Hello again! I hope you had a good start to 2023. Thanks for stopping by to have a peek at what I’ve been up to in 2022. My WIP is a winter story, so how about starting with an excerpt from a snowy day? I’ve never had the chance to see much snow at Pemberley. Just …
Category: Joana Starnes
2022 Deck the Shelves in the Closet Book Sale
MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! The Holiday season is in full swing. We’ve finished Thanksgiving (in the US) and Chanukkah, and Christmas Day coming fast. We’re decking our halls and wrapping our presents. How about something to tide you over in your quiet hours as you await New Year’s Day 2023? Like a great book! This is …
Schoolrooms and Nurseries
Shall we walk in Jane Austen’s footsteps across Forbury Gardens, towards the site of the last school she attended, along with her sister? Paul Sandby’s painting of Reading Abbey Gateway gives us a glimpse of the brick building that housed the Abbey School, a boarding school for young ladies, established around 1755. In Jane Austen’s …
Summer Travels
Last month, when I went to stay at Hunsford, I was seriously tempted to drive up to Pemberley as well. When I mentioned that to my husband, he didn’t roll his eyes or anything. He’s always a gentleman, and his patience for everything to do with my obsession borders on the superhuman. He only pointed …
The lane to Hunsford
Flights of Fancy is this month’s theme, so how about flights of fancy in Hunsford? Six years ago almost to the day, my friend Mira and I finished our P&P tour with a very brief glimpse of Teigh Old Rectory (aka Hunsford 1995). I’ve been hoping to go back ever since and stay for …
Any Excuse for a Pressie!
Any excuse will do, right? So I think I’ll blame Mr Darcy’s shirt 😛 Mihaela and I came across it last Sunday at Jane Austen’s House, and at first I was quite blasé, thinking it was just another copy. But no, this time it was the real deal. A very thoughtful gentleman offered to take …
March is for merriment & spring flowers
The snowdrops have come and gone, the daffodils are in bloom and the tulips I brought home from Pemberley are only 4″ tall and still keep me guessing which variety is which. The Spanish bluebells are coming out in force, and as I was thinning them out yesterday (under careful supervision 🙂 …
Raffle Winners!
We did it! We managed to raise over $10,000 for humanitarian relief in Ukraine!! I’m so incredibly proud of our JAFF community. We had some very generous donations for our raffle, ranging from $5 to $400. Winners were chosen using a random number generator. This prize list doesn’t include the bonuses for donations of $100+, …
JAFF Loves Ukraine update
Wow! Our Austenesque community is so amazing!!! Between 35 authors and hundreds of readers, we’ve already raised over $7000 $8000 $9000 for humanitarian aid to Ukraine on our original fundraiser post! Give yourselves a big hand! But the need is far too great to rest on our laurels, so our authors have pulled out even …
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