AUSTEN AUTHORS ON LINE

 A group of Austen Authors have decided to unite forces and start a new promising site. It'll be ready on September 6th. If you follow this link http://www.austenauthors.com  you'll read "Thanks for stopping by! We're not quite ready for prime time, but if you come back on or after September 6, we'll be in full swing with posts by many of your favorite Austen-related fiction authors, as well as contests, information, and lots of fun stuff. Whether you like Regency historicals, contemporary fiction, sequels, mysteries, variations, or just plain love Jane Austen, you'll find plenty to interest you here. Don't miss our first month which will be chock full of giveaways!
If you are a traditionally-published author of Austen-related fiction and would like to join in the fun at Austen Authors, just drop us a line. We'd love to have you!"

Austen Authors Blog will feature

 

Cindy Jones

Abigail Reynolds

 

 

 

C. Allyn Pierson

Jack Caldwell

Jane Odiwe

Kara Louise

Kathryn Nelson

Marilyn Brant

Marsha Altman

Sharon Lathan

Skylar Burris

Susan Adriani

 Keep in touch with these Austen Authors and don't miss their upcoming releases through their new blog . I'll see you there .

AUSTENESQUE NEWS

Love triangle and Sensibility

 

Do you know that Emma Thomson nearly lost out to her fellow actress Kate Winslet in a love triangle with her now husband, Greg Wise?

The three actors were filming Sense and Sensibility16 years ago when Wise, who was then 28, was told by a fortune teller that he would meet his future wife on set. At the time Emma Thompson, who is 8 years senior, was still married to Kenneth Branagh, so Greg Wise thought it was better to persue 19-year-old Kate Winslet before eventually realising his attraction wa actually to Thomson.

After Emma Thomson's divorce from Branagh in 1995, she and Greg Wise got together. They married 7 years ago.

Winchester's Austen Exhibition

Winchester Cathedral, the final resting place of Jane Asuten, is hosting an exhibition dedicated to her lifeand work that runs until September 20. It includes items that have rarely, if ever, been displayed publicly before, including her burial register, first editions and fragments of her own writing.

www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk

P&P on Stage

A touring  production of Pride and Prejudice is visiting dozens of open-air venues around Britain this summer. Chapterhouse Theatre Company is taking the show, which has been adapted by Laura Turner, to many idyllic garden settings. Details at www.chapterhouse.org

Pride & Prejudice: the Musical was  instead staged in Chicago in February. It is written by Lindsey Warren Baker an
d Amanda Jacobs and featured in JARW n. 36

Number from the show can be heard on the musical's new website www.pride-prejudice-musical.com

A new Pride and Prejudice sequel, Charlotte Collins

Jennifer Becton decided to write a sequel to P&P but her heroine is neither Lizzie Bennet nor Mrs Darcy. Jennifer's heroine is instead Charlotte Lucas after her marriage with Mr Collins, hence CHARLOTTE COLLINS. I'm so curious to read this new book! It'll be released on 1 September. Jennifer Becton will be my guest next week on My Jane Austen  Book Club and we will  talk about her debut novel and Jane Austen's work. There will also be a giveaway. Stay tuned!

TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH LYNN SHEPHERD - PART II & GIVEAWAY

Lynn Shepherd, author of the lovely Austen-based MURDER AT MANSFIELD PARK,  is here again to talk Jane Austen with me. Check the first part of this long interview and don't forget to comment both posts. You'll have a double chance to win a signed copy oh her Austenesque murder mystery.

This week my questions are on Jane Austen in general, her works and their adaptations, teaching Jane Austen to teenagers nowadays and we even played at ... "Dream cast for a dream adaptation"!

Read through Lynn's interview. Leave your comments and e-mail addresses and good luck! The giveaway is open worldwide and ends next Thursday, August 26th.

1. What is the appeal of Jane Austen’s world to contemporary audiences according to you?

Part of it is about the enduring appeal of any good romance – her novels are wonderful escapism, and reassure us that all’s right with the world. Some of the rest is the sheer beauty of her writing, and the strength of her characterisation. As well as the chance to immerse yourself in another, more civilised period.

2. When did you meet Jane Austen  and start loving her work?

I read Pride & Prejudice when I was about 15, and loved it, and then went on to Mansfield Park for my school-leaving exams. That novel has pretty much been following me about ever since!

3. As you know I teach English Literature to Italian teenagers. Introducing Jane Austen is not always that easy. It is easier with girls, but not with all of them. Boys instead tend to be prejudicial, considering her work “girlish stuff”. How would you cope with their objections? Any suggestion?

It’s funny you should mention that, because an English teacher in the UK has asked me whether I could talk about Murder at Mansfield Park to her class, because it has the sort of story that appeals more to boys! To be fair, Austen has always been a predominantly female taste, even though some of my closest male friends love her work as well. Perhaps what I’d say to a boy is that reading Austen will give him an unparalleled insight into how women’s minds work, and what women really want from a man!

4. What do you think of the many Austen adaptations we’ve had so far both on TV and at the cinema? Have you got a favourite one? One you don’t like at all?

I like some of them very much, others much less. I love the BBC Persuasion with Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root the best – beautifully done, very moving, and shot with an understanding of important things like contemporary lighting. I quite like the Keira Knightly Pride & Prejudice, though David Rintoul is the best Darcy I’ve seem. But I really can’t bear the Mansfield Park with Billie Piper. She’s a good actress, but very wrong for that role. In fact most recent screen versions of Mansfield Park have failed, in my opinion, because they don’t stick closely enough to the original. They just can’t resist the temptation to make Fanny a more modern and energetic heroine, when her meekness and passivity is the whole point.

5. Jane Austen’s use of language , irony and wit was superb but your faithfullness to the language in use at her time is stunning. How did you prepare yourself at that hard task?

Thank you for the lovely compliment! I have studied Austen a number of times in the past, and have a partly academic background, so I always wanted to do this aspect of the book properly. Thank goodness for computers, because I was able to download all her novels and check my vocabulary as I went along. And after a while it got easier, as I felt I was ‘inside her mind’. It was hard work, as you say, but a real labour of love, and I’m thrilled by how many dedicated Austen fans have praised the way Murder at Mansfield Park is written.

6. Let’s play a bit. If you had the possibility to get lost in one of Jane Austen’s novels (like Amanda , the protagonist of LOST IN AUSTEN) , which one would you choose? Why?

The easy answer is Pride & Prejudice, but I think I would enjoy being in Emma too (as long as I didn’t have to be Miss Bates!)

7. Let’s go on playing. Thinking of the perfect match among Austen characters. Which is the happiest couple among the ones Jane formed? The least happy couple?

Least happy couple is definitely Edmund and Fanny, though they’re so dreary I’m not even sure they’d realise how miserable they were! And I’m afraid I never really believed in the Brandon marriage very much either (though the exception is the screen version, as I’m sure any ‘Marianne’ would be quite content with Alan Rickman!). As for the happiest - perhaps the Darcys, but I think the Wentworths have a relationship built on very sound foundations.

8. Now let’s start dreaming. I’ve asked this question several times before but …I’m really curious to know. If they asked you to adapt your novel for a film or a TV movie would you accept?

Yes – like a shot! I’d love it!

9. Who would you cast in the main roles?

As I’ve said before I’d adore Philip Glenister as Maddox – he has just the right combination of charisma and danger. As for the rest, how about Helen Mirren for Mrs Norris? Now wouldn’t that be fun!

10. For the final question let’s go back to your novel, MURDER AT MANSFIELD PARK. What would you write in about 50 words to convince people to read it?

It’s a Jane Austen murder mystery, written with complete faithfulness to her style, but with the added excitement of an intriguing murder. If you like Austen, I hope you’ll enjoy a new version of one of her great novels, and if you’re just looking for a good mystery story to read on the beach, I hope it works just as well!

THANK YOU SO MUCH,  LYNN!

IT HAS BEEN AN IMMENSE PLEASURE TO TALK AND "PLAY" WITH YOU.

GOOD LUCK FOR YOUR WRITING CAREER!

AND NOW... TO YOUR COMMENTS!!! GOOD LUCK TO YOU TOO FOR THE GIVEAWAY!

Visit Lynn Shepherd's site

Read my review of her novel, Murder at Mansfield Park

CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT - MY REVIEW

"...That's when I decided to order myself a large clam-and-garlic pizza and to reread Pride and Prejudice. I would self-medicate with fat carbohydrates, and Jane Austen, my number one drug of choice, my constant companion through every breakup, every disappointment, every crisis. Men might come and go, but Jane Austen was always there. In sickness and in health, for riches, for poorer, till death do us part" .

The last couple of months haven't exactly been a picnic: on the brink of ... her marriage with Frank, Courtney discovers his betrayals, falsity and shallowness. Her dreams shattered, her life stuck in a nigtmare, she surprisingly wakes up in the body, house and world of Jane Mansfield, a country young lady living at Jane Austen's time: 1813. "Who could blame my subconscious for concocting such an escapist fantasy to a Jane Austen- like world?" , she thinks. It's just a question of time, she is sure, she has to be patient and sooner or later she'll be back to her life in 21st century Los Angeles. But being a fan of Jane Austen, living Miss Mansfield's life is not so disagreeable to Courtney, despite her wicked new mother, Mrs Mansfield. Courtney's  initial shock and refusal to accept  Jane's body and life turns into a dilightful discovery of new chances, emotions and affections. She foresees the possibility to live a different,  totally different life...

She likes her new best friend, Anne Edgeworth; extravagant Mr Mansfield, the father she has never had; Barnes, her loyal maid servant; even Mrs Mansfield , her new,  rather dyspotic mother not worse than her own mother; and, especially,  she's stirred by Mr Edgeworth, attractive, kind and understanding. But can she trust him? Jane's memories, which come to Courtney's mind from time to time, warn her to be cautious...

I read CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT in a couple of days, both in the original version and in the Italian translation (not the whole of it) by Enrica Budetta for Sperling and Kupfer. The Italian version, SHOPPING CON JANE AUSTEN ( I think this  title is totally out of focus but nice)  has a cute, lovely cover and has come to me directly from the author. "May you always awaken in a perfect story" , the dedication signed by Laurie Viera Rigler says. And I must say I did, I awoke in a perfect story this time! I really loved sharing Courtney's experiences  in  the Regency era. CONFESSIONS is a laugh-out-loud romp with a Regency heart but  truly modern comedy devices.

Last summer I read RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT, Laurie Viera Rigler's second novel,  in which we know what happens to Jane Mansfield in the 21st century,  in chaotic and super technological Los Angeles ,  in Courtney's body,  after they magically swap their lives! The cultural shock to her is even greater: Courtney was an expert Janeite, while Miss Mansfield has no clue of what is happening around her! To read CONFESSIONS after RUDE AWAKENINGS was not a problem , not confusing at all. They are not a prequel and a sequel,  but 2 parallel narrations of 2 swapped lives. So the order you read them is not important.

There were several reasons why I liked these novels. I really appreciate Laurie Viera Rigler's thoroughful, detailed knowledge of Regency England. I found difficult not to laugh out loud very often while reading. I consider CONFESSIONS and RUDE AWAKENINGS both very informative and highly entertaining. Perfect , amusing page turners to light up your summer holidays.

Laurie Viera Rigler's novels have inspired an online serial comedy, SEX AND THE AUSTEN GIRL. You can follow all the episodes HERE.

My previous posts about Laurie Viera Rigler and her books:

1. Sex and The Austen Girl

2. My review of Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict

3. Talking Jane Austen with Laurie Viera Rigler -part I

4. Talking Jane Austen with Laurie Viera Rigler -part II

This is my second task for The Everything Austen Challenge II and my first one for Jane Austen is My Homegirl Reading Challenge.

TALKING JANE AUSTEN - LYNN SHEPHERD PART I

Get a chance to win a signed copy of Lynn Shepherd's novel

Read through this post and discover how!!!

I'm glad to have a very special guest to "talk Jane Austen" with today. She'll be here again next Thursday  19th August. My guest is Lynn Shepherd. Reading and commenting the two parts of this interview you'll have  a double chance two win a signed copy of her delightful Austen-based novel just published also in the Us and Canada. The details of the giveaway are at the end of the interview.

Lynn Shepherd  lives in Berkshire, England, with her husband Simon. Murder at Mansfield Park is her first novel, but she has  been a professional copywriter for the last ten years.

She studied English at Oxford in the 1980s, and went back to do a doctorate in 2003. By that time she'd spent 15 years in business, first in the City, and later in PR. She'd always wanted to be a writer, and going freelance in 2000 gave her the time she needed to see if she could make that dream into a reality. Ten years and two and a half unpublished novels later, it’s finally happened!

First of all,  a warm welcome! I’m so glad to have the chance to talk with you about your novel,  Lynn. I’ve just finished reading it and I’m so curious about what you had in mind while writing  but, of course, I know you can’t reveal all your secrets! First of all the characters I’m most stirred by Mary Crawford and Mr Maddox. Let’s start from her. When and why did you decide she was your heroine?

As soon as I got the idea for Murder at Mansfield Park I knew straightaway that Mary would be my heroine. I’ve always liked her, and always felt that Austen weighed the scales against her, when she’s actually far more appealing than Fanny. But of course, ‘my’ Mary is not the same character as in the original. She has no money for a start, which always made a vast difference in Regency society. She’s had quite a hard life, and a lonely one in many ways, and that gives subtleties to her character that aren’t there in Mansfield Park.

Your Mr Maddox is a very intriguing character. As I wrote in my review, he is the hero of the novel in my opinion, more than Edmund or Henry Crawford. Who inspired you this rude fascinating thief-taker?

He was my favourite character to write! Probably because he is entirely mine, and nothing like anyone you find in Austen. I loved the idea that he dresses beautifully and looks every inch the gentleman, but has a very different social background, and a very different code of behaviour, which is why he can play such sophisticated games with his aristocratic suspects. I didn’t have anyone in particular in mind as a model, but I think his detective methods owe a lot to Sherlock Holmes, who is also all about ‘logic and observation’.

 Do you think he could be involved in any other adventure of yours? It would be nice to have him investigating alone, with other Austen heroines or with Mary Crawford herself again.

You won’t be surprised to hear that many readers have asked if Maddox will make a return! In fact I’m nearing the end of the first draft of a second novel, in which Maddox appears, but not perhaps in the way people will expect…

 Your Fanny Price is not the typical Austen heroine and she is not at all what we all thought her to be in Mansfield Park. Was it fun to create such a new, complex, completely different character? Was it instead troublesome?I think I’ve mentioned before that my inspiration for my version of Fanny Price was Kingsley Amis’ quote about her being a ‘monster of complacency and pride’ operating under a ‘cloak’ of demureness, and using that to dominate what goes on. I’m not sure I agree with that as a description of the original Fanny, but it was a wonderful basis upon which to construct my new one. And yes, it was enormous fun to do that, and I was surprised how many of the original speeches I could re-use without changing them at all!

Edmund and Henry are the other male main characters in the novel. Again quite different from the original characters though substantially similar. Why did you decide to give them the same main features as JA gave them? Does this mean you basically like them?

I think Henry is one of those appealing bad boys that women have been falling in love with for hundreds of years. Again, by making my version poor, rather than rich, I was able to change the whole basis of Henry’s social status, and bring some new pressures and stresses to bear on his character, which result in some interesting twists. As for Edmund, I do find the original version very trying, and very pompous on occasion. My challenge with him was precisely the fact that I wanted to keep him the same, but show what might be going on behind that rather irritating façade – to make him more human and vulnerable, which I think also makes him more appealing as a character.

You gave some of the servants in the house a relevant role in the story. Is there any specific reason why you did it?

That’s a really perceptive point. Of course there are servants in Austen – dozens of them in fact, especially in a big house like Pemberley, but hardly any of them ever get a voice, or even a name. The intriguing thing about introducing a murder, of course, is that these silent and invisible people suddenly become just as important as the main characters, as potential witnesses. In fact, as Maddox knows perfectly well, they’re actually more useful, because they can tell him what’s really been going on behind closed doors, and they’re not trying to maintain an illusion of unity, as the family are.

Part of the investigation in the book reminds me of Christie’s Poirot‘s procedures and part of contemporary murder stories with several macabre details (coroner’s style). Are you keen on mystery and murder stories as a reader? Did you read anything in particular to prepare yourself to the task?
I absolutely adore mysteries – especially good old-fashioned English detective fiction. I’ve read and seen hundreds of these over the years, and one of the main inspirations for my book was the realisation that the set-up of Mansfield Park is exactly like a country house murder – the family in the big house, the buried tensions, and the charismatic outsider who sets off a disastrous chain of events. Having seen that connection, it was a wonderful puzzle to put together an authentic Regency ‘Christie’.

You left part of the mystery unsolved. Namely, Henry Crawford’s background story involves another mysterious unsolved crime. Are you going to write something starting from there?

Yes that was quite deliberate – I want to leave it open to my readers to decide what happened with that earlier crime. I don’t have any plans to solve it for them, but I suppose anything’s possible!

How long did it take to write and get to publish your first novel? Have you got any suggestion for the many bloggers dreaming to become published writers I know?

I first starting trying to write a novel 10 years ago, and have been working at it ever since. My first unpublished one included some Austen pastiche, and it lay in a drawer for about a decade before I finally had the idea for Murder at Mansfield Park, and was able to turn it into something someone wanted to publish. But that’s a hard process, and you have to be very determined, and grow a pretty thick skin. But the key thing is never to give up. And get a good agent!

My last question is one I’d have asked Jane Austen herself if I had had the chance to interview her about Mansfield Park. I’d like to ask you, thinking of YOUR novel … are you pretty sure that THAT is the finale you actually wanted to write? Any regrets? Is that the right man for your heroine? I’m still puzzled actually… I feel like something different can still happen … LOL

It’s hard to answer this one without giving too much away to those who haven’t read it! Shall we say that both Mary and I were very tempted by the alternative she’s offered in the closing pages, but I felt I had to remain true to the original, and return to that at the end – and as any Austen fan will realise, my last sentence (like my first) is exactly as she wrote it. So yes – I think mine ends the right way, though I’m not sure Miss Austen could say the same of hers…!

Ok! That's all for today, Lynn. See you next week. I've got much to ask you about Jane Austen and her work and still something about your novel. Thanks for your time and your kindness!
 

(Australia & New Zealand front cover)

Now darling readers and Janeite friends it's your turn! GIVEAWAY!!! Lynn Shepherd has generously granted one of you a copy of the American edition of Murder at Mansfield Park. You'll have a double chance to win it, leaving your comments both on  this post and  on TALKING JANE AUSTEN - LYNN SHEPHERD PART II  you'll find on My JA Book Club next Thursday.

1. The giveaway is open worldwide

2. Winner will be announced on August 26th

3. You can leave just one comment under each post (so double chance to win)

4. Don't forget to add your e-mail address. I won't enter you without it!

Follow Lynn Shepherd at  her site http://www.lynn-shepherd.com/ 

or on twitter http://twitter.com/GhostingAusten

AUSTENESQUE NEWS

1. Emma and Mr Elton  together again

 Romola Garai ( Emma 2009) and Blake Ritson (Mr Elton 2009, Edmund Mansfield Park 2007) will be in the cast of a new BBC period drama , The Crimson Petal and the White, set in the Victorian Era and based on the best selling novel by Miche Faber (2002).

In the cast also Chris O'Dowd (IT Crowd, The Boat That Rocked), Gillian Anderson (The X Files, Bleak House), Richard E Grant (Withnail And I, Gosford Park), Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, Charles II), Amanda Hale (Murderland, Bright Star) and Mark Gatiss (Sherlock, The League Of Gentlemen) . They have  begun filming on BBC Two's bold four-part adaptation of Faber's international best seller book produced by Origin Pictures.

This provocative and riveting tale tells the story of Sugar (Romola Garai), an alluring, intelligent young prostitute who yearns for a better life away from the brothel she is attached to – run by the contemptible Mrs Castaway (Gillian Anderson).

Highly sought after and sexually adept, Sugar finds her only comfort in the secret novel she is writing in which a murderous prostitute takes revenge on her clients. However, things change for her when she meets wealthy businessman William Rackham (Chris O'Dowd).

Sugar is a thrilling antidote to William's life, saddled with a pious brother, Henry Rackham (Mark Gatiss), and fragile wife, Agnes Rackham (Amanda Hale). Agnes regularly endures visits from the invasive physician Doctor Curlew (Richard E Grant), leaving her unable to perform her wifely duties.

William ensconces Sugar as his mistress and she soon grows accustomed to her new life. Yet, unbeknownst to William, Sugar begins to hatch a plan which sets a series of events in motion that will change their lives for ever.

The supporting cast also includes Tom Georgeson (Bleak House), Liz White (Life On Mars),  and Bertie Carvel (Sherlock).

2. Jane Austen's favorite author, Samuel Richardson

According to Jane Austen's nephew, James-Edward Austen-Leigh, her knowledge of Samuel Richardson “was such as no one is likely again to acquire . . . Every circumstance narrated in Sir Charles Grandison, all that was said or done in the cedar parlour, was familiar to her; and the wedding days of [characters like] Lady L. and Lady G. were as well remembered as if they had been living friends.”

To know more about the connection between Austen and Richardson , read this extremely interesting  and informative guestblog at Austenprose in which Lynn Shepherd ( the author of  Austen inspired mystery "Murder at Mansfield Park" but also a distinguished Samuel Richardson scholar with a new book Clarissa’s Painter: Portraiture, Illustration, and Representation in the Novels of Samuel Richardson, published by the venerable Oxford University Press) analyzes the influence of Richardson's work on Jane Austen. CLICK HERE AND READ

3. How did Jane Austen spend her summer days (August)  in 1814?

Reading, writing, replying to letters, correcting manuscripts and giving suggestions to her niece Anna who wanted to become a writer like her!

August 10, 1814.

MY DEAR ANNA,

I am quite ashamed to find that I have never answered some question of yours in a former note. I kept it on purpose to refer to it at a proper time and then forgot it. I like the name "Which is the Heroine" very well, and I daresay shall grow to like it very much in time; but "Enthusiasm" was something so very superior that my common title must appear to disadvantage. I am not sensible of any blunders about Dawlish; the library was pitiful and wretched twelve years ago and not likely to have anybody's publications. There is no such title as Desborough either among dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, or barons. These were your inquiries. I will now thank you for your envelope received this morning. Your Aunt Cass is as well pleased with St. Julian as ever, and I am delighted with the idea of seeing Progillian again. ( GO ON READING...)

4. Bath - Jane Austen Festival : A RECORD!

Last year on September 23rd at Jane Austen Festival 2009 they attempted the Guinness World Record during the Regency Promenade. Everyone had to be dressed in full Regency costume. They got the record with 409 people! Will they beat their own record next September?  This year the Festival will be hold from 17th to 25th September. Are you ready for the Regency Promenade? Have a look at this clip from last year!

Jane Austen is My Homegirl Reading Challenge

Have you read Jane Austen's books a million times? They are amazing, but do you crave more? This is the perfect challenge for you and  me! I've just entered this challenge which is to read as many Austen inspired and Austen spin off books as you can before the challenge ends at the end of July, 2011. The Book Buff is a huge lover of giving out free books, so participating in this challenge gives you a chance to win books!

Not only will participating in this challenge potentially win you books, but all reviews participants do on their blogs featuring this reading challenge will be linked up there for all Jane Austen addicts to see!

Simply fill out the form you find HERE any time you wish to be entered in the giveaway or be linked up on this page. You can fill out this form as many times as you want from now until the end of the year, it is quick and easy.

This challenge is going for 1 year (1 Aug 2010-31 July 2011), so you have plenty of time to sit back, relax and enjoy!

To make this a bit easier, you find a list of Austen inspired books at The Book Buff but you can also visit Austenesque Reviews or Austenprose. You'll find plenty of suggestions.

Let's Have Fun Together!!!

MURDER AT MANSFIELD PARK by LYNN SHEPHERD

MURDER SHE WROTE… AND NOT ONLY!

UK cover for Murder at Mansfield Park

I’ve just finished reading “Murder at Mansfield Park” , first published novel by Lynn Shepherd .

 My response? 5 stars!

1 star for helping me get rid of Fanny Price. Why I have never liked her much, I’ve never really been able to explain (though I tried here and here) , but now I know. I had always suspected she hid “something”

1 star for making Fanny and Mary Crawford rivals again but with … different results

1 star for Lynn skillful hold of Austen-like language which resulted in a greatly enjoyable style

1 star for the many unexpected twists and surprising turns (especially the final unveiling of the mystery)

1 star for the Agatha Christie- style investigation

Very well drawn and very pleasantly written Lynn Shepherd’s Austen- inspired murder story is a perfect summer read I heartedly recommend both to Janeites and to the lovers of good old-fashioned detective stories from the classic tradition . In fact, Murder at Mansfield Park takes Austen’s masterpiece and turns it into a riveting murder story worthy of PD James or Agatha Christie. If Jane Austen would have turned to murder stories she might have written something like this.

The most pleasant surprise is the heroine of Shepherd’s novel, Mary Crawford. She  is self - confident, intelligent, witty as well as brave and resembles Elizabeth Bennet more than herself in Austen’s original novel. What of Fanny Price in this book, instead ? I don’t want to reveal much so as not to spoil your own pleasure at discovering the many intriguing devices which keep you guessing until the very last page . But I think I can tell you what follows without spoiling your future  pleasure : Lynn Shepherd shaped her Fanny according to what Kinglsley Amis wrote in an article originally published in The Spectator in October 1957 (“What became of Jane Austen”?) . In that article Fanny is defined as a “monster of complacency and pride, who under a cloak of cringing self-abasement, dominates and gives meaning to the novel”. So, can you guess? Neither Mary nor  Fanny are quite what we all believed them to be reading Mansfield Park.

I remember our discussion about Jane Austen's Mansfield Park at the public library last April  . Our group readers were quite convinced that the proper matching for the characters in the novel was Henry Crawford /Fanny and Mary Crawford/ Edmund . They didn’t quite like Austen’s decision to make Edmund and Fanny marry in the end, they found it an unsatisfactory ending. Moreover, apart from the two kind more mature ladies in the group, all the young readers preferred Mary to Fanny. It seems Lynn Shepherd knew about our wishes while writing. Well, we are only a small sample  of Jane Austen's contemporary audience and I'm sure  there are, of course, different opinions on Mansfield Park among the huge number of Janeites,  but I’m sure the majority would like this novel very much and find it  more playful and  even lighter than the original.

An interesting change respect to Jane Austen's novel is the relevance Lynn Shepherd gives to servants, maids and  Mansfield Park  staff  in general.  O'Hara, Mrs Baddeley or Polly Evans are minor characters but not bit players and they have an active role in the plot and in the solution of the mystery.

More than Edmund or Henry Crawford the hero in this murder story is Mr Maddox, the thief taker employed by the family  to investigate on the mysterious murder at Mansfield. His unpleasant manners, smart deductions, overwhelming will make him the real male protagonist of this novel. He hides his passionate heart and even his knowledge and education behind his rude ways. Guess what? I’d like to see him in action in a new adventure. He deserves more. I hope Lynn Shepherd doesn't want to discharge him after his brilliant contribution to her first novel.

As I wrote in the title,  the murder case/s are not the only interest in the book. You’ve got in fact the entire range of Austen’s main themes such as  family life, life in the country, marriage, elopment, gossip, love and the unfailing happy ending .

So, if you like me have always put Mansfield Park away with a certain unsatisfied feeling in the end, I’m sure you’ll love what Lynn Shepherd did of its plot and protagonists in full respect of the Austenesque tradition. Toward the end she writes: “Everything was clear to Mary now: even the smallest elements of the riddle had found their true place”. This is the impression I got once I closed the book at the last page,  everything and everyone had found their own place in Lynn Shepherd’s work.

AUSTENESQUE NEWS

1. Sex and the Austen Girl is a fun series inspired by the bestselling novels Confessions and Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler. Arabella Field and Joy Masterson star as Jane and Courtney and discuss topics  which are relevant for girls of any historical time.

Today on http://www.babelgum.com/ episode 12 has been posted: "Love, Money and Pemberley" . Is it for love or wealth that we pick our partners? Maybe it's best to have both. A dowry is highly desirable, unless of course you find Darcy and Pemberley House. WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.

2. Bollywood is taking on Emma and who better to play the role of a mischievous, slightly-naive 21-year old than Sonam Kapoor? The actress will  star in the Emma adaptation, called Aisha, alongside Abhay Deol, nephew of Bollywood legend Dharmendra . For more information about the film, which releases August 6  (next Friday) and for regular updates, check out Aisha’s Facebook page or follow on Twitter.

3.  A spoof film trailer, Jane Austen's Fight Club, has gone viral, gaining nearly 200,000 hits on YouTube in just two days. Have you seen it? The video shows Lizzie Bennett and other Austen characters - including Emma and the Dashwoods - setting up an underground boxing club, in manner of the cult David Fincher film Fight Club.

Lizzie plays the role of Brad Pitt's character Tyler Durden: "The first rule of Fight Club is, one never mentions Fight Club". The society ladies engage in fights on a croquet lawn and sit bleeding during high tea
I wish our heroines had stuck to their good manners, propriety, politeness and ... balls!

   

4. Jane Austen, Murder and Mystery. A new murder case has involved Austen characters. This time a mysterious murder has troubled  the quiet lives of  the Bertrams and their Crawford friends at Mansfield Park  . Lynn Shepherd's  MURDER AT MANSFIELD PARK has recently been released in the US and Canada (July 20) and has already collected several very positive,  if not enthusiastic,  reviews. I'm just half way down through it and I can assure you it is great fun. A new heroine is at its centre, a lively and spirited one. Ms Shepherd has done a huge favour to all of us preferring Mary Crawford to Fanny Price! Stay tuned... very soon my review here,  on  My JA  Book Club.

Visit Lynn Shepherd's site

Buy Murder at Mansfield Park

5. I've met lots of new Austenite friends via Twitter (follow me on Twitter) and it's such a great pleasure to chat with them.  This is because I don't know many JA aficionados in real life. This afternoon, for instance,  @SalonJaneAusten  and I were discussing the possibility of having a new Persuasion adaptation. So many Emmas, several P&P and S&S. Why so few Persuasion, Mansfield Park  or Northanger Abbey adaptations? I'd love to see a new Persuasion. We (@SalonJaneAusten and I)  have already our mature, handsome, tall and dark Captain Wentworth in mind: Richard Armitage. Who might the new Anne Elliot be? Would you subscribe a petition for a new Persuasion adaptation?

6. AUSTENPROSE,  the House of everything Austen,  is celebrating Georgette Heyer this month with lots of events, reviews and giveaways connecting many lovely blogs. Don't forget to have a look at Laurel Ann's blog at least once a day this month! You can also follow her on twitter @Austenprose for a minute-by-minute update!