The Jane Austen Handbook

It seems a long time since I posted here- my last post coincided with the blogger black out last month. I was going to talk about my new book but it is not being published until August now.

Therefore I'm going to tell you about a delightful little book I discovered called 'The Jane Austen Handbook' by Margaret C Sullivan -who is the editor of Austenblog.com. She lives in Philadelphia.

This book tells you what Jane would do. For instance:

How to behave at your first ball

How to ride sidesaddle

How to decline an unwanted marriage proposal

How to improve your estate

How to throw a dinner party.

It also includes thoughts on all Jane's books, film adaptions and Jane Austen related retellings.

There are sections on all sorts of regency related subjects.

For instance -acceptable men's professions were -the church/the military/the law and medicine.

How a lady might earn a living- governess/schoolteacher/companion/lady's maid/authoress

This is written with a light witty style and I will find it a useful addition to have on my reference shelf.

Next time I am due to post will be at the RNA conference- I shall have to borrow someone's lap top to do it as I'm sure you will want to know what's going on in Wales.

Fenella Miller