Jane Austen Regency Week, part 1

Susan Mason-Milks, Maria Grace and Abigail Reynolds with the town crier

Though Jane Austen Regency Week 2015 has drawn to a close, and we have all returned to our respective corners of the globe, we couldn’t wait to share it all with you! With so many wonderful events a single post can’t do it justice, so continue watching for a series on this event.

The festival was held in Alton, Hampshire, the place where Jane Austen spent a great deal of her life and did much of her writing. The town and the people we met there were just lovely and I can easily see how it would be a place that would inspire and nurture such talent as Jane Austen’s. The festival kicked off with Regency Day in town and a street fair.

Cassandra Grafton setting up the booth

We had a table near the center of the fair where seven of the Jane Austen Variations authors gathered. I’m pretty sure this was, to date, the largest gathering of our authors yet. There is something pretty special about seeing friends you only rarely see in person and in meeting for the first time internet friends who you have never actually met. That was one of high points of the trip for me. 

Abigail Reynolds and Leslie Diamond

Jane Odiwe and Susan Mason Milks putting together bags of bookmarks and post cards

Maria Grace and Abigail Reynolds

Maria Grace, Abigail Reynolds, Monica Fairview, Leslie Diamond, Cassandra Grafton and Susan Mason-Milks

We had the best location for our book stall, the corner where all the demonstrations and performances were held! Local dancers, including the cutest little girls dancing around the Maypole, a fencing school, and the Dandy Chargers velocipede group delighted us all with their displays.

The Darcy Brother authors: Maria Grace, Susan Mason-Milks, Monica Fairview, Abigail Reynolds and Cassandra Grafton

One of the most exciting moments was getting all five authors of the Darcy Brothers together for a group photo. It was the first time all of us had physically been together! Hard to imagine that we actually wrote and published a book together and never physically sat in the same room together before it was done!

The street fair was only the beginning. Later in the week we enjoyed a ball, a guided walk around Chawton, evensong at St. Lawrence church, a talk by Abigail Reynolds on Mr. Darcy, a private tour of the attics at Jane Austen’s house, and, the highlight, presenting a check of the proceeds of The Scenes Jane Austen Never Wrote, to the Jane Austen House Museum. We’ll be back to tell you more about all of them soon!