With all the changes over the last two centuries, it is easy to forget that during Jane Austen’s day marriage was an essential social structure. Marriage provided the key to a strong, stable society. Society identified individuals by their connections, the ones they were born with and the ones acquired through marriage. Marriage and inheritance laws …
We love our readers and we want you to know it! So, this month we have for you, not one, but two new free books! Click the covers to see and download them. You can also find them on our ‘Free Books’ page. Enjoy and spread the word! We love our readers! If you’d …
To commemorate our second anniversary, we invite you, our loyal readers and friends, to join us this month at Austen Variations. We have grand plans! For February, we intend to share the endearing moments of Jane Austen’s beloved characters as they celebrate their own anniversaries. Mrs. Bennet persuades August 19, 1812 Mrs. Bennet’s …
Throughout her works, Austen presents us with characters who marry for a wide variety or reasons. Those who marry for love, like Elizabeth and Darcy or Jane and Bingley, are arguably the ones who most appeal to modern readers. But characters who marry (or attempt to marry) for less noble reasons abound: Wickham’s marriage to …
What better way to start the year that to focus on one of Jane Austen’s most beloved characters. Join Austen Variations as we spend January looking into the lovely Jane Bennet. In ‘Remember the Past’, Jane found love, not with Bingley, but with Col. Fitzwilliam. A few scenes got cut from the …
While in London, Darcy attends a Christmastide pantomime with the Bingley sisters. Dec 30, 1811 Darcy laid his newspaper aside. Miss Bingley should not have worried, her little dinner party hardly garnered any notice at all. A few brief words of Sir Andrew’s and Lady Elizabeth’s attendance …
Christmas Dinner at Longbourn with the officers and the Gardiners proves interesting. December 25, 1811 Later that night, Elizabeth paced the very clean drawing room, waiting for their guests to arrive. Fresh evergreen and holly filled the room with the season’s fragrances, tied with cheery red bows. It should have been a very …
On the eleventh day of Christmas, Jane Austen gave to me… an excerpt from A Jane Austen Christmas to whet your appetite. Each year, Regency era British theaters prepared Christmas pantomimes (pantos) that would begin on Boxing Day and run as long as the audiences demanded them. These were not silent productions, but …
I love the Christmas season, and what better way to share that than with a new story? The Darcys’ First Christmas Elizabeth anxiously anticipates her new duties as mistress of Pemberley. Darcy is confident of her success, but she cannot bring herself to share his optimism. Unexpected guests unsettle all her plans and offer her …
The Sunday before the Netherfield Ball was Stir it up Sunday, the day Christmas puddings were traditionally made. Mr. Collins makes it a bit interesting this year. November 24, 1811 Papa paced along his favorite track in the parlor, back and forth in front of the fireplace whilst …
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