Imagine you are a 19th century woman who thought you knew all you needed to know about your past. You were about to leave to find work elsewhere. The school where you lived since a child would close soon. But then, as she lay dying, the headmistress told you she's held onto a letter for… Continue reading Secret letters and secret rooms: A Review of Ladd’s “The Letter from Briarton Park”
Tag: Jane Austen
A different “Lizzy and Jane”
Recently I've found I gravitate to stories about chefs and food. I favorably reviewed "A Coincidence of Coconut Cake" by Amy E. Reichert, and the debut novel from Charmaine Wilkerson's "Black Cake" not too long ago. "Lizzy and Jane" by Katherine Reay became the next "cheffie" or "foodie" story for me to read. Available to… Continue reading A different “Lizzy and Jane”
A Review of Jane Austen’s Genius Guide
"The finest novelist" "Moral philosopher" "Sharp social commentator" These are three of the ways Haley Stewart described one of my favorite writers of all time, Jane Austen. Her added appellation though is the topic of this book: "Life Coach" I went into reading her book with this in mind. Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life:… Continue reading A Review of Jane Austen’s Genius Guide
A Review of Jane Austen Ruined My Life
Beth Pattillo’s "Jane Austen Ruined My Life" made for a conversation starter when I carried the book to appointments. She had made Edward her Knightley, and he didn’t measure up in the least. How dare Austen fill her readers’ heads with happy endings and perfect love matches! I finished this book the week of Christmas.… Continue reading A Review of Jane Austen Ruined My Life
First Impressions of Jane Austen
I believe this was the cover art of the edition we read in class of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, published Dec. 1, 1983. I first read Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” in graduate school. I had taken a course on romantic love in English literature at Kent State University with Dr. William Hildebrand. Crazy… Continue reading First Impressions of Jane Austen
Review of Gothic fiction pioneer’s “The Castle of Otranto
In October, I started Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto because it was one of the works that inspired Jane Austen to write the Gothic satire “Northanger Abbey.” Walpole, the 4th Earl of Orford, was 48 when he wrote this work in 1765. He said he'd awakened from a dream about seeing at the top… Continue reading Review of Gothic fiction pioneer’s “The Castle of Otranto
Secret rooms, hidden treasure, & romance
“If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad.” – Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen, 1817 Secret rooms and passageways, hidden treasure, mysterious sights and sounds made Sarah E. Ladd’s “The Thief of Lanwyn Manor” the perfect October read. The second novel in her Cornwall series told the… Continue reading Secret rooms, hidden treasure, & romance
Sidebar to Review of Catherine Taylor’s “Beyond the Moon”
While I read Catherine Taylor’s debut novel “Beyond the Moon,” I remembered two other novels where main characters switch bodies and lives hundreds of years apart from each other. In Laurie Viera Rigler’s Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict,” Courtney Stone was drunk on Absolut, wearing her wedding dress, as she despaired of her broken… Continue reading Sidebar to Review of Catherine Taylor’s “Beyond the Moon”
The Waiting Room 