Skip to main content

A Jane Austen Postbag and an Austen/Keats event!

I've been very lucky to receive two lovely books in the post this week - they are being published by Shire Books in July, and I'm sure will be of great interest for those of you who collect all things Jane!


From prize-winning historical novelist Louise Allen, this book presents eight walks through both the London Jane Austen knew and the London of her novels! Follow in Jane's footsteps to her publisher's doorstep and the Prince Regent's vanished palace, see where she stayed when she was correcting proofs of Sense and Sensibility and accompany her on a shopping expedition - and afterwards to the theatre. In modern London the walker can still visit the church where Lydia Bennett married Wickham, stroll with Elinor Dashwood in Kensington Palace Gardens or imagine they follow Jane's naval officer brothers as they stride down Whitehall to the Admiralty. From well-known landmarks to hidden corners, these walks reveal a lost London that can still come alive in vivid detail for the curious visitor, who will discover eighteenth-century chop houses, elegant squares, sinister prisons, bustling city streets and exclusive gentlemen's clubs amongst innumerable other Austen-esque delights.



From the publisher: New York, NY, —Old House announces the July publication of Mr Darcy’s Guide to Courtship: Secrets of Seduction from Jane Austen’s Most Eligible Bachelor. Written satirically from Darcy’s perspective, it is sure to stir debate among the millions of Austen fans about whether or not this ultimate alpha male suitor was really an arrogant jerk. It gently pokes fun at the long-standing tradition of projecting idealized fantasies on this character when, in reality, the 21st century woman probably knows deep down that after the marriage the fantasy would be over and Darcy would revert to his old ways.
Channeling Mr Darcy himself – before he’s mellowed by contact with Elizabeth Bennet– this July 

publication by Old House takes a satirical journey into the mind of this archetypical alpha male suitor. Full of unapologetic pride and meticulously cultivated prejudice, it reveals Mr Darcy’s secrets of seduction, giving advice to both ladies and gentlemen on the rules of courtship – advice that is delightfully amusing and generally awful!

Yesterday I had a lovely afternoon at Keats's House in Hampstead. I went to see Austentation play in the Keats Festival 2013 - it was lovely to meet them all! They played a selection of songs and music that Jane Austen would have known and enjoyed - it was lovely to hear so many favourites.

Frank Underwood and Angela Mayorga


Austentation at Keats's House
Keats's House

Poetry Reading