Why I No Longer Mourn Jane Austen’s Untimely Death

Tomorrow is a dark date on the calendar. It’s the 207th anniversary of Jane Austen’s premature death – tragic, really, when you consider how young she was, all the years of promise she didn’t get a chance to live out, and the stories she never had time to write. So sad!

But I have good news! I no longer mourn over her untimely death, and you don’t have to either. Why not? Although the official record says Jane Austen died July 18, 1817, at age 41, there is a plausible alternative – one that I choose to believe.

I am no different from any other fan. Which of us hasn’t wished Jane Austen had met with a better fate? She, who has given so much pleasure to countless thousands through her novels, surely deserved a similar romance and happy ending to the ones she designed for all her heroines! So I  wished I could do something about the injustice of it all. But what?

Then I hit on an idea! I couldn’t turn back the clock and change history – not exactly – but I could do the next best thing. I could use my super powers as a novelist to reinterpret the existing facts into a more felicitous outcome for Jane. And I discovered I had a lot of intriguing leeway to work with – gaps in the record, time unaccounted for, missing letters. There was obviously a lot more to Jane Austen’s story than is generally known.

First, since most authors draw heavily from people and situations in their own lives, it didn’t seem unreasonable to me that she might have had more real-life experience in the field of romance than the record suggests. Obviously not a married-her-sweetheart-at-nineteen-and-lived-happily-ever-after kind of affair. But what about a bitter-sweet romance marked by grand passion, misfortune, and long separations? That would be a better fit. Perhaps something on the order of Persuasion.

Yes! What if Austen actually wrote her last, most poignant novel as a public homage to a very private romance with the man who was the one true love of her life? Soon I was off and running with what would become The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen.

I introduced her to the dashing Captain Devereaux, and they really hit it off. More romance for Jane: check! But I still wasn’t satisfied; I desperately wanted it ALL for her… including the happy ending. How fabulous would that be?

So, that became my new (and very audacious) goal – to find a plausible and more pleasing alternative outcome for Jane, something that would fit within the framework of what we know (or think we know) about her life. It would be tricky to pull off. For starters, why would the historical record be wrong? …unless Jane and/or her family had deliberately misled everyone about her fate. But what extreme circumstances could possibly have required them to do something as outrageous as that?

I was already well into the book before the answer came to me. Of course! Now it all made perfect sense, and everything else fell neatly into place too.

So that’s why I no longer have to mourn over an early death for Jane Austen. Instead, I think of her plausible alternative outcome and smile. The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen is my gift to her – to her and to anybody else who prefers a believable fiction to the uncharitable slap of harsh reality. I think Jane would have approved. Don’t you? After all, she subscribed to happy endings too!

“Utterly brilliant – this story is utterly brilliant!” (Austenesque Reviews)

“The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen is one of the most moving, soul-filling, and beautiful stories I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.” (Austenprose review)

The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen is my proudest achievement as a writer, and it’s dedicated to you! “…to every fan who has wished Jane Austen herself might have enjoyed the romance and happy ending she so carefully crafted for all her heroines.”

We hear plenty of bad news every day. Don’t miss out on this good-news story: Jane Austen gets love and a happy ending! Here. Let me get you started with the mysterious Prologue . You will have to read the book to discover how it fits in! 🙂

December 1817

La Comtesse de la Fontaine basked in the sun’s afternoon rays with eyes closed, listening to the varied music of daily life and commerce afloat on the Grand Canal twenty feet below. Venice, for all its antiquity, remained as novel to her as the day she arrived months before, following her marriage to the count.

“There you are, my darling,” said her husband, pushing aside the heavy drapery to join her on the iron-railed balcony.

She reached out to invite him closer, but he was already at her side. A now-familiar thrill raced through her as he bent to brush her lips with his kiss. Then, their faces only inches apart, they exchanged a knowing look, a flicker of a smile passing from one to the other.

“What have you got there?” she finally asked, hearing the crackle of paper in his hand.

“Ah, yes. I was momentarily distracted, but I came to show you this item in the news. When I saw it, I recognised at once that it would be of singular interest to you. Just there,” he said pointing to a small paragraph near the bottom of the page.

Madame la Comtesse addressed her attention to the article he indicated in the English language paper:

Author of Popular Novels Identified Posthumously

It is now known that the well-received novels Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma (as well as two more titles only now coming to light) were written by the daughter of an obscure English clergyman. Unfortunately, she will write no more, having succumbed to an undetermined illness at the age of one-and-forty. She reportedly died five months ago on the 18th of July, and was subsequently buried at Winchester Cathedral. Thanks to the efforts of her brother, Mr. Henry Austen, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion have recently been published in a four-volume set prefaced by his biographical notice identifying the authoress as his deceased sister, Miss Jane Austen.

“Your favourite authoress, dead,” said the count. “Sad news indeed, my darling.”

Madame frowned and slowly shook her head. “If it were true, but I cannot believe it. I will not! Surely there has been some error.”

“What? Do you think the newspapers invent these things?”

“I daresay they do not. More likely, they are simply mistaken in this case… or misinformed. No, this report does not upset me, I assure you. Although I am glad to be told that there are now two more of her books out in the world, I am quite certain that this business about Miss Austen herself is a gross falsehood. I feel it in my bones. In fact, I would wager anything you like that she is every bit as much alive as I am. Will you take my bet?”

“O-oh, no!” he laughed. “Be so foolish as to make a wager against you? Not likely – not when I see that particular gleam in your eye. I perceive, my darling, that you know much more about this business than you are telling.”

“You think me clairvoyant, then? What if I told you that I have already dismissed this report about Miss Austen as of next to no importance, and that the gleam you see in my eye is entirely for you, husband.”

“If that be the happy case, madame, then I will call you a mind-reader instead, for you seem to know my thoughts as well as I do myself.” He took up her hand and brought it to his lips. “So then, come with me, my darling exile,” he said, helping her rise and leading her inside through the cinnamon-coloured velvet curtains.

The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen is available in paperback, Kindle, Nook, and audio from online booksellers Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Happy reading!