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Showing posts from November, 2015

The Jane Austen Literacy Foundation and Mr Darcy!

A year ago I wrote a book called Mr Darcy's Christmas Calendar - a novella written to celebrate my love of Jane Austen and her home at Chawton in Hampshire.  I really loved writing  this book - I've always loved visiting Jane Austen's House in Chawton, as well as Chawton Great House where her brother Edward lived, and wanted to include those fabulous settings in a book inspired by Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice. Last year, I had the great privilege of meeting Caroline Knight, a fifth great-niece of Jane Austen who told me of her passionate ideas to launch a charity in Jane Austen's name and which she has now successfully launched as The Jane Austen Literacy Foundation . I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon being shown round Chawton House where Caroline grew up, and it is a day of lovely memories I will always treasure. It was extraordinary to hear about the history of the house through the eyes of someone who'd lived there, and to hear Caroline's own tales o