Literature at a university in Baghdad,  to a class of girls  and,  even though nothing could be farther from the reality surrounding them, she leaves her house every day to talk to them about Jane Austen.  Old times’ skirmishes vs real war.  

May and Bee - Good friends thanks to Jane Austen

At the same time, May tries to lead an ordinary life, going shopping or to the hairdresser’s,  challenging  the possibility of being involved in a bomb explosion  each time.  She has to cope with on and off electrical power supply, black market and the government’s repression against intellectuals like her,  or different ethnic groups  like her husband’s.

Bee is a journalist living in London and her challenge is to run her life between her three little daughters  and her work at BBC World, with a globetrotter as a husband.

May and Bee couldn’t be more different. Culture, religion, kilometers separate them. Yet, when they get into contact through e-mail, because Bee wants an interview with May, they become friends. They tell each other about their routines. May’s messages become a sort of diary of the  life in  troubled Iraq.  A schizophrenic country where girls put on their make-up and unveil or untie their hair once they get to school, and then cover or compose themselves again before going back home , or  where a daughter can still be rejected  by her family for marrying a younger man of an inferior rank. Yet  a country in which Jane Austen is not so impossible  to read and appreciate as an escape.  Jane Austen or  Dickens, but it is not an easy task to read "The Scarlet Letter" by  Nathaniel Hawthorne with them. What those girls could never be able to understand is the idea of freedom or that of real democracy.

Bee and May in London

After  the initial lightness , May’s messages become more and more dripping of fear.  For instance,  “We were in Dorset for 10 days and had loads of people coming, so I thought it would be exhausting,” Bee Rowlatt writes. “Just as I was making tea and preparing breakfast a bomb exploded outside,” May Witwit answers.

 A race against time starts in order to save May and her husband, Alì.  Bee feels guilty when she sends  May her tales about balancing a career with bringing up young daughters , about the stress of  a free woman coping with her  little troubles  or her  jealousy towards  her own husband’s freedom to focus on his career . No bloodshed, no bombs, no violence, no poverty . She feels guilty , but to May those stories are both escape and hope. May hopes and dreams of  joining  Bee in England one day, to start all over with a different  life in a different country.  So  Bee begins to worki and fight for her friend,  so that May’s dream may come true. 

May Witwit lives in England with her husbands now.

I highly recommend this book to all those of you who love literature and the classics, as well as a well - written tale of real life from a female point of view. I found May’s and Bee’s  attitudes to life very enlightening . Both of them have their own personal, original , involving writing style. They’ve learnt much from books and  use that knowledge to face the hardships in life. "A book can save your life", be it Jane Austen or Dickens, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Hawthorne or Hemingway . Not simply a saying. It seems books , together with Bee's friendship and solidarity, really helped May to survive in the hell of  Baghdad.  

Read and listen E-mail Friends of War and Piece

Just Good Friends

A VERY SPECIAL GIFT FOR JANEITES - POCKET POSH JANE AUSTEN

I've just received this lovely gift book directly from the publisher (Andrew McMeel Publishing) and I find it a great idea for a present to a Janeite friend, don't you?

It provides fun testing your knowledge of one of history's greatest authoresses, who continues to be loved by millions and to inspire so many all over the world. You'll find crossword puzzles, trivia questions and word scrambles which test your memory and knowledge of Jane Austen's characters, stories and life. I'm sure this small 100- puzzle book will captivate any Janeite, since it is a smart form of exercise for the mind as well as an object to collect which has both look and brains. Last but not least, it is the perfect size to fit in a pocket or purse, and is a convenient way to spend some quality time with a literary great. If you are interestedin the classics,  among the newest Pocket Posh puzzle books, not only Jane Austen but also William Shakespeare.

Stay tuned on My Jane Austen Book Club. You'll be given the chance to win a free copy of Pocket Posh Jane Austen very soon!

If you can't resist and  immediately want one for yourself ,

if  you need a nice gift for an Austenite friend soon,

have a look HERE or HERE!

THE JANE AUSTEN HANDBOOK by MARGARET C. SULLIVAN - A REVIEW

If you plan to time travel to Regency as it happens to Amanda Price (Jemima Rooper) in Lost in Austen or to Courtney Stone in Laurie Viera Rigler's Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict  , you'd better read this highly informative book,  THE JANE AUSTEN HANDBOOK by Margaret C. Sullivan,  before leaving. Especially the "How to Become an Accomplished Lady" section,  in which you are suggested a store of accomplishments of no practical use, therefore, quite attractive to gentlemen. Then, you can't miss the "How to Identify the Quality" or "How to ensure a Good Yearly Income" sections , where you learn to choose your company - and even your husband-to-be - according to birth, education, manners and rank as well as to ensure an income that will keep you in the common necessaries of life. 

Don't you plan to take a step from our frantic, highly technological 21st century? 

You'll find this handbook very useful , anyway, in order to escape  our crazy rhythms and consequent troubles,  at least: advice is provided as to decline an unwanted proposal, carry on a secret engagement (read "affair" nowadays ),  to get your "him" back after you have quarrelled, how to behave at a formal dinner party and so on.

Jokes apart, this lovely handbook is a must in any Janeite book collection. It must  be on your Austen shelf!  It is a precious object, cute and pretty to look at, but it is especially a witty, amusing way to have a glimpse into day-to-day life in Jane Austen's time. THE JANE AUSTEN HANDBOOK is perfect companion for fans of her novels and their film adaptations, complete with detail information on love among the social classes, currency, dress and nuances of graceful living.

Aren't you curious to spot all the hypochondriacs in Jane Austen's novels? Hilarious.To elope to Scotland? So adventurous! To learn all the secrets to be successful at an elegant Regency ball? Dreamy! Can't you find a way to get rid of unwanted guests? At last!  Just get hold of this little treasureable handbook and you'll be ready to cope with all that and to enjoy your Austenesque reads even more!

This is also a perfect gift for  a Janeite friend  or  a romantic young niece/daughter to incline toward Austen world, terrific for Mother's Day.

Long before Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Quirk Books published this guide to life in Regency England. It has been newly published with a revised cover  much to the delight of Austen fans everywhere. Margaret C. Sullivan is the editrix of Austenblog.com and an active member of the Jane Austen Society of North America. Her favourite Austen novel is Persuasion.

LATEST ADDITION TO MY AUSTEN SHELF - THE LITTLE BOOK OF JANE AUSTEN

A dear friend has just sent me this little precious gift book. Isn't it cute? The Little Book of Jane Austen written by Emily Wollastone, directly from Bath. It is,  first of all , a beautiful book, lwith a lovely hard cover, full of gorgeous pictures. Then it is a very useful handbook with everything important about and around Jane Austen. It is divided into 6 sections : introduction, Austen country, the novels, films and television, Celebrating Jane Austen, The Jane Austen Society.

Introduction

Plenty of biographical notes and interesting  information about which writers influenced her work, the history of the writing/publication of her works as well as what kind of reverence or criticism she obtained by other writers of the time can be find in this previous chapter.

 Austen Country

Jane Austen's houses in Steventon, Chawton, Bath, and even the house which hosted Jane in Winchester in her final days, are all described here with anecdotes of her life and beautiful pictures.

The Novels

Detailed plots and little criticism of all the major six and a section dedicated to Austen's Juvenilia, short stories and unfinished novels consitute the bulk of this long chapter with the contribution of lots of colourful stills from the latest adaptations.

 

Film & Television

All six of Austen's major novels have been adapted for the cinemaand small screen to varying degrees of success. This brief section is a rapid outlook on all of them.

 Celebrating Jane Austen

This section deals with The Jane Austen's House Museum and the  The Jane Austen Centre in Bath, with information about their history and current activities.   

The Jane Austen Society

There are many  Jane Austen Societies throughout the world: the JASA (Jane Austen Society of Australia), the Jane Austen Society in the UK,  the JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America),  the JAS of Buenos Ayres and several others. Their intent is to celebrate her life and work. They are all mentioned in this closing section.

This little gift book could be a precious addition to the shelves of a Janeite or the right way to make someone not yet  acquainted with Austen to discover much about her and maybe start to read her work.

To me,  it has been an unexpected, highly appreciated gift.

I'll treasure it. Many thanks, A.