Jane Odiwe Jane Austen Sequels

Here's a little piece written from Anne Elliot's point of view  - at this time of the year I start thinking about visits to the sea, especially Lyme, which is a favourite place to visit. I hope you enjoy it. My first view of Lyme and the sparkling sea glimpsed between cottages and inns teetering on the edges of the narrow winding street, was a sight to cheer the most hardened heart. The November weather was arrested, its habitual grey and dreary mantle banished by blue skies and the sharp light of winter sunshine. Stepping down from the carriage, a mild gust whipped the ribbons on every bonnet, teasing curls, and catching at muslin hems to billow and swell like the boat sails out on the water. My senses were overwhelmed, though the little town was quiet out of season, there was so much to take in - I could taste the tang of the sea and the brine on my tongue, I heard the seagulls mew and watched them soar and swoop, drift and dip. I could underst

Jane Austen lived in Bath from 1801 - 1806, and used the city as a setting in two of her novels, which were published posthumously in 1817, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion . Her father was retiring in 1801, and he and Mrs Austen who had done some of their courting and been married in Bath, were keen to spend time there again. Mr Austen’s retirement meant that Jane’s clergyman brother James could take over the living of Steventon, and I can’t help thinking that the fact their two daughters were still unmarried might also have had a certain influence on their decision. Bath was a place to get husbands. It’s said that Jane fainted at the news they were to leave her beloved Steventon in Hampshire, though her letters at this period of time seem more resigned to her fate. Because Bath was such a distance, the cost of transporting the Austens’ possessions was prohibitive, and many had to be sold or left behind. These included 500 books from their personal library and Jane’s pianofort

Chapter Ten When they arrived back at the rectory, Ellie whipped Liberty out of the car as quickly as she could so that Jess might have a chance to say goodnight to Charlie on her own. She heard her coming upstairs half an hour later but pretended to be asleep as Ellie was sure Jess wouldn’t really appreciate being cross-examined there and then. That could wait for another day. Liberty was not very well in the night, and predictably, in the morning said she couldn’t possibly get up and go to the dig. Everyone agreed that it would probably be best if she stayed in bed to sleep it off and when Mrs Hill was told a little white lie that Liberty had eaten something that hadn’t agreed with her, she seemed unperturbed, saying she would keep an eye on her though she was due to go out later to visit one of her sisters at Dummer, a nearby village. Ellie volunteered to come back in the afternoon to check on her and so they all left for Steventon, choosing to walk as it was yet another

When the girls got to the Deane Gate Inn that evening, (an old tavern Mrs Hill told them Jane would have known well as a coaching stop,) they could see quite a number of the volunteers gathered in the main room, a large space with a low-beamed ceiling. Liberty said that she knew Greg and Will were going, and suspected Melanie and some of her friends would be there. The film crew were all staying at the inn so the chances were that they’d make an appearance too. Ellie got some drinks and found her way to the others who’d managed to find a table opposite the door so they could see who was arriving. They soon spotted Charlie and Henry who walked in with a young girl none of them had noticed before. The three of them came over to say hello though Ellie saw that Henry hung back and seemed more interested in looking round the room than he did at them, and as usual his response to their greeting was hardly a grunt. ‘This is my sister, Zara,’ Charlie said introducing them to a tall, slim