Jane Odiwe Jane Austen Sequels

Happily Ever After is Susannah Fullerton's new book which celebrates Pride and Prejudice. It is a beautiful book and one I am enjoying enormously. I am very pleased and proud because one of my illustrations features in it on page 126 in a section about Mr Wickham! Lydia, Wickham and Kitty This is the illustration - as you can see, Lydia, Wickham and Kitty are stepping out in Meryton. No doubt they are shopping and will be perusing all the latest ribbons and muslins to be had along the way. I was very surprised to see mentions of my two Pride and Prejudice sequels, Mr Darcy's Secret and Lydia Bennet's Story also included in Susannah's book - you can imagine, I was thrilled! Here's a little blurb about the book: In 2013 Jane Austen's  Pride and Prejudice  turns 200. Again and again in polls conducted around the world, it is regularly chosen as the favourite novel of all time. Read and studied from Cheltenham to China, there are Jane Austen Societies ...

I have two gifts today to giveaway! Here's the first for those lucky enough to own a Kindle: SEARCHING FOR CAPTAIN WENTWORTH Free on Kindle - December 16th - Jane Austen's Birthday! This offer is only open for one day so to claim your free copy make sure you download it on the 16th My second gift is a choice of any one of my books! i.e Choose one copy of either Searching for Captain Wentworth, Mr Darcy's Secret, Willoughby's Return, Lydia Bennet's Story or Effusions of Fancy! Let me know your preference in the comment box with a contact email . As before, the winners will be announced on Monday 17th December. Thank you for joining me this week with all your lovely comments!

Here's an extract from Willoughby's Return. Marianne Dashwood, now Mrs. Brandon, is giving a ball at Delaford Park in the hope of finding a suitable beau for her sister Margaret. Colonel Brandon's sister Lady Lawrence and her husband Sir Edgar Lawrence have recently returned from France. Marianne thinks that their son, Colonel William Brandon's nephew, Henry Lawrence, seems likely to make a good suitor for Margaret. However, in a strange twist of fate Mr. Willoughby who has returned to the neighbourhood also appears to be on friendly terms with this nephew, and before long Marianne is drawn into circumstances she can do nothing about.  Marianne and Elinor On the following Tuesday afternoon, Elinor and Marianne were sitting in the latter’s favourite room at Delaford, a small parlour with windows that looked toward the orchard and the mellow brick garden walls that enclosed it. The apple trees, heavy with fruit, gleamed crimson in the October sunshine, and ...

Jane Odiwe, Monica Fairview and the officers at the RNA day In Lydia's imagination, a visit to Brighton comprised every possibility of earthly happiness. She saw, with the creative eye of fancy, the streets of that gay bathing place covered with officers. She saw herself the object of attention to tens and to scores of them at present unknown. She saw all the glories of the camp -- its tents stretched forth in beauteous uniformity of lines, crowded with the young and the gay, and dazzling with scarlet; and, to complete the view, she saw herself seated beneath a tent, tenderly flirting with at least six officers at once. Pride and Prejudice A fun day was had by all at the Romantic Novelist's Association Regency Day held at the Royal Overseas club in Mayfair. As you can see, Monica Fairview and I experienced a 'Lydia Bennet' moment when we met a group of redcoats who were there to add a touch of authenticity to the proceedings. Thank you, Monica, for the lovely pho...

Free E-books from Sourcebooks on December 16 - One Day Only From Leah Hultenschmidt of Sourcebooks: December 16 is Jane Austen’s birthday and as the world’s leading Jane Austen publisher, Sourcebooks, is throwing a huge one-day-only birthday book bash. We will be offering special ebook pricing on ten of the best Austen-inspired novels – and what better pricing could there be than free? On December 16 only, the following bestselling ebooks will be available free through our retail partners (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc): Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One  by Sharon Lathan  Eliza’s Daughter  by Joan Aiken The Darcy’s & the Bingley’s  by Marsha Altman Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife  by Linda Berdoll What Would Jane Austen Do?  by Laurie Brown The Pemberley Chronicles  by Rebecca Collins The Other Mr. Darcy  by Monica Fairview Mr. Darcy’s Diary  by Amanda Grange Lydia Bennet’s Story  by Jane Odiwe Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy  by Abigail Reynolds  But the party doesn’...

The lovely weather we've been having here in England always makes me think of Lydia Bennet's adventures in Brighton! Here's a little taster of the fun and scrapes she experiences with her friend Harriet Forster. Lydia and Harriet were dressed and downstairs by seven o’clock next morning to go bathing. They left the Colonel snoring away, as he was not due to inspect his troops till one o’clock, and hastened down to the beach to be dipped by Martha Gunn and her ladies. The girls decided to share a bathing machine for changing, but as there was hardly any room to manoeuvre, they kept falling over, partly because of the necessity of standing on one leg to undress and partly because they were laughing so much. Once they had on their flannel gowns and caps, it was time to face Martha Gunn, chief dipper and a woman not to be opposed. She stood in the water whilst her servant and helper led them hand in hand down the steps, but as soon as they hesitated with a first toe in the free...

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...