NEW RELEASE! ELAINE JEREMIAH, BY TIME DIVIDED: EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY

 A year ago, in October 2018, Elaine Jeremiah was my guest here at My Jane Austen Book Club and we discussed time travel fiction, Jane Austen fanfiction and other Austen-related topics. The occasion was the release of her debut novel, Love Without Time. (Read the post HERE).

Today I'm thrilled to celebrate with you all the release of her second novel, By Time Divided, with a lovely excerpt and a double giveaway! 

LOVE WITHOUT TIME BY ELAINE JEREMIAH - AUTHOR INTERVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

Hello and welcome to My Jane Austen Book Club, Elaine! Let’s start from your book, 'Love Without Time’.  Is it a variation/modern day retelling of one of Austen’s works or something different? Could you tell us more about it?

‘Love Without Time’ is my own original story about a Jane Austen-mad girl called Cassie Taylor who accidentally walks into Regency England. It’s best described as a Jane Austen-inspired time travel romance. It’s the first in a trilogy and I’ve nearly finished the first draft of the second book, ‘By Time Divided’.

My heroine Cassie is in the grounds of a hospital when she finds herself walking into Regency England. The reason she’s at a hospital is that the man who she only just met that day, and who saved her life, has been badly hurt and she’s waiting for news of him. I won’t give anything else away, except to say that once in Regency England, she has to learn to fend for herself in a world that’s very different from the twenty-first century one she’s been used to.

Do you have a best favourite among Austen’s novels? Why do you like it more than others?

I know nearly everyone lists ‘Pride and Prejudice’ as their favourite Austen novel, but it’s mine too! It’s just so witty and fun and Elizabeth Bennet is the kind of person I’d love to be. She’s feisty, intelligent and confident and she’s not afraid to speak her mind. She won’t settle for anything less than true love and that’s why she refuses Mr Darcy the first time. She doesn’t love him – in fact at that point she can’t stand him. And Mr Darcy – the archetypal hero. Tall, handsome and brooding, what’s not to like?

Another aspect of it that I love is how it goes deeper than just a formulaic love story. Both Elizabeth and Darcy are forced to examine themselves and their behaviour. The fact that they’re both willing to change, to admit they were wrong is a sign of their integrity as people. They feel like such real characters and I think that’s why they’re so loved.

JANE ODIWE, TIME TRAVELS WITH JANE AUSTEN: PROJECT DARCY + GIVEAWAY OF A SIGNED COPY

Maria, thank you so much for inviting me to talk about my new book, Project Darcy, and share an exclusive sneak peek!

When I first read about the fact that there’d been an archaeological dig at Jane Austen’s childhood home, I couldn’t help thinking that it would make a marvellous setting for a novel. The idea of a group of volunteers, from all walks of life, coming together in secret to discover all sorts of interesting possibilities about Jane Austen’s first twenty five years of life at Steventon Rectory, really fired my imagination. I wanted to combine a modern story with undertones of Pride and Prejudice alongside a tale in the past, and having written one timeslip novel, I couldn’t wait to get started.

Ellie, Jess, Martha, Cara, and Liberty, are five friends just leaving university, and all have their own reasons for volunteering for the dig. They arrive at Ashe, just a couple of miles from Steventon and are going to be staying at Jess’s godmother’s house - Ashe Rectory. What none of them realise is that this house has its own connections to Jane Austen’s past in a very special way as the house where she fell in love, but for one person, in particular, being haunted by a particular young man has life-changing consequences!

Here’s a little excerpt - the girls have arrived at the house where they’re staying, and immediately, Ellie senses the enchantment of the place.