I’m just back from a trip to England – my first in a few years, since before pandemic, and the loss of my husband last year. Being in England again gave me a stunning feeling of recognition, of being reconnected to places and things I love dearly, and that bring joy. My son Paul and …
Wild with excitement, Lydia enters Brighton. May 21, 1812 Early on a bright morning in late May, a gay party left Meryton: the girls, Lydia and Mrs. Forster, with the latter’s little maid, traveled all day in Colonel Forster’s chaise, driven by a coachman, as the colonel rode with the regiment. By three o’clock they …
Some years ago, I wanted to write a play about Jane Austen, in which she would have a conversation with another famous author. My choice was Lord Byron, for they were both alive and in England, sometimes even in London, at the same time. They never met, but they knew about each other’s existence. Austen …
It’s Easter, and Mr. Darcy has still not proposed to Anne de Bourgh… March 29, 1812 The wished-for proposal did not come. The green sarsanet, the primrose silk, the floral printed gown with the fichu, were all cunningly constructed so to give Miss de Bourgh’s figure consequence, and accordingly worn with her best French ringlets …
Anne looks forward complacently to what she hopes will be a springtime wedding with Mr. Darcy… March 1, 1812 Lady Catherine prided herself on her deportment, which consisted in a magnificently upright carriage, and a way of moving that might be called an arrogant glide. To display a need for haste, would be deserving of …
Note to readers: I have been using a working title of The Darcys in Venice for this continuing story, but now so much of it has accumulated that we are only a few installments away from The End, and I plan to publish it in book form. I wanted a better title, and thought Jane …
Lady Catherine flatters herself with hopes of her daughter’s marriage to Mr. Darcy January 26, 1812 “My dear Anne,” Lady Catherine de Bourgh said to her daughter, “I do hope you will be taking your drive today. You need an airing.” “Is is so cold,” Anne replied fretfully, “I do not see how a constitutional …
Lady Catherine inspects the household of the new Mrs. Collins January 13, 1811 Charlotte had now been married a month and was quite as satisfied with her situation as she had ever dared hope to be. If her husband was not the pleasantest of companions, there was only one of him, and any man, not …
No, this isn’t Austenesque fiction in which Jane Austen herself, or perhaps the Darcys, crosses the Atlantic Ocean in a wooden sailing vessel, travels across the United States in a wagon, and ascends the Rocky Mountains in pattens. I don’t think Denver was even founded until about forty years after Austen’s death, which makes the …
Lady Catherine’s Christmas is disturbed by her worries about Mr. Darcy’s marriage intentions… December 25, 1811 Christmas makes the strongest demands of any sacred day upon a clergyman, but one might particularly feel for Mr. Collins, whose maiden Christmas sermon he must preach before his formidable patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. All went off well, …
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