“Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings,” said JaneAusten. And yet, the unfolding of these nothings is what makes up the amazing stories of our lives, whether they are the lives of characters in books, or the lives of writers. Few writers are as revered, emulated, and beloved as JaneAusten, her novels holding a secure place in the cannon of English literature. Now, at the bicentennial anniversary of the publication of Sense and Sensibility—Austen’s first novel in print—comes an intimate look into the life of JaneAusten in her own words in JANEAUSTEN’S LETTERS: Fourth Edition(Oxford | December 2011), edited by Deirdre Le Faye.
In these letters—mostly addressed to members of her family, and the majority of those to her sister, Cassandra—Austen shares her personal insight into contemporary events and places in her own turn of phrase. Her observations serve to further our understanding of life in that time, and in so doing, we learn some of her own secrets. Most significantly, the gossip, witty social commentary, humor, and voice found in Austen’s letters echo unmistakably in such novels as Northanger Abbey, Emma, andPride and Prejudice.
The fourth edition of JANEAUSTEN’S LETTERS also includes:
·A new insightful preface by Le Faye
·Reorganization of the letters into their correct chronological sequence
·Complete annotations for each letter as well as a list of the physical details of the manuscripts
·Updated and enhanced biographical and topographical indexes and a new subject index
·Added notes to the general index
Scholars, students, and fans of JaneAusten will relish in this exposure of the novelist’s life as she experienced it. Le Faye’s updates in JANEAUSTEN’S LETTERS: Fourth Edition greatly enhance our understanding of the life and times of one of the most popular writers of all time.
About the Author:
Deirdre Le Faye, now retired, worked for many years in the Department of Medieval & Later Antiquities at the British Museum. She started researching the life and times of JaneAusten and her family in the 1970s, and since then has written several books about them, the latest being A Chronology of Jane Austen and her Family 1600-2000, as well as numerous articles in literary journals.
JANEAUSTEN’S LETTERS: Fourth Edition
edited by Deirdre Le Faye, will be published by Oxford in hardcover on December 15, 2011
($45.00 ׀688 pages ׀ISBN:9780199576074).
DOUBLE GIVEAWAY
Oxford University Press has kindly granted the readers of My Jane Austen Book Club 2 copies of this precious book. Unfortunately this giveaway is limited to US and Canada readers only. Please leave a comment to enter the contest and don't forget to add your e-mail address. Winners will be announced on November 30th.
After being published in the US, "The Unexpected Miss Bennet" by Patrice Sarath has been released in the US by Penguin Group USA. The copy the American publishers granted the readers of My Jane Austen Book Club has been won by
Sophia Rose !!!
Thanks to Patrice Sarath for being my kind guest again and to all of you who entered the giveaway contest.
The book
Pride and Prejudice's Mary Bennet gets her own story...
The third of five daughters, Miss Mary Bennet is a rather unremarkable girl. With her countenance being somewhere between plain and pretty and in possession of no great accomplishments, few expect the third Bennet daughter to attract a respectable man. But although she is shy and would much prefer to keep her nose stuck in a book, Mary is uncertain she wants to meekly follow the path to spinsterhood set before her.
Determined that Mary should have a chance at happiness, the elder Bennet sisters concoct a plan. Lizzy invites Mary to visit at Pemberley, hoping to give her sister a place to grow and make new acquaintances. But it is only when Mary strikes out independently that she can attempt to become accomplished in her own right. And in a family renowned for its remarkable Misses, Mary Bennet may turn out to be the most wholly unexpected of them all...
Maya Slater mainly writes fiction, but she also writes theatre and book reviews, mainly for the Times Literary Supplement. She keeps up her academic interests, and is currently a Senior Research Fellow of her old college, Queen Mary, University of London. She is my guest today to talk Jane Austen with me and to give you the chance to win a signed copy of her latest book, The Private Diary of Mr Darcy (USA 2009) first published in the United Kingdom as ‘Mr Darcy’s Diary’.
First of all thanks for accepting my invitation and being here with us on My Jane Austen Book Club, Maya.
It’s a real pleasure. I look forward to answering your questions.
Now, let’s start with our chat.
What are the qualities/adjectives that comes to your mind if I say … Mr Darcy?
Proud, superior, self-conscious on the one hand, and on the other benevolent, philanthropic, shy, introverted, honourable. The adjectives I’ve chosen reflect the Mr. Darcy who grew for me as I wrote my bookbut they’re also true of Jane Austen’s original.
Are those the features that have made him a hero beyond time?
I wonder if his pride, which I put first, is the most romantic of his qualities: there’s nothing more attractive than seeing a proud man’s defences crumble when he finds himself passionately in love with a woman whom his family and friends regard as far beneath him.
What are the secret aspects of his personality you decided to investigate?
There are long passages in Pride & Prejudice where Elizabeth and Darcy are apart, often in different parts of England. But as I was writing a diary, I wanted to include an account of Darcy’s life on his own, as a young man about town, and during a visit to his old schoolfriend Lord Byron, for example.
I’ve read on your site that when you started writing “Mr Darcy’s Diary” , Mr Darcy led you where he wanted to go – and you found that he was taking you to places where Jane Austen could never have followed. This made me extremely curious! What could you add without giving away great spoilers?
I did a good deal of research into the Georgian period for my novel, and it became clear to me that Jane Austen shows us only the side of Darcy which would be seen by the ladies around him. Writing his private diary, I had to make him give a frank account of things which he would not wish any lady to know. In particular, I realised very quickly that rich young bachelors in Darcy’s time would certainly have had relationships with women long before seeking a bride. I had to investigate that side of him.
What do you think was Elizabeth’s biggest mistake, if she made any, with Mr Darcy? And what Mr Darcy’s with Elizabeth?
I think her biggest mistake came at the beginning of the book, when she sees everything Darcy does in a negative light, jumps to the conclusion that he is insufferable, andfinally sides with Wickham against him without thinking.
His mistake is his belief that he is superior to her and is doing her a favour when he first proposes to her. It is only when he has learnt some humility that he becomes worthy of her.
When did you read Pride and Prejudice for the first time? How much has your vision /interpretation of the characters and their relationships changed since then?
I can’t really remember when I first read Pride & Prejudice. My mother loved Jane Austen, and I was brought up knowing about her. When I first read her for myself I was definitely too young to understand the ins and outs of the love affair, the cynicism of Charlotte’s marriage to Mr. Collins, the fact that Elizabeth’s parents are so poorly matched, and many other nuances.
Would you change the destiny of any of the characters?
Would I presume? I do think, though, that Lydia Bennet’s destiny is terribly harsh. She is only 15 when she elopes, far too young to foresee the consequences of her folly. I hate to think of her shackled for life to Wickham, with his selfishness, his gambling habit and his profligacy.
Would you write a spin-off for any of them?
Not a full-length one for the moment. But you never know... Only last month my short story ‘Letters to Lydia’ appeared in the anthology Jane Austen Made Me Do It, edited by Laurel Ann Nattress. It’s the story of Pride and Prejudice seen through the eyes of Charlotte Lucas’s silly romantic little sister, Maria.
What about the TV/movie adaptations we’ve had so far? Have you got a favourite one?
It has to be the Andrew Davies’s 1995 BBC adaptation. And not just because of Colin Firth as Darcy, either! I loved the way Davies managed to incorporate so much of the original dialogue. In other ways, too, this version is the closest to Jane Austen’s novel.
What is the appeal of Austen’s world to you?
She is a great, great writer – brilliantly witty, satirical and yet compassionate. I love the way she presents the Regency period, the elegance and the leisurely pace of life. The characters are so vividly portrayed that I feel I know them as people – and every time I read one of her books, I learn something new.
Try to present your book to our readers in about 50 words.
In Austen’s novel, Mr Darcy is enigmatic – and I realised just how little time Austen allows him and Elizabeth to spend together during their tempestuous courtship. Writing his personal diary gave me scope for an honest description of the private life of a rich young gentleman about town. This life soon became complex and branched out in unexpected directions. For example, at one stage he becomes engaged to another young lady. And there were many other surprises – for me as well as the reader!
What’s next in your writing career? Are you working on a new project?
Yes – I’m well into a new novel set during the Second World War. A very different enterprise!
Great! That’s all for now. Thanks for your time. It was a pleasure to talk with you, Maya. Have you got a good question to ask our readers? They’ll have to answer it in order to enter the giveaway contest attached to this guestpost. They ‘ll get a chance to win a copy of your “Mr Darcy’s Diary”.
I enjoyed answering your questions, Maria Grazia.
My question to your readers is: At the end of Pride and Prejudice, we are told that Mr Bennet spends much of his time staying at Pemberley with Elizabeth and Darcy, but we are not told what happens to Mrs Bennet once her daughters are married. What do you think became of her?
GIVEAWAY DETAILS
Fill in the form below, choose your options. The only mandatory option is leave a comment answering Maya Slater's final question + add your e-mail address. The giveaway is of one signed copy of "The Private Diary of Mr Darcy", it is open worldwide and ends on November 24 when the winner is announced.
“Maybe you could mix e-mail and etiquette. Business and birdwatching. Nineteenth-century courtship and modern feminism The best of Austen and the worst of our reality” (p. 374)
I have a strong aversion to reality shows, especially those “Big Brother” – style. So I really can’t explain how it is possible that I found Karen Doornebos’s idea of a Regency, Jane Austen-inspired , reality show brilliant. But It just was. Brilliant, I mean. Absolutely, totally brilliant!
“Definitely not Mr Darcy” is lively comedy. And a reality TV show results the ideal setting for this Austen misadventure in which Pride takes a hit. Listen to this: I think I would even watch a show like “ How to Date Mr Darcy” , the one in the book, set in an elegant Regency residence in the countryside, in which the contestants would have to live just as Jane Austen’s contemporaries used to.
I liked the protagonist a lot. She is funny, the perfect flawed (forgive me the oxymoron) heroine we usually find in contemporary comedies. Think of a Bridget Jones to figure her out.
Chloe Parker is a thirty-nine- year old divorced mother. She is a lifelong member of the Jane Austen Society, fond of everything Regency. When her business starts failing, threatening her daughter’s future, she makes up her mind and auditions for a Jane Austen – inspired programme set in England. She thinks it is a documentary in which she will be asked to show her knowledge and competence and is ready to do her best to earn the money they offer her.
But competing with eight women to date and possibly be chosen by Mr Wrightman, the heir of a luxurious estate, is out of question. Neither for a one-hundred-thousand-dollar prize? Well, in that case … She can think about it! Actually, she definitely changes her mind once she meets him:
“It could’ve been a scene right out of a Jane Austen adaptation – tall, dark, and handsome hunk of a man appears in the forest out of nowhere – except, of course, the heroine wouldn’t be knee – deep in pond water, her stockings hung in a tree” (p.65)
Yes, it is not the best of the beginnings. Moreover, what does Chloe decide to do in that embarrassing, awkward situation? She mistreats Mr Wrightman – just a gorgeous stranger to her - since propriety wants she doesn’t speak to a man without being first properly introduced. And they hadn’t been! Fortunately, Mr Wrightman seems rather amused by Chloe’s clumsy, funny ways and decides to discover more about the rich American heiress, Miss Parker (Chloe’s profile in the show).
Chloe is ready to defy the other contestants, all younger than her. Gloves off , she doesn’t give in to the strictness of the rules: no cell phones, no indoor plumbing nor deodorant. Mr Wrightman is a prize worth winning…
There are all the ingredients of a modern fairy – tale: a Cinderella, two heroes (yes, two handsome “princes”, rich Mr Wrightman and his ingenious though penniless younger brother), a fairy godmother, a witch (she doesn’t do magic but plays wicked tricks on poor Chloe) a dog and a cat. Everything sounds so amusing and entertaining that you speed through the pages longing for the “…and lived happily ever after” finale.
Actually for Chloe the finale of the show is a sudden awakening to reality and a sad going back home. She’s really disappointed at discovering that … nothing was what it seemed…
But don’t worry: romance and happy endings are not neglected by an Austenite like Karen Doornebos.
I can't wait to write my questions for her now. She promised to be my guest soon here on My Jane Austen Book Club! Any question to suggest?
And, of course, many thanks to Regina for writing such a brilliant piece for My Jane Austen Book Club and for granting its readers a signed copy of her Christmas at Pemberley.
The winner in this giveaway contest open internationally is ... LUTHIEN84
Lindsay Ashford is a British crime novelist and journalist. Her style writing has been compared to that of Vivien Armstrong, Linda Fairstein and Frances Fyfield. Many of her books follow the character of Megan Rhys, an investigative psychologist.
Raised in Wolverhampton, Ashford became the first woman to graduate from Queens' College, Cambridge in its 550 year history. She gained a degree in Criminology. Ashford was then employed as a reporter for the BBC before becoming a freelance journalist, writing for a number of national magazines and newspapers. In 1996, Ashford took a crime writing course run by the Arvon Foundation. Her first book, Frozen, was published by Honno in 2003.
Strange Blood was shortlisted for the 2006 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. She wrote The Rubber Woman for the Quick Reads series in 2007.
Her latest novel is The Mysterious Death of Miss Austen.
GIVEAWAY : Read Lindsay Ashford's guestpost, leave your comment + e-mail address and get a chance to win a copy of The Mysterious Death of Miss Austen offered by Honno. Open worldwide, this giveaway ends on 22 November.
The graveyard of St Nicholas’ church in the Hampshire village of Chawton is the burial place of the two women who were closest to Jane Austen. Each named Cassandra, her mother and sister were interred a stone’s throw from the cottage they shared with the novelist. But Jane herself is not there. Her bones lie sixteen miles away beneath a black marble slab in Winchester cathedral. And the mystery of why she died at the age of just forty-one when the two Cassandras lived well into their eighties has never been resolved.
There have been many theories about her death in the two centuries since her last novel was published. Addison’s disease, tuberculosis and lymphoma have all been suggested - but none quite fits the symptoms reported in her letters. To anyone who knows about modern forensics, however, a face that looks ‘black and white and every wrong colour’ rings alarm bells.
Chawton is the quintessential English village – even the cricket pavilion has a thatched roof – and when my partner was offered a job there I went with him, intending to start work on another contemporary crime novel. We moved into a sixteenth-century former dovecote still owned by Jane Austen’s five-times great-nephew, Richard Knight, and I spent the days working in the library of what used to be Chawton Great House, once home to the author’s brother, Edward. Within a few weeks I’d abandoned the gritty modern novel. Instead my head was stuck in old volumes of the family letters.
The voices of the Austen family were made all the more real by the knowledge that they had passed through the very rooms I now inhabited. Jane herself had slept at the Great House when it was too cold or dark to walk back to the cottage after a family gathering; her brothers, her sister and her parents had all slept there at one time or another and her best friend, Anne Sharp, to whom she wrote one of her last letters, had stayed there too. The more I read, the more intrigued I became by something the letters and diaries hinted at but didn’t fully explain. I began to wonder if there had been more to hide when Cassandra burnt a large part of her sister’s correspondence than a few sharp remarks. As Jane herself said in Emma, ‘There are secrets in all families, you know’.
Then a fascinating piece of information came my way. It came from a visiting American who had won a short story competition organised by me on behalf of Chawton House Library. She asked if I had seen the lock of Jane Austen’s hair which is on display at the cottage (now a museum) down the road. Then she related the story of the couple who donated it – American collectors of Austen memorabilia, both now deceased, who had bought it at auction at Sotheby’s in 1948. ‘And did you know,’ she said, ‘that before they handed it over to the museum, they had it tested for arsenic?’
I did not know. But the alarm bells that had sounded when I first read Jane’s description of her face during her illness were now deafening. There was arsenic in her hair, which meant that she had ingested poison in the months before her death. No one else in the cottage had been affected, so it couldn’t have been the water supply, the wallpaper or anything else in the house. Was Jane given arsenic as a medical treatment (common enough at the beginning of the nineteenth century) and if so, could the dose have been large enough to kill her? Or was there a more sinister explanation?
Preposterous, you might think. But a few years after her death a wave of paranoia swept England in the wake of an epidemic of arsenic poisoning. The tasteless, odourless white powder could be bought from any grocer’s shop with no questions asked. People were poisoned suddenly, by accident, when it got mistaken for baking powder or talc, and there were also those who were poisoned slowly and deliberately by relatives or servants who knew the symptoms were likely to be taken for disease or infection of the digestive system.
I thought of Jane’s friend, Anne Sharp, who lived well into the middle of the nineteenth century and would have read about the arsenic-phobia in the newspapers. She would also have known about the Marsh Test. Developed in 1836, it enabled the analysis of human remains for the presence of the white powder. What would you do, I wondered, if you suspected your best friend had been poisoned and you were in possession of a lock of her hair?
The Mysterious Death of Miss Austen is the product of all that I have learned and imagined in the three years since I came to live in Chawton. It’s a work of fiction inspired by facts and I hope that those who read it will be both intrigued and fascinated by a possibility which has been overlooked until now....
Lesley- Anne McLeod was my guest here on My Jane Austen Book Club last week with a lovely piece, My Love Affair with the Regency World". Here is the name of the winner of the copy of Jane Austen's "Persuasion" that she granted for the giveaway contest linked to her post:
Lucienne Machado!!!
Congratulations to the winner and many thanks to Lesley-Anne for being with us at My Jane Austen Book Club and for the giveway copy.
Patrice Sarath is the Austin-Texas based author of The Unexpected Miss Bennet, a sequel to Pride & Prejudice, and two fantasy novels, Gordath Wood and Red Gold Bridge. Patrice’s fascination with Jane Austen began in her early twenties, and she became a voracious reader of all of Austen’s books. She wrote The Unexpected Miss Bennet to answer the question, why didn’t Mary Bennet wed Mr. Collins? They would have been perfect together. The more she delved into Mary’s backstory, the more she realized that Mary Bennet deserved a much better hero, and thus Mr. Aikens galloped into the story.
Giveaway
Read Patrice's piece here below, leave your comment and e-mail address to enter a giveaway of a copy of "The Unexpected Miss Bennet". This contest is open to US and Canada readers only and ends on November 18th when the winner is announced.
How does an author go from writing novels about modern women having fantastic adventures in a medieval-like world to exploring the highly mannered setting of British middle class society in the late 18th and early 19th centuries?
I blame my two major writing influences, J.R.R. Tolkien and Jane Austen.
Both Tolkien and Austen had a genius for creating setting, although Austen is mostly known for her character development, her wit, and her social observations. But those very same social observations are setting, as much as Fangorn Forest and Gondor and the Shire. I imbibed her drawing rooms and fine country houses, and ballrooms and card tables just as much as I did Tolkien’s world. So when the time came to create a new project, tackling the question of Mary Bennet came naturally.
I know that most people love the romance plots of Austen’s novels, and certainly the fact that our heroines have their happily ever after is part of the charm of The Six. What I have become most fascinated by, though, is the social life that Austen illustrates. I love how children are such a presence in almost all of her books. I get that she loved children, and may have mourned the fact that by not marrying she was never able to have any. (I do think she was quite the “cool aunt” though, at least as far as her family correspondence shows).
Family is hugely important to Austen, and we see that in Pride & Prejudice, in which Austen takes pains to tell us who is related to whom (the silly aunts on MrsBennet’s side! The wise and stable Gardners!). We see it as well in Persuasion, which has some of the best writing about society and manners and family expectations and the little irritations that rub us the wrong way of any novel, even compared to such writers as Ann Tyler.
So when I read and reread Austen, I’m not reading for the romance, but for her depiction of this world that is as exotic to me as Middle Earth, and as familiar to me as my own family around the Thanksgiving table. She creates a fantastical world with rules of engagement, as the best kind of fantasy does. (Side note: Real fantasy doesn’t make magic systems up as it goes along, but uses magic rules to constrain the plot and make the story more realistic.)
When I wrote about Mary Bennet, I wanted to capture as much of that world as of the world in my novels Gordath Wood and Red Gold Bridge. (By the way, this is why I love portal novels, also known as “wardrobe” novels. What better way to enjoy a fantasy than to have a person like you having adventures in this cool fantasy world?)
So I read Austen’s books for setting as well as books about the history of the era and researched clothing, underwear, etc. I even read Fordyce’s Sermons. By the time Austen was writing, Fordyce was kind of old-fashioned even then, and let me tell you, he’s a hoot. Quoting from Fordyce in “The Unexpected Miss Bennet” was so much fun because I could really get into Mary’s head, both when she agreed with Fordyce and when she went, “wait a minute…”
I knew going in that I wanted a killer opening line that would tell readers exactly what I was doing without trying to “out-Jane” Austen. So as my last word, I will leave it to you to decide whether I’ve succeeded or not. I do hope you enjoy “The Unexpected Miss Bennet” and that it takes you to a world that is both foreign and familiar. And with that, the beginning:
“It is a comforting belief among much of society, that a plain girl with a small fortune must have no more interest in matrimony than matrimony has in her.”
I'm glad to welcome Regina Jeffers back to our online club on occasion of the release of her latest book, a Christmas sequel to Pride and Prejudice titled Christmas at Pemberley. More info about the book are below this brilliant, informative guestpost which Regina has granted My Jane Austen Book Club and its readers. Moreover, leaving your comment and your e-mail address you'll get the chance to win a signed copy of Christmas at Pemberley. The giveaway is open internationally and ends on November 15.
Love with an Improper Stranger by Regina Jeffers
In the spring of 1812, George IV’s attempted to pique his daughter’s, Princess Charlotte of Wales, interest in William of Orange. The move would have strengthened England’s alliance with the Netherlands. Orange had lived in exile in England and had received his education at Oxford.
Princess Caroline
The Prince Regent was well aware of his daughter’s increasing acts of defiance, but he was not aware of the depth of Princess Charlotte’s indiscretions. Charlotte had her first flirtation of note in 1811 (when she was but 15 years of age) with Charles Hesse, who was reportedly the Duke of York’s illegitimate son. Hesse was a young, handsome Hussar captain. Rumors had it that Hesse, who later joined Princess Caroline in Brunswick as an equerry, might have been the lover of both mother and daughter. Caroline had encouraged the relationship. She had once locked her daughter and Hesse in a bedchamber and had told them to amuse themselves. With Caroline’s encouragement, Charlotte had corresponded with Hesse until Charlotte’s friend and confidant, Mercer Elphinstone, advised against continuing the relationship.
William, Duke of Clarence
Next, Charlotte’s cousin Captain George FitzClarence (eldest son of the actress Dorothea Jordan and William, Duke of Clarence, the Prince of Wales’s youngest brother) caught the young princess’s eye, but George soon moved with his regiment to Brighton, where he fell in love with Mary Seymour (who was the first to call the Prince Regent “Prinny”). During this time, Charlotte wrote to Mercer regarding Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility saying, “[The book] certainly is interesting, and you feel quite one of the company. I think Marianne and me are very like in disposition. I am not so good, displaying the same imprudence, etc., however very like. I must say it interested me much.”
When the Regent first encouraged his daughter to accept William of Orange, Charlotte was determined to oppose the union. However, a marriage would free her from her father’s control, as well as to provide her with her own household and financial independence. Therefore, in December 1813, Princess Charlotte agreed to the marriage.
George IV
Yet, when she discovered that Orange would expect her to live part of the year in Holland, Charlotte had second thoughts. The Whig politician Lord Grey had advised Charlotte against leaving England. He had insinuated that if Charlotte resided in Holland for even part of the year that Princess Caroline would follow suit. It was common knowledge that Caroline intended to take up residence away from her estranged husband. If Caroline left Prinny, he could claim desertion and file for a divorce. If the Regent then remarried and produced a son out of his next joining, Charlotte would be replaced in the line of succession. With this in mind, Princess Charlotte ended the engagement.
Meanwhile, the Princess fell in love with Prince Frederick, the King of Prussia’s nephew. One of her lady companions aided Charlotte in arranging several clandestine meetings with Frederick, and she maintained a secret correspondence with the prince until January 15, 1815, when he informed her that he had fallen for another. Frederick returned Charlotte’s gifts and portrait at that time.
Incensed by Charlotte’s refusal to marry Orange, George IV removed his daughter’s servants and dismissed her lady’s companions. Confined to Cranbourne Lodge, Charlotte was permitted no visitors except Queen Charlotte. In August 1814, Princess Caroline departed England. Charlotte felt deserted. Her depression became quite evident. Queen Charlotte encouraged a resolution to the separation between her eldest son and his daughter.
On Christmas Day 1814, Charlotte turned to her father for affection. During their intimate talks, she provided Prinny with a full accounting of her relationship with Captain Hesse. Charlotte explained how her mother had encouraged Charlotte to write to Hesse. She also spoke of her recent attempts to have Hesse return her letters and of the captain’s refusal to do so. Charlotte confided that she expected Hesse to blackmail her with their correspondence.
Prince Leopold, third son of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
The Regent promised to assist his daughter with Hesse. Therefore, expecting a restoration of their connection, Charlotte confided in her father what she knew of Princess Caroline’s many lovers. To protect his daughter’s position in Society and in the line of succession, he suggested that Charlotte renew her engagement to Orange, but she stood firm. However, she did agree to a possible joining to Prince Leopold, third son of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. It was after Napoleon’s defeat in June 1815 before Leopold could return to England. They married on 2 May 1816.
Spoiler: So what does all this have to do with my November 8 release of Christmas at Pemberley? Notice that the previous paragraph mentions Christmas Day 1814. Yes, believe it or not, I incorporated Princess Charlotte’s liaison with Hesse into my Christmas tale. How, one might ask, does a writer mix political intrigue with an inspirational romance, a Regency Christmas-theme tale, and a continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice? Not an easy task, but one I hope you will enjoy reading.
Christmas at Pemberley: A Pride and Prejudice Christmas Sequel
To bring a renewed sense joy to his wife’s countenance, Fitzwilliam Darcy has secretly invited the Bennets and the Bingleys to spend the Christmastide festive days at Pemberley. But as he and Elizabeth journey to their estate to join the gathered families, a blizzard blankets the English countryside. The Darcys find themselves stranded at a small out-of-the-way inn with another couple preparing for the immediate delivery of their first child, while Pemberley is inundated with friends and relations seeking shelter from the storm.
Without her brother’s strong presence, Georgiana Darcy desperately attempts to manage the chaos surrounding the arrival of six invited guests and eleven unscheduled visitors. But bitter feuds, old jealousies, and intimate secrets quickly rise to the surface. Has Lady Catherine returned to Pemberley for forgiveness or revenge? Will the manipulative Caroline Bingley find a soul mate? Shall Kitty Bennet and Georgiana Darcy know happiness?
Written in Regency style and including Austen’s romantic entanglements and sardonic humor, Christmas at Pemberley places Jane Austen’s most beloved characters in an exciting yuletide story that speaks to the love, the family spirit, and the generosity that remain as the heart of Christmas.
Read an excerpt from "Christmas at Pemberley"
“My only care is your own health. Heaven forbid that you should precede me in death,” he said in a taunt. “You cannot expect me to seek husbands for our girls with the same diligence that you demonstrate.”Ignoring his tone, as she was apt to do, Mrs. Bennet whispered, “I had hoped that Mr. Manneville would seek Kitty’s company again today. I fear she has done the man a disservice, and he’ll not forgive her.”Mr. Bennet mockingly said, “You find Mr. Manneville the superior choice, my Dear?”“The man has deep pockets, Mr. Bennet,” she reasoned.“In America,” he reminded her.Mrs. Bennet shrugged off his objections. “Kitty could have a house as grand as Netherfield Park. Would you not want that for your daughter, Mr. Bennet?”“I would want Kitty in a relationship where her husband respected her.” He had thought again of his own marriage’s failure. “Jane and Elizabeth have achieved such happiness, and I have hopes for Mary.”“And of Lydia?” Mrs. Bennet cared best for their youngest daughter. “You know my opinion of Mr. Wickham,” he warned. “I’ll never understand how Wickham and Lydia can be supported in tolerable independence nor how little of permanent happiness can belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue.”“Mr. Bennet,” she exclaimed a little too loudly and had to moderate her objection. “You should not speak so despairingly of your own child.”“I speak the truth,” he contended. “I won’t give elegance to misfortune.”Again, Mrs. Bennet disregarded his severity. “And you think this Mr. Winkler a better choice for Kitty?” she asked as she observed how the clergyman leaned closer to say something private to their daughter.“First, it is true Winkler will never have Mr. Darcy’s or Mr. Bingley’s wealth, but he has a secure situation under Mr. Darcy’s watchful eye. Secondly, observe how the man protects our Kitty. He’s quite besotted by our daughter’s charms.”Mrs. Bennet directed her attention to Kitty and the clergyman. “Do you believe Kitty returns the man’s regard?”“Not totally, but the seed’s been planted. It was Winkler that Kitty chased from the drawing room last evening. It was he that she tried to please with her gift to Mr. Darcy’s cottager. He inspires the best in our daughter.” They walked on in silence for a few moments. “Surely, you remember how foolish Kitty and Lydia once were. I often considered them as two of the silliest girls in England. Now that Kitty, to her material advantage, has spent the chief of her time with her two elder sisters, her improvement has been great. I always said that Kitty had not so ungovernable a temper as Lydia, and removed from the influence of Lydia’s example, she has become, by proper attention and management, less irritable, less ignorant, and less insipid. I find myself quite proud of the young lady that our Catherine has become.”His wife’s frown spoke of her disapproving of his disparaging words regarding Lydia’s lack of sense, but she hadn’t argue. They’d had similar conversations on numerous occasions. “Should I encourage the connection? Should Kitty be made aware of Mr. Winkler’s attention? It would please me to have all my girls well settled.”“If you can suppress your enthusiasm until after Mr. Darcy’s return, I suspect that Mr. Winkler will take matters into his own hands. Elizabeth’s husband will have to give his approval to his clergyman taking a wife and having that wife be Kitty,” he cautioned.Mrs. Bennet glanced around for privacy. “Would Mr. Darcy object to Lizzy’s sister living at the Lambton cottage? Would the man’s pride deny Kitty a proper marriage?” she asked incredulously.“I doubt it. However, Mr. Darcy may need to preface their joining. Winkler must be aware that Darcy would prefer to be consulted prior to his approaching Kitty with an offer.” They neared the pond. “And if Elizabeth’s husband does object, you could always steer Kitty into Mr. Manneville’s arms. Who knows? After my demise, when Mr. Collins takes Longbourn, you might discover yourself in the Southern states. I think you’ll find yourself swept away by an American.” Mr. Bennet winked at her.“You bam me as you always do. I have no need of another husband. With five daughters, I shall spend my days in contentment, knowing I have done my best by each of them.” She accepted a seat on a wooden bench to which Mr. Bennet directed her. When he started away to join the couples, Mrs. Bennet caught his arm. “Mr. Bennet, I know we’re often at odds over our daughters, but would you do me the courtesy of explaining your dislike for Mr. Manneville?”It was rare when they spoke honestly to each other–even rarer when he felt empathy for the woman he’d married. “I cannot pretend to know exactly,” he said softly. “Maybe it’s the man’s posturing. Maybe it’s his blatant declaration of his intentions–his descriptions of his wealth. Or . . .” Mr. Bennet turned to watch Manneville glide onto the ice. “Or maybe it’s his attention to Miss Bingley. The woman hurt my Jane, and not once did she apologize or show any contrition. I do not forget.”“Neither do I, Mr. Bennet. Neither do I.”
Author Bio
Regina Jeffers, a public classroom teacher for thirty-nine years, considers herself a Jane Austen enthusiast. She is the author of several Austen-inspired novels, including Darcy’s Passions, Darcy’s Temptation, Vampire Darcy’s Desire, Captain Wentworth’s Persuasion, The Phantom of Pemberley, and the upcoming The Disappearance of Georgiana Darcy. She also is a Regency romance author: The Scandal of Lady Eleanor, A Touch of Velvet, A Touch of Cashémere, and The First Wives’ Club. A Time Warner Star Teacher and Martha Holden Jennings Scholar, Jeffers often serves as a consultant in language arts and media literacy. Currently living outside Charlotte, North Carolina, she spends her time with her writing, gardening, and her new grandson.
