Jane Odiwe Jane Austen Sequels

I'm talking to Mari Grazia today at My Jane Austen Book Club I hope you will join us. Leave a comment on her blog to win a copy of Willoughby's Return. Competition open to all!

I am delighted to announce the winners of the competitions held during the last fortnight. I just want to say thank you to everyone who entered the competitions and also to everyone who joined in the fun and left their comments. I've been very touched by your comments and personal e-mails; it's so lovely to hear from you all. Names were drawn from the hat for each competition - here are the winners! Painting of Marianne and Elinor - Milka Greetings cards - Sylvia Chan and Etirv Sense and Sensibility CD - Mer Willoughby's Return Books - Michelle W and Laura Gerold Jane and Cassandra painting - Alexa Adams Here's a review from Jane Austen Today Humans are complex creatures. We are all multidimensional, like the characters that Jane Austen created in her delightful novels. Take Willoughby, the handsome cad from Sense and Sensibility. At the end of Jane Austen’s tale, he expressed his love for Marianne to Elinor, even though he had become engaged to another woman . The rea...

Sense and Sensibility centres on the story of two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. They appear at first to be opposites - Elinor is rational and sensible and Marianne seems to think and act only on her impulsive feelings and highly charged emotions, though by the end of the book we have witnessed quite a crossover in the way that both girls behave and interact with the world. Jane Austen and her sister were very close. There were just under a couple of years between them, and we know that they spent much of their time together as they grew up, writing daily letters whenever they were apart. From family recollections we are given the impression that Cassandra, Jane's older sister, was the more level-headed, and from her letters it appears that Jane looked to Cassandra for guidance and advice. I'm not the first to wonder if Jane drew on her own experiences with her sister Cassandra when drafting her story. Who knows? Perhaps Elinor and Marianne represent aspects of Jane...

More fun in celebration of my book Willoughby's Return! To win a copy of Willoughby's Return simply answer the questions about Colonel Brandon, the true hero of Sense and Sensibility. Also, I am thrilled to be a guest on A Bibliophile's Bookshelf today where you can read an interview and an exclusive extract from Willoughy's Return which aims to show the romantic side of Colonel Brandon's nature. 1 Where does Colonel Brandon live? 2 What is the name of Colonel Brandon's ward? 3 Who first decides that the Colonel is in love with Marianne? 4 Which character says the following of Colonel Brandon? "I have three unanswerable reasons for disliking Colonel Brandon: he has threatened me with rain when I wanted it to be fine; he has found fault with the hanging of my curricle, and I cannot persuade him to buy my brown mare. If it will be any satisfaction to you, however, to be told that I believe his character to be in other respects irreproachable, I am ready to ...

I loved this film version of Sense and Sensibility and the music by Patrick Doyle is beautiful! In celebration of day 3 of the publication of Willoughby's Return I am offering this brand new CD of the soundtrack. Willoughby and Marianne share a love of music when they first meet in Sense and Sensibility. After he breaks her heart there is a very poignant passage where Marianne tries to overcome her feelings by playing again - but it will not do. After dinner she would try her pianoforte. She went to it; but the music on which her eye first rested was an opera, procured for her by Willoughby, containing some of their favourite duets, and bearing on its outward leaf her own name in his hand writing. That would not do. She shook her head, put the music aside, and, after running over the keys for a minute complained of feebleness in her fingers, and closed the instrument again; declaring, however, with firmness as she did so, that she should in future practise much. If you'd like a...

It's officially publication day of Willoughby's Return! Thank you to everyone who have sent me wishes of congratulation, I feel very honoured! Thanks also to Dominique Raccah, Deb Werksman, Danielle Jackson, and everyone at Sourcebooks for making another dream realised. It's always an anxious time waiting for the reviews to come in - this review from Booklist made my day! Booklist Issue: November 15, 2009 Willoughby's Return. Odiwe, Jane (Author) Nov 2009. 352 p. Sourcebooks/Landmark, paperback, $14.99. (9781402222672) Odiwe follows Lydia Bennet’s Story (2008), her sequel to Pride and Prejudice, with a sequel to Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. Marianne has settled nicely into life as wife and mother, although every so often she indulges in one of her infamous flights of sensibility. She is certain her husband, William, adores her, but has he gotten over his passion for his first love, whose portrait occupies a place of honor in their home? The arrival of William’s neph...