Jane Odiwe Jane Austen Sequels

One of the aspects of writing a Pride and Prejudice sequel that I enjoyed immensely was taking a small incident and making it my own in Lydia Bennet's Story. Jane Austen mentions the following event in a few sentences, almost as an aside. I thought it would be fun to imagine just what happened when Lydia dressed up one of the officers to pass him off as a lady. Here Jane Austen has Lydia telling her sisters about it in Pride and Prejudice. "Dear me! we had such a good piece of fun the other day at Colonel Forster’s. Kitty and me were to spend the day there, and Mrs. Forster promised to have a little dance in the evening (by the bye, Mrs. Forster and me are such friends!); and so she asked the two Harringtons to come, but Harriet was ill, and so Pen was forced to come by herself; and then, what do you think we did? We dressed up Chamberlayne in woman’s clothes on purpose to pass for a lady — only think what fun! Not a soul knew of it, but Colonel and Mrs. Forster, and Kitty and...

It is thought that Jane Austen first started writing a version of Pride and Prejudice as early as 1796. After her father's unsuccessful attempt to have it published the following year she put it aside, revising it later and eventually having the joy of seeing it published in 1813. Many people have tried to work out a calendar for the book. The only initial clue to the years in which Jane set her novel comes from a letter from Mr Gardiner: "Gracechurch Street, Monday, August 2. "MY DEAR BROTHER, - At last I am able to send you some tidings of my niece, and such as, upon the whole, I hope will give you satisfaction. Soon after you left me on Saturday, I was fortunate enough to find out in what part of London they were. The particulars I reserve till we meet: it is enough to know they are discovered. I have seen them both - "....... If Jane Austen had a calendar in mind then there are several possibilities but my own research, along with other factors, led me to ...

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. From Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The reality of life for the officers was most certainly quite different to that of Lydia's imagination. Like Wickham, many of the officers lived well beyond their means and were in debt. The entertainments were very tempting, including gentleman's clubs where fortunes could be lost at the gambling tables. Ragget's was typical of this type of establishment and in Lydia ...