Jane Odiwe Jane Austen Sequels

 Chapter One Ellie asked herself again, for the hundredth time, how it was that she’d been persuaded to join in. Archaeology was hardly her thing and for that matter, neither was Jane Austen. But, in the end, it was impossible to refuse Jess this small request. Jess, her best friend, who she loved like the sister she didn’t have, had pleaded with them all. And it was Ellie who had made sure the others had agreed to come on the dig, reminding them when she’d managed to take them to one side that they were lucky to still have Jess around after her horrendous health scare of the previous year. ‘It’ll be fun,’ said Ellie, packing her sketch book into her bag as she walked along in the sunshine, ‘especially as it’s our last summer together before most of us have to join the real world and work for our living.’ ‘So long as I can bring my straighteners,’ said Liberty, admiring her reflection and flicking back her chestnut mane as they walked past the refectory window on the...

We've been enjoying some fantastic weather in Bath lately, though I would not be telling the truth if I didn't mention the occasional shower, and some downpours too! Even Captain Wentworth remarks on the frequency of rain in Persuasion: I love the scene when they meet unexpectedly in Molland's and endure a very flustered conversation, both of them not quite reading the other's thoughts or feelings. After a moment's pause, he said: "Though I came only yesterday, I have equipped myself properly for Bath already, you see" (pointing to a new umbrella); "I wish you would make use of it, if you are determined to walk; though I think it would be more prudent to let me get you a chair." However, we will not dwell on the rain, but on Bath's beautiful environs and the sunshine over the Bank holiday weekend. It's an easy place to find a wealth of pictures in the classical architecture, and yesterday my husband and I strolled along the Gravel Walk ...

Jane Austen sitting at her writing desk composing First Impressions, later to become Pride and Prejudice.

It's Mrs Darcy's Diamonds Book Launch today. Come over to Austen Variations where I'm giving away prizes - books and jewellery - in celebration! Here's an excerpt from the novella-I hope you enjoy it! Elizabeth’s view through the window beyond her looking glass was a scene from a picture book. Even on the greyest day in December, she thought she’d never seen anything quite to rival its beauty. Today in the sunshine, the copses to the east shimmered like veils of hazy blue gossamer, casting long shadows upon the golden hillsides. The Pemberley estate stretched endlessly before her, and there in the very middle of this rustic panorama she watched a horseman gallop into the distance. She would have recognised Fitzwilliam, had he been a dot on the horizon. He cut such a handsome and athletic figure, urging the horse on across the fields. Riding out with him was one of her greatest joys but today Mr Darcy was engaged on estate business, something she was getting ...

Jane Austen with her father George Some years ago, I painted a little picture of how I imagined Jane and her father would look when she was about five years old. I thought about this painting whilst I was writing a little scene in Project Darcy when Ellie goes back into the past and becomes Jane Austen, and tied it in with what seem to be Jane’s own recollections that she wrote about in Northanger Abbey . Although she is writing about Catherine Morland when she says her heroine was ‘ noisy and wild, hated confinement and cleanliness, and loved nothing so well in the world as rolling down the green slope at the back of the house’, I have a feeling she was referring to a memory of doing that herself. If you’ve ever been to Steventon to see the site where the rectory stood, the back of the garden has a pronounced slope! Here’s how I imagine Jane and her beloved brother Henry playing at the back of the rectory. I hope you enjoy this little excerpt from my latest novel,  Project D...

An event not to be missed! I was contacted recently by Caroline Jane Knight who wrote to tell me of a new Literacy Foundation she is setting up in her 'Great Aunt Jane's' name. She is hoping to raise money to fund projects across the world, and is inviting everyone to the launch of this amazing foundation in Oxford. The event will take place on 16th April, at Holywell Music Room, Wadham College, Oxford University , Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PN from 10.30 to 12.30. This is such a worthwhile and incredibly exciting venture - one I shall be supporting wholeheartedly! For more details see below, and for tickets log onto  www.eventbrite.co.uk   You can also follow on Facebook.com/janeaustenlf

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...

I've just been to Lyme Regis - the weather was wonderful last week - no stormy seas as in the picture shown. I love this print which shows the old assembly rooms at Lyme Regis . Sadly, they were knocked down some years ago to make way for a car park, but we do have a description of them that was written by Constance Hill in her book, Jane Austen, Her Homes and Her Friends. Her writing inspired my own for a chapter in Searching for Captain Wentworth . My heroine Sophie has travelled back in time to be with her ancestors, the Elliot family who live next door to Jane Austen in Bath. Sophie and her family are in Bath when the unexpected arrival of Jane's brother, Lieutenant Charles Austen, leaves Sophie feeling both excited and nervous. She knows she is falling in love with him and yet knows that it must be a hopeless case ...  I dressed with great care, choosing a fine, Indian muslin, embroidered with flowers and French knots along the hem and down ...