Jane Odiwe Jane Austen Sequels

It's Jane Austen's birthday today and over at My Jane Austen Book Club , there are books and prizes to be won, as well as contributions from authors, like myself, which will be posted over the next 24 hours - don't miss it ! In celebration, Project Darcy and Searching for Captain Wentworth are both on offer on Kindle, as well as Mr Darcy's Secret - I hope you'll enjoy them if you get a chance to read them!  This week I went to see the Georgians Revealed exhibition at the British Library. It's well worth going to see and imaginatively put together. Sadly, I was unable to take photos to give you a glimpse of what's on offer, but a plethora of imagery was used to illustrate the themes of Homes and Gardens, Shopping and Fashion, Culture and Ideas, Leisure and Pleasure. Some of my favourites included Humphry Repton's Sketches and Hints in Landscape Gardening, with examples from his 'red books' where he showed before and after images of how a

I'd like to welcome Liz Monahan to the blog today - Liz is a wonderful illustrator of Jane Austen's books/characters and she has a new kindle book out which I highly recommend! I asked Liz to tell us a little about herself- Liz Monahan  I love your illustrations in your illustrated Pride and Prejudice . Could you tell us about your interest in Jane Austen and why you decided to start illustrating her books.  I first read ‘Pride and Prejudice’ when I was sixteen, and was instantly smitten. I fell in love with Jane Austen’s writing, and my passion for her works endures; I never seem to tire of them. I studied English Literature at Southampton University, and wrote my final year thesis on Austen’s work, for which I received a First Class Honours degree. Pride and Prejudice-illustrated by Liz Monahan I decided to illustrate ‘Pride and Prejudice’ in December 2012. Prior to that, I’d produced a set of paintings, which I called ‘The Cast Of’ series, featuring all the mai

Thank you to everyone who entered my blog tour competitions to win some jewellery and an embroidered bag - We have three winners - Congratulations!!!! The winners are: June Williams for the Georgian brooch Nicole Platania for the Victorian brooch Cassandra Grafton for the embroidered bag Could the winners please contact me here so I can learn how to get your prizes out to you! Thanks again-I hope you all enjoy your prizes!

Thank you to everyone who joined in last week's Giveaway to win a copy of Pride and Prejudice illustrated with photos from  the Greer Garson/Lawrence Olivier film and a pack of my Christmas cards. Congratulations!!! The winner is Janet T! Can you please contact me here to claim your prize - Congratulations!!!!! My blog tour for Project Darcy continues - if you missed the start of it, you can catch up here: Wednesday, October 30th   -  Wondrous Reads Sunday, November 3rd -  My Jane Austen Book Club Tuesday, November 5th -  Austenprose  -  OFFICIAL BOOK LAUNCH Wednesday, November 6th -  Indie Jane Thursday, November 7th -  More Agreeably Engaged Tuesday, November 12th  Calico Critic Wednesday, November 13th  Meditating Mummy Monday, November 18th  Austen Authors Monday, November 18th  The Book Rat Wednesday, November 20th  Austenesque Reviews It's not too late to enter the GIVEAWAY for two lovely brooches (closing date Monday, 18th November) - cl

I hope you're enjoying my blog tour as much as I am! Today, I'm a guest on Indie Jane , talking about grandfather clocks, time, and Project Darcy - I hope you'll join me. Tomorrow, you'll find me at More Agreeably Engaged  with Janet Taylor! STOP PRESS! I've just received a review from Kath Eastman -  here it is in full at her blog - Nut Press - here's a little of her review below - she's made my day! I pretty much read Project Darcy in one sitting. Even though I knew at least how Jane Austen's own story would end, I loved spending time with Jane Odiwe's imagining of her again in that period, as well as being anxious to see where the modern-day characters would be at the end of the book - and who with! This was a highly enjoyable read for me because it had a bit of everything: sumptuous period detail - I can imagine that Jane Odiwe had fun imagining the interiors of Ashe, both in Jane Austen's time and in its more contemporary setting; se

I'm so excited that launch day is here - I'm having a party over at Austenprose  and there's a couple of giveaways so I hope you'll join me there! I love setting a scene in my novels, and I've mentioned before how much I enjoyed writing and thinking about the girls' bedrooms in Project Darcy. Jess's bedroom is a Regency haven with a French bed with buttoned silk upholstery -  On the walls was a collection of silhouettes of people from past times. The profiles of soldiers and debutantes looked across at one another from ebony frames ranged around the marble mantelpiece. It looked as if it had been designed with Jess in mind with its Regency furniture and vast portraits of ladies dressed in white muslin. Ellie   loves anything vintage (how funny, that's just like me : ) ) - and her bedroom has an exquisite deco dressing table -  A deco dressing table complete with a mirrored surface and a triptych looking glass was topped with a selection o

It's my Official Book Launch of Project Darcy tomorrow, November 5th,  over at Laurel Ann Nattress's blog Austenprose  so please check back then to read an exclusive excerpt from Project Darcy , and to see what we have on offer in the way of prizes and treats . I do hope you'll join me tomorrow for my very special day ! As you all know, Project Darcy is a novel inspired by Jane Austen's wonderful book, Pride and Prejudice , and as this is a very special year, celebrating 200 years, I thought you might like to have a chance of owning a collector's copy! My first introduction to Jane Austen was through the film starring Greer Garson and Lawrence Olivier, many years ago, so I think it's very fitting that this little illustrated movie book should be my first prize. Pride and Prejudice It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.    However little known the feelings or views o

Congratulations, Lena I - you are the lucky winner of Steampunk Darcy! Please contact me here  to claim your prize! Thanks again to Monica Fairview for visiting me here at my blog!!!

Project Darcy I'm so excited to announce that next week sees the start of my blog tour and Book Launch for Project Darcy ! I hope you'll be able to join me here on my blog and also with all the wonderful bloggers who are generously hosting me. There will be giveaways and treats on my blog, as well as those blogs listed below, so please keep checking back - after all, it's 200 years of Pride and Prejudice , and I want to celebrate that, as well as my new book. Here's the list of lovely blogs I am visiting! Wednesday, October 30th   - Wondrous Reads Sunday, November 3rd - My Jane Austen Book Club Tuesday, November 5th - Austenprose - OFFICIAL BOOK LAUNCH Wednesday, November 6th -   Indie Jane Thursday, November 7th - More Agreeably Engaged Tuesday, November 12th Calico Critic Wednesday, November 13th Meditating Mummy Monday, November 18th Austen Authors Monday, November 18th The Book Rat Wednesday, November 20th Austenesque Reviews Jane A

Steampunk Darcy I am thrilled to welcome my fellow Austen Author, Monica Fairview , today on my blog - Monica has a fabulous new book out - Steampunk Darcy - I love the premise of her new novel and can't wait to read it. She kindly agreed to be a guest on my blog and tell us all about the background to the amazing new Steampunk world she has created. I have a book to give away for a lucky visitor to the blog - please leave a comment and contact below, if you'd like to be entered. This is offered to readers anywhere in the world and the closing date is Sunday November 3rd, so don't miss it! Over to you, Monica! Me and Steampunk Darcy First of all, many thanks to Jane Odiwe for having me on her wonderful blog. I’m a great admirer not only of Jane’s writing but of her artwork as well, so it’s a particular pleasure to be here. If anyone had told me ten years ago that I’d be writing a novel set in a Victorian universe, I would have split my sides laug

I'm very excited to announce that Project Darcy is now available on Kindle, here in the UK , the US , Canada ,  France , Germany ,  Italy    Brazil , Mexico , Spain , Japan , and India ! The official launch is on November 5th and I've a blog tour coming up - so I hope you'll join me for some fun blogs and prizes! I've been having a lovely time on Pinterest  putting together a mood board for Project Darcy. The book is a timeslip adventure for my heroine, Ellie, and she and her friends are lucky enough to stay in a very special house. I've had a wonderful time imagining what the house would look like inside, and Pinterest, I've discovered, is almost as good as having your own dolls' house! The house they're staying in is Ashe House where Jane Austen's friend Madame Lefroy lived. It's a beautiful Georgian house and I had the excitement of imagining it in the past, 200 years ago, as well as the present. I had a lovely time dreaming up bedroo