A Jane Austen Advent Calendar: Part Two

A Jane Austen Advent Calendar  Part Two There was no sound so Lizzy turned the handle feeling all the while that she really wasn’t very sure if she was doing the right thing. Entering a narrow vestibule where a fire crackled in the hearth of the fireplace another door with a glimpse of the room [...]

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Jane Austen Birthday Soiree!

It’s Jane Austen’s birthday! I must thank Maria Grazia and Katherine Cox for their kind invitation to join this event to celebrate the occasion. If you’d like to be in with a chance of winning my prize of a Jane Austen mug, and a signed copy of Mr. Darcy’s Secret please leave a comment below by December [...]

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A Day Out At Jane Austen’s House Museum, Chawton

I had such a busy week last week packed full of exciting things. I have to tell you my life is usually a very ordinary one spent writing and looking after my family. But last week was full of magical days and even a larger than life evening or two. It started off when I [...]

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Dancing with Mr Darcy!

Last night Monica Fairview (The Other Mr Darcy) and I went to the book launch of Dancing with Mr Darcy. If you haven’t heard about this book before it’s a selection of short stories inspired by Chawton and connections to Jane Austen. What is really worthwhile, I think, is that the proceeds of the book [...]

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Jane Austen’s home at Chawton and another painting of Jane

Here is another painting of Jane Austen which I’d forgotten about and came across whilst looking for something else, inspired, as ever, by Cassandra’s sketch. The little painting that Cassandra produced is very delicate when seen close to and I have attempted a similar effect. However, Cassandra’s brushwork was so fine that I found I [...]

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Lydia Bennet arrives from America!

What excitement! When a large parcel arrived from Sourcebooks in America, I could scarcely contain myself. Seeing an image of my book is nothing to actually having the pleasure of seeing it and holding it in my hands at last. I am absolutely thrilled and I can’t thank enough all the people who have worked [...]

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Lydia Bennet arrives from America!

What excitement! When a large parcel arrived from Sourcebooks in America, I could scarcely contain myself. Seeing an image of my book is nothing to actually having the pleasure of seeing it and holding it in my hands at last. I am absolutely thrilled and I can’t thank enough all the people who have worked [...]

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Jane Austen, Walking and Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen revised her early novels at Chawton cottage in Hampshire after moving there in 1809. My painting shows the sisters coming out of the cottage to go on a walk. Jane is wearing a Tam with a red feather cockade. At a conference in Lyme Regis, Diana Shervington, a descendant of Jane Austen’s brother [...]

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Jane Austen, Walking and Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen revised her early novels at Chawton cottage in Hampshire after moving there in 1809. My painting shows the sisters coming out of the cottage to go on a walk. Jane is wearing a Tam with a red feather cockade. At a conference in Lyme Regis, Diana Shervington, a descendant of Jane Austen’s brother [...]

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Lydia Bennet and Mr Wickham

I hope you have all enjoyed the Pride and Prejudice adaptation that has just finished on TV in the US. I loved this version and I thought Julia Sawalha was a fantastic Lydia, petulant and precocious but still managing to be very funny! Adrian Lukis was perfect for Wickham too, just the right combination of [...]

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