Blossoming Love from BSN

Blossoming Love – An Excerpt from Bourbon Street Nights, by Jack Caldwell Greetings, everyone. Jack Caldwell here. Sorry it’s been so long between posts. I don’t wish to bore you with what’s been happening down here in Louisiana, but I have been writing when not looking after one of my grandsons. The trials of being …

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Being Mrs Darcy Deleted Scene

Hello everyone, Back in March, the monthly theme here at Austen Variations was comeuppance. I had a perfect scene from Being Mrs Darcy in mind for it, but at the time I was sharing news about The Recovery of Fitzwilliam Darcy and never got around to posting it. I thought that I would now. This …

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Blossoming Love: “I am naturally indifferent to flowers.”

A Northanger Abbey story, and the myth of Hyacinthus It was an awkward morning in Milsom-Street. It had been arranged that the Allens would deliver Catherine from their Bath lodgings to General Tilney’s superior ones, in time to join the family for breakfast, and then make ready for the journey to Northanger Abbey. This departure …

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Tulips in Winter: An Excerpt from A Remedy Against Sin

Happy June to you all! When I was thinking about this month’s theme, “Blossoming Love,” I realized that I rarely set a story in summer. Nor do I have many flowers in my novels (or, when I do, I tend to put them in seasons not meant for those flowers)! All of these thoughts brought …

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Short Story Excerpt

This is the beginning of a little story I’ve been working on for a while now. Basically, what if Elizabeth left the inn at Lambton before Jane’s letters arrived? What would have happened? Take a look…   Lambton, Derbyshire  August 1812   Elizabeth tied her bonnet ribbons in a jaunty bow to the left of …

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Faults of Understanding – Release Day! by Jennifer Altman

Well, it’s finally happened. My second Pride and Prejudice variation is out in the world, TODAY! 🎉🎊🎉 And what better way to celebrate than with another giveaway and one more excerpt from the book. 🙂 If you’ve been following along, I’ve already shared Darcy’s proposal (if you missed it, you can find it HERE), so …

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So Momentous a Change: A Mother’s Love Vignette

Are mothers in Jane Austen good or bad?

Can you believe it is almost the end of May? I have had so much fun this first month after joining Austen Variations! I’ll admit, however, that I was more than a little daunted by the prospect of writing a vignette for this month’s theme, “A Mother’s Love.” Then I tried to imagine what, if …

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Freebies, ‘Coming Soon’ & A Scatterbrained Mamma

Good morning! Thanks for stopping by for a chat today. I think you’ve already guessed which scatter-brained mamma I’m thinking of.       Poor Mrs Bennet! In a time when no one had any understanding of genetics, it was regarded as the woman’s fault, and she was seen as having failed her husband, if …

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A Most Affectionate Mother

Are mothers in Jane Austen good or bad?

This one has been out a few years, but it is still one of my favorites, featuring not one, but two well-meaning, match-making mamas! A Most Affectionate Mother Mama trundled into the parlor in another one of her flurries. The sunbeams and dust motes gave way to her, knowing better than to interfere. The furniture …

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Jane Austen and Confinement

Are mothers in Jane Austen good or bad?

Jane Austen was never confined – at least, not in the sense of experiencing pregnancy, childbirth, and “lying-in.” She had plenty of opportunity to see other women  undergoing confinements, at close quarters, as  several of her sisters-in-law had large families. Both Edward Austen Knight’s wife Elizabeth and Frank Austen’s wife Mary died after having eleven …

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