Joana Starnes

Joana Starnes lives in the south of England with her family. She swapped several hats over the years – physician, lecturer, clinical data analyst – but feels most comfortable in a bonnet. She has been living in Regency England for decades in her imagination, and plans to continue in that vein till she lays hands on a time machine. She loves to look for glimpses of Pemberley and Jane Austen’s world, and to write about Regency England and Mr Darcy falling in love with Elizabeth Bennet over and over and over again. She is the author of twelve Austen-inspired novels: From This Day Forward ~ The Darcys of Pemberley, The Subsequent Proposal, The Second Chance, The Falmouth Connection, The Unthinkable Triangle, Miss Darcy’s Companion, Mr Bennet’s Dutiful Daughter, The Darcy Legacy, The Journey Home To Pemberley, A Timely Elopement, Twists of Fate and Snowbound. Joana is also one of the contributing authors to the Quill Ink anthologies.

Most commented posts

  1. Coming Soon ~ The Journey Home To Pemberley — 189 comments
  2. New Year, New Book — 154 comments
  3. ‘Twists of Fate’ ~ Excerpt and Giveaway — 153 comments
  4. Coming soon, Macaroons! — 152 comments
  5. Cover Reveal, Excerpt & Ongoing Giveaway — 126 comments

Author's posts

A Picnic at Pemberley

  It’s picnic time! June is a great time for picnics, with or without our Regency glad rags on.   I love writing about picnics. In The Second Chance there’ s one at the seaside (but on a pebbly beach and sitting on deck-chairs, so hopefully they didn’t have to worry about sand in their …

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Food ~ the Glorious Food of the Georgians

They say never go shopping for food when you’re hungry. Writing a post on Georgian dishes when you’re hungry isn’t the best idea either. Luckily, I can’t nip into the kitchen to snack on plovers’ eggs, Nelson’s pudding or oyster patties, so I’m probably safe, at least for now. These were just a few of …

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Spring Has Sprung – And Mr Darcy Needs Your Help

I read somewhere that daffodils symbolise new beginnings. I don’t know if it’s true. Perhaps the brave little snowdrops deserve this badge of honour more. But when daffodils start to flower and they enliven the dreary winter landscape with bright patches of colour, we know that spring is here at last, and sunny days are …

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Throw Back Thursday

As we dash about, caught in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we can rarely tell which ones of the little, seemingly inconsequential moments will stay with us forever and steer us along the way. When I first opened my mother’s tattered copy of Pride and Prejudice, with several pages almost detached from the …

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An Eventful Morning

So – Frenemies is this month’s theme. Let’s have some more fun with it. In the WIP I’m working on at the moment, I’m gearing towards a different kind of frenemy situation that Elizabeth is not going to find in the least amusing. But that’s still on the drawing board, so I’ve written a vignette …

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Deplorable Dates – Whatever possessed him?

I love this month’s theme! I think it’s a great way to celebrate an author whose best-loved novel hinges on a deplorable first date. Would Elizabeth have been quite so up in arms against Mr Darcy if he hadn’t insulted her on day one?   I’m probably biased here, but I can’t help thinking that …

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Jane in January: Daydreams and a Prologue

Where does our inspiration come from? Such an intriguing theme to start the New Year with! I loved the previous posts and I’m looking forward to the ones to follow. I hope you’ll enjoy them all and thanks for joining me today to chat about the things, big and small, that inspire me in my …

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Advent Calendar – Day 21 – 1812: The Darcys’ First Christmas and the Grinch

Thanks for stopping by to read my second post in the Advent Calendar. If you missed the first, you can find it here. I thought it would be nice if my two posts were about ‘before and after’: Mr Darcy’s Christmastide in the years before and after his marriage. My take on his 1811 Advent …

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Advent Calendar – Day 19 – 1811: Mr Darcy’s Advent Season

Good morning! Hope you’re having a wonderful Advent Season so far. I thought this might be a good time to think of Mr Darcy (isn’t it always? 😉 ) and imagine how he might have fared in the run-up to Christmas, once he had left temptation behind and had been oh-so-successful in persuading both his …

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Looking for Mr Darcy’s Cambridge

Earlier this month, Diana Birchall took us with her on a lovely visit to Jane Austen’s school, then Maria Grace gave us detailed and thought-provoking insights into Mr Darcy’s education (you can find the posts by following the links). It’s fascinating and extremely poignant to imagine Mr Darcy’s early school years, and I’d like to …

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