“What would my life have been like without
Jane Austen?”
An interesting question! It would have been
very different, that much is certain! I first discovered Jane Austen when I was
about 13. I used to go to my local library every week and one day I found a
book called Pride and Prejudice. I
knew nothing about the book, but from page one I was hooked. I loved the witty
banter and the characters. As the book progressed, I loved the romance When it was finished, I couldn’t let Jane
Austen go and I read all her other books.
Life moved on. I
went to university then I became a teacher, and I often re-read Jane Austen’s
novels. I fulfilled my ambition of becoming a published novelist, writing many
Regency romances and then, one day, I decided to treat myself to a re-read of Pride and Prejudice. As I read it, I
found myself wondering about Mr Darcy. What was he doing when he was off the
page? What happened when he his sister was about to elope? How did he persuade
Wickham to marry Lydia ?
And what was he thinking when he made that disastrous first proposal to Elizabeth ?