Diana Birchall

Now retired from her career as a story analyst at Warner Bros Studios, Diana is the author of Jane Austen sequels Mrs. Darcy's Dilemma, The Bride of Northanger, In Defense of Mrs. Elton, Mrs. Elton in America, and the forthcoming The Darcys in Venice, as well as Austenesque plays, stories, articles, and pastiche. Diana's scholarly biography of her grandmother, Onoto Watanna, the first Asian American novelist, was published by the University of Illinois Press. Diana grew up in New York City, and now divides her time between California and England.

Most commented posts

  1. 12 Days of a Jane Austen Christmas: A Book of Days — 62 comments
  2. Throwback Thursday with Diana Birchall — 59 comments
  3. Leap into Love – an Excerpt by Diana Birchall — 55 comments
  4. The Darcys and Lord Byron in Venice, Part 8 — 53 comments
  5. Persuasion 200: Mary Musgrove’s Complaint — 48 comments

Author's posts

Confessions & Correspondence: Bingley Writes to his Aunt in Scarborough about Jane (by Diana Birchall)

Welcome to our epistolary retelling of Pride & Prejudice! Jane Austen’s original version of the story, First Impressions, was told entirely in letters, so it seemed like a great group project. We’ll be posting a new letter every Wednesday.    Charles Bingley, 23 September 1812 That the Bennet family was made happy by Jane’s engagement, …

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Mr. Collins and His Successful Love

Another retrieval from my archive, while I am away cavorting in Edinburgh and latterly London. This,  a story published as recently as 2014, is another in my series of  homages? tributes? satires? relating to Lady Catherine de Bourgh.  Here, we behold her reactions to Mr. Collins’s machinations regarding his prospective marriage… Mr. Collins and His …

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Lady Catherine Interviews Mr. Collins

While away in Scotland for the summer, I am posting a few (hopefully golden) oldies from my archives. This one dates back to 2011, and it concerns one of my favorite characters, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.  It is a take on a familiar but important moment in Pride and Prejudice, when the lady of Rosings interviews …

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Lady Catherine’s Plans

I am planning to spend most of the summer in Edinburgh, which despite its manifold attractions, is not the first place you associate with Jane Austen (although to be sure, the archives of her publisher John Murray, who published  Lord Byron as well as Austen, are now held at the National Library of Scotland, in …

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A Niece’s Dancing Slippers by Diana Birchall

“In an upper room in a house in an English village, inside a glass case, sits a small pair of white satin dancing slippers. The house, in the village of Chawton in Hampshire, was the last home of Jane Austen, and the slippers belonged to her niece, Marianne, who would be the last person to …

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Confessions & Correspondence: Charles Bingley Writes to his Man of Business about Netherfield

Welcome to our epistolary retelling of Pride & Prejudice! Jane Austen’s original version of the story, First Impressions, was told entirely in letters, so it seemed like a great group project. We’ll be posting a new letter every Wednesday.    Charles Bingley May 6, 1812 Charles Bingley had never known a time in his life …

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Confessions and Correspondence: Letters between Anne de Bourgh and Georgiana Darcy

  Welcome to our epistolary retelling of Pride & Prejudice! Jane Austen’s original version of the story, First Impressions, was told entirely in letters, so it seemed like a great group project! We’ll be posting a new letter every Wednesday.  December 3, 1811 My dear Georgiana, I hope you and your brother are well, and …

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Peering into Jane Austen’s Spectacles

I spent most of December in England, celebrating a dowager’s milestone birthday (er, that is, mine!). It was not primarily a Jane Austen-centered trip; throughout my long lifetime I have most satisfyingly visited nearly every Austen-related site that I desired to see. (To confess the truth, I have not climbed Box Hill, but I may …

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Austen Variations 2025 Advent Calendar

Welcome to the 2025 Austen Variations Advent Calendar, where our amazing authors will bring you a new gift every day from now until today, December 24th. Lady Catherine’s Christmas Carol Part One. The Ghost of Christmas Past. It was Christmas Eve, and Lady Catherine was in a hurry. A lady, of course, never hurries,” she …

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Prelude to Pemberley: Lady Catherine Interferes by Diana Birchall

Welcome to our Pride & Prejudice prequel! P&P: Prelude to Pemberley tells the story of the time leading up to the events of Pride & Prejudice, including what Darcy and Elizabeth were doing and thinking, Georgiana Darcy’s story, the events of Ramsgate, how Mr. Bingley came to lease Netherfield, and much more! Join us on …

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