Searching for Captain Wentworth - my new book.

Searching for Captain Wentworth - Jane Odiwe

My latest book, Searching for Captain Wentworth is published on September 7th - though it is possible to order it now through Amazon and the usual channels.

I wanted to write something a little different from my usual Jane Austen sequel and have always wanted to try my hand at a contemporary romance. I decided to combine the two in a time travel book, another favourite genre, and I enjoyed writing it enormously!

At the beginning of the book, my heroine Sophie has a broken heart and is feeling very fed up with the world. At the invitation of an aunt, she takes herself off to Bath for a holiday and finds herself living next door to the house Jane Austen lived in 200 years ago.

It's not long before strange things start happening and when Sophie finds an ancient glove dropped by her mysterious neighbour, Josh, she is whisked back into the past where she meets Jane Austen and her brother Charles, a handsome lieutenant on the frigate, Endymion. Sophie is soon enjoying the delights of balls and parties with her friends, living the life of her ancestor and namesake, Sophia Elliot. Whilst her friendships with the Austens could not be better or more exciting, Sophie has to contend with her family who are a nightmare! Her father is a snob and her sisters are far from the affectionate siblings she always dreamed of having.

In the present, Sophie's friendship with Josh gets off to a shaky start. She cannot help being attracted to a man who loves Jane Austen's Persuasion as much as she does - though she's determined not to fall for any man again. Besides, it seems Josh is already taken ...

Torn between her life in the modern world and that of the past, Sophie's story travels two hundred years and back again as she tries to find her own Captain Wentworth. And as she comes to believe that may depend upon not only upon risking everything but also changing the course of history, she learns that she isn't the only one caught in a heartbreaking dilemma. Her friend, Jane Austen has her own quest for happiness, her own secrets and heartache.

I've blended fact and fiction together, drawing on Jane Austen's life, novels and letters in an attempt to create a believable world of new possibilities behind the inspiration for Jane Austen's beloved novel, Persuasion.

"Searching for Captain Wentworth" is a new delightful, unmissable read for anybody loving Austen-inspired fiction. Maria Grazia - My Jane Austen Book Club Blog

I'm speaking at The Jane Austen Festival this year on September 19th at the BRSLI on Queen Square, Bath, so I'm very excited about that and would love to see you there!

There's also an International giveaway of my book on Misty Braden's Book Rat Blog - there's still time to enter! I'll be giving away prizes on my blog on publication day - hope you can join me!

Jane Odiwe