16 December 2025
My dear Miss Austen,
It has come to my attention across years, pages, and more variations and adaptations than even Lady Catherine could properly censure, that today is the anniversary of your birth. I am reliably informed you have reached the distinguished age of 250, which, even for an immortal authoress, is a very pretty number indeed.
I hope you will not consider it impertinent if I begin by thanking you for myself, and on behalf of all the women in your work to whom you gave the shocking luxury of a mind of their own. You might have made me meek, decorous, and easily silenced. Instead, you placed opinions in my head, wit upon my tongue, and the troublesome habit of thinking for myself even when it is inconvenient to the powerful and the pompous. For this, I am forever your grateful, if occasionally exasperating, creation.
I must also express my particular thanks to you for Mr. Darcy.
Not merely for his ten thousand a year (though I am far from insensible to the comforts of a well-stocked library), nor even for Pemberley’s views, which are certainly delightful—but for the heart that you concealed beneath all that pride and reserve, and then allowed me time enough to discover. How you managed to contrive a hero who begins with “not handsome enough to tempt me” and makes his way to “you must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you,” I shall never fully comprehend, but I am extremely glad you did not spare him—or me—the journey.
You could so easily have smoothed his edges, softened his pride, and made him agreeable from the first chapter. Instead, you bestowed upon me a grumpy, proud, morally earnest man who must learn to bend, just as I must learn to see. You showed that true love does not arrive perfectly packaged; it admits, improves, apologizes, grows. You made room in the world’s heart for men who blush, stumble, and revise themselves. You offered proof that second chances for us all can be very romantic indeed.
It also appears, Miss Austen, that you have inspired an entire legion of readers and writers to keep revisiting our story. They send Mr. Darcy and me to ballrooms and boardrooms, to country estates and coffee shops, and yet somehow we remain ourselves: a woman determined to choose her own happiness, and a man determined to be worthy of her. You have created a tale so strong, so alive, that it survives being twisted, modernized, and retold, and still retains its spirit. I hope you are amused by what they put us through; I confess, I often am.
On this, the day of your birth, I raise my teacup and toast your sharp eye, your sly humour, and and your unfashionable belief that intelligence and love make the best of marriages. Thank you for the laughter, the lessons, and the most unexpected of happily ever afters.
With all possible gratitude and impertinence, your most obliged
Elizabeth Bennet Darcy
NOW IT’S YOUR TURN.
Share your own birthday message to Miss Jane Austen in the comments!
(And if you’ve read this far, I have a gift for you in honor of Jane’s birthday–a free ebook copy of The Christmas Heiress today only! Click here: https://readerlinks.com/l/4375183
26 comments
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This was lovely!
I second all your sentiments and can only be grateful for Miss Jane Austen’s works and the Austenesque world we all enjoy today.
I hope somewhere Jane’s spirit is made joyous by the eternal love we all hols for her babies.
I can’t say it better than you, Melanie. But I will say that Elizabeth Bennet is a kick-ass heroine, no matter the time nor place. And Fitzwillian Darcy is swoon-worthy handsome, and amazingly, is willing to change for the better, to improve, for love, even for a love he believes lost.
How could we not adore them, and want to read and write about them again, and again?
Dear Ms. Austen–I can only echo the fine words of Miss Abigail and say thank you for the joy and inspiration that your writing has inspired in me for virtually my entire 69 years!
Happy Birthday to you Miss Jane Austen! ❤️ Thank you for your wonderful novels and for allowing us readers to continue to read your works for over 200 years!
Did you know it is also my mother’s birthday today! 16th December is a wonderful day indeed.
By the way, I tried to click on the Ebook link, but it said it no longer existed?
Thank you so much x
Lovely. Well said. Made me smile. Thanks.
(By the way, I clicked on the link this morning… It took me to a page that did not have anything on it. Was I too early?)
A beautiful message to a most beloved author. The characters you created, Miss Austen, are ones that I never want to stop reading about. You have no idea how thrilled I have been over the past several decades that others have chosen to continue their stories. I am forever grateful.
Happy Birthday, Miss Austen! May you continue on for another 250 years delighting and inspiring others!
Thank you, Melanie.
I second your beautiful words. Miss Austen your ensuring words have brightened our lives.
Tha lnk you for the clever variations! It makes my day to be able to slip into the Regency era for a time, with beloved characters.
Melanie, you have explained it very well (or, maybe Elizabeth Bennet LOL) so I just simply say it´s overwhealming (in a positive way) that, today, all over the world, people are celebrating the birth of Jane Austen and sharing their passion for this writer who has put together readers from a lot of countries through webs and blogs where we can keep enjoying her stories and many more variations of our dear characters 🙂
Thanks for the gift of your christmas novella! I didn´t have it so I´ve downloaded it 🙂
Happy 250 anniversary to all of the readers and authors of Austen Variations!
Thank you for offering the novella, but the link does not work. The error message says the link is no longer active. I suppose I am too late, but I appreciate the offer. 🙂
Never mind. I looked in Amazon and I already own the book! I read so many and never remember titles. Many thanks!
Wendy
Thanks so much for the offer of the free e-book, and for your lovely words to our favorite writer! If possible, would like a copy of the e-book, but I get a message that says the link is no longer in service. Happy Birthday, Jane!
Thank you, Melanie, for the free book. I went on Amazon and was able to get it there. Merry Christmas!
Beautiful words! Thank you for the book!
This is perfect!
I chuckled when I read who wrote the lovely letter to Miss Austen. The link did not work.
So very well put my dear.
Regards
Dear Miss Austen,
I too thank you that you have shown us “that true love does not arrive perfectly packaged; it admits, improves, apologizes, grows. You made room in the world’s heart for men who blush, stumble, and revise themselves. You offered proof that second chances for us all can be very romantic indeed.”
–Michael B
Dear Miss Austen,
I too thank you that you have shown us “that true love does not arrive perfectly packaged; it admits, improves, apologizes, grows. You made room in the world’s heart for men who blush, stumble, and revise themselves. You offered proof that second chances for us all can be very romantic indeed.”
–Michael B
p.s.: Would you please tell your friend Ms Melanie Rachel, that I enjoyed reading her book, “The Christmas Heiress” last year via Kindle Unlimited . Now, due to her generosity, I get to own it!
Dear Jane…..happy Birthday and many happy returns. I raise a good cup of tea in your honor……thank you for all the many hours of pleasant reading hours.
Thank you so much for this wonderful story.
Thank you! You said it well
Dear Miss Austen
Thank you for the gift of choice – your many novels have opened the door to the time and places in your life and imagining and windows to hearts and longing and misunderstandings which display the quirks of humanity with love and wit. The world of Austen has expanded much beyond the bounds of time and literature. You have inspired us, the collective ‘us’ who avidly read and or write the many thousands of dreams put to pen, whether in serial form on a blog or daringly published for the, often unkind, reading and review of the many others who wait, hungry to taste the new recipes for happily ever after, or not.
Miss Jane Austen, I salute you, and look forwards to meeting you soon
Oh nooooo! I saw Ms. Reynolds’s post yesterday, but missed yours!
Miss Austen,
You have provided me with countless hours of joy, in your own words, in the words of those inspired by yours, and in the time and culture you have inspired my interest in!
Yours &c.,
Dear Melanie,
What an absolutely beautiful tribute to Jane and her beloved characters Elizabeth and Mr Darcy.
They bring so much joy and happiness into my life every time I meet them through Jane Austen’s unforgettable novel,loved by me for so many years.
To be able to meet them again through the many Variations again brings so much joy.
I return to them so many times,
Jane has brought so much joy and happiness to our sad world either all her wonderful novels.
Thankyou Jane,and thankyou all the wonderful authors who bring these characters to the notice of so many readers who perhaps would never have met them.
Dear Melanie,
What an absolutely beautiful tribute to Jane and her beloved characters Elizabeth and Mr Darcy.
They bring so much joy and happiness into my life every time I meet them through Jane Austen’s unforgettable novel,loved by me for so many years.
To be able to meet them again through the many Variations again brings so much joy.
I return to them so many times,
Jane has brought so much joy and happiness to our sad world either all her wonderful novels.