Jane Odiwe Jane Austen Sequels

We've had some gorgeous weather here in England over the last few weeks so it's been lovely to get out and about in the sunshine. I thought I'd post some of the photos we took on a walk, or rather, a climb up to Beechen Cliff. In Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen has her heroine, Catherine Morland, go to Beechen Cliff with our hero, Mr Tilney and his sister. The Tilneys called for her at the appointed time; and no new difficulty arising, no sudden recollection, no unexpected summons, no impertinent intrusion to disconcert their measures, my heroine was most unnaturally able to fulfil her engagement, though it was made with the hero himself. They determined on walking round Beechen Cliff, that noble hill whose beautiful verdure and hanging coppice render it so striking an object from almost every opening in Bath. We took a route from the bottom of Lyncombe Hill and turned onto Calton Gardens to find the steps which take you to the very top of Beechen Cliff. I've just posted ...

Regular visitors to my blog know that I have a long-standing love affair with the City of Bath. We know that Jane Austen lived here from 1801-1806 and that her feelings about the place may well have been very mixed as time went on. I can feel a whole other blogpost coming on about Austen's feelings but I wanted to share some pictures that were taken of a walk from Lyncombe Hill to Combe Down. I have to thank Janet Aylmer for the directions to part of this walk. Her book In the footsteps of Jane Austen outlines a walk that Jane Austen took with a friend, Mrs Chamberlayne, through Bath to Lyncombe and Widcombe in May 1801. The book is annotated with lots of facts and pictures of Bath in Jane's time - a very enjoyable book and without it I would never have discovered this walk! In a letter to her sister Cassandra, Jane wrote: Tuesday 26 May 1801 ...I walked yesterday morning with Mrs Chamberlayne to Lyncombe and Widcombe, and in the evening I drank tea with the Holders. - Mrs Ch...

The first postcard shows Bog Island, the site of the Lower Assembly Rooms which were built in 1708. Consisting at first only of a card room and tea rooms, people flocked to the Rooms which were an instant success. Harrison's Rooms became the social hub and a ballroom was added in 1720. A disastrous fire in 1820 closed them for good but by that time they had fallen out of fashion with people preferring the new Upper Rooms. Then we have two views of the Royal Crescent which took eight years to build. Designed by John Wood the younger, it consists of a grand curve of 30 identical houses almost 50 feet high and over 500 feet in length. If you ever get a chance to visit Bath, you can see inside no. 1 which is a gorgeous example of a Georgian House. Lastly, we have Sally Lunn's, the oldest house in Bath and home of the Sally Lunn bun. Click here to find out more!

The very lovely Alexa Adams has a book out all of her very own. It's called First Impressions Click here to read all about it including a few extracts and to follow Alexa's blog as she discusses all things Jane. Here's a little blurb from Amazon to whet your appetite. In Pride and Prejudice Fitzwilliam Darcy begins his relationship with Elizabeth Bennet with the words: "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men." What would have happened if Mr. Darcy had never spoken so disdainfully? First Impressions explores how the events of Jane Austen's beloved novel would have transpired if Darcy and Elizabeth had danced together at the Meryton Assembly. Jane and Bingley's relationship blossoms unimpeded, Mary makes a most fortunate match, and Lydia never sets a foot in Brighton. Austen's witty style is authentically invoked in this playful romp fr...

I'd like to wish you all a Happy Easter - I'm having a bit of a break from blogging to spend time with my family - I hope you all have a lovely holiday. This is quite a long post but one thing seemed to lead to another! I'm very busy writing another book at the moment and drawing on lots of research which is always lots of fun. A lot of the action takes place in Bath so I'm hoping to spend some time there over the holiday period. This week, one of the lovely things that happened was 'meeting' Jennifer Duke and discovering her blog. She was born in England and even attended the the Abbey school as Jane Austen did. Her time there sparked an interest in all things Regency and a love of Jane Austen. Jennifer lives in Australia now and told me that although she loves Sydney, she still gets homesick for England. She wrote to ask me if I would do a question and answer for her blog, which I was thrilled to do. Here's the link: The Bennet Sisters Thank you very muc...