A friendly meeting place to read and discuss anything Austen...
Thank you, Maria Grazia, for hosting me on my blog tour. I thought your readers might be interested to know how I came to write Maria Bertram’s Daughter as I understand that Mansfield Park sequels are unusual. Personally, it is one of my favourites. There is so much symbolism in it, and it is so rich in characters, mostly unpleasant. My other favourite is Sense and Sensibility because that, too, is full of monsters. I used to read Jane Austen for the romance, but now I read her mostly for the laughs, which come mainly thanks to the hypocrisy and unintentional self-revelation of the secondary characters.
Thanks for welcoming back to My Jane Austen Book Club to talk about An Affectionate Heart!
Spinster. Ape leader. Old maid. These are Georgian-era words that could have been applied to women like Miss Bates, Elizabeth Elliot, Charlotte Lucas, and the Parker sisters. The insulting idea of an older, unmarried woman surrounded by cats isn’t a new one. Although she’s only 21, Elizabeth Bennet in An Affectionate Heart is another poor, unmarried woman with little agency over her own life.
As Emma Woodhouse tells us, if you’re an heiress it’s not so bad to be single, but if you’re poor like Miss Bates you practically deserve to be ridiculed. There was intense social prejudice against unmarried women and few respectable means of employment for the women of this class. Aside from all the typical reasons to marry, many women felt a duty to their families to marry to relieve them of the burden of providing for them.
In my novel, Prideful & Persuaded, Caroline Bingley meets three Austen men in Bath: Sir Walter Elliot (Persuasion), Tom Bertram (Mansfield Park), and Frederick Tilney (Northanger Abbey). Two of these men are current or future baronets and all three have very wealthy estates. Is it reasonable for a lady like Caroline to think that men of this level of wealth and rank would marry her? If we set aside whether Darcy likes Caroline or not, did she have a chance with him in Pride & Prejudice? I will explore these questions using evidence from Jane Austen’s works.
Elizabeth Gilliland
While I was innocently chatting away with people on Goodreads about Jane Austen related topics, a stray comment about Emma turned into a conversation, which turned into an idea…which eventually turned itself into my newest novel, My Dearest Miss Fairfax!
What is the book about?
The True Confessions of a London Spy is about Mary Bennet solving a murder mystery in London. A messenger for Parliament has been found dead, and there are fears that it is part of a greater plot against the government…
“…a page-turning story, imbued with fascinating historical detail, a cast of beautifully realized characters, a pitch-perfect Jane Austen, and an intriguing mystery. Highly recommended.”—
Syrie James, bestselling author of The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen
Thank you, Maria. It is such a pleasure to visit your blog again. Answering your interview questions has become a familiar ritual that I look forward to when I have a new book. I hope my readers enjoy these interviews as much as I do.
CAPTIVE HEARTS
Will Captain Wentworth realize too late that
he has a second chance at love?
With a successful naval career and a fortune to his name, Frederick Wentworth receives a hero’s welcome from his sister’s neighbours.
One person, though, presents a source of vexation. Years earlier, Miss Anne Elliot had reneged on her promise to marry Wentworth, revealing a significant character flaw. Yet Anne’s unmarried state at the age of seven and twenty, her altered demeanour, and her resolute avoidance of Wentworth raise questions that gnaw at his composure.
Thank you for having me, Maria Grazia — I am so very happy to be stopping by today.
Greetings fellow Austenians, and welcome to the first day of my blog tour! I am very excited to be visiting My Jane Austen Book Club once again to talk about a new book. Available on Amazon starting today is A Promise of Forever, my second standalone Austen variation. This book is the fourth JAFF novel I’ve published since I began in the genre in 2018, and I really hope you’ll like it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.
