Henry Tilney's Diary - US paperback

Today I'm celebrating the release of the US paperback of Henry Tilney's Diary. I feel an enormous sense of satisfaction in seeing this book make it to the US in paperback, just as I felt a sense of satisfaction when the UK hardback came out, because it's the last of my Jane Austen retellings. I absolutely adore Jane Austen. I love her humour, her sharp eye for detail and her memorable characters and it's been a labour of love for me to look at her novels through the eyes of the heroes. Sometimes the results have been very surprising.

It all began back in 2005 when Darcy's Diary came out. The US rights were quickly snapped up by Sourcebooks, who brought out the US paperback (called Mr Darcy's Diary) two years later. Then followed the other books in the series, with beautifully romantic covers from Penguin in the US, and classic covers from Hale and Sourcebooks in the UK (also Mr Darcy's Diary in the US).

And now, to cap it all, the books are all out in ebook form, including Kindle. In fact, Captain Wentworth's Diary is out in a special edition combined with Jane Austen's Persuasion. There's an active table of contents to let you navigate easily around the book, and at a special price of 86p (yes, 86p!) it's a perfect treat.

What a way to celebrate Christmas!

The heroic three leaders

The UK Election comes into its final week before polling, and the third and final televised leaders' debate is on this evening. There have been comments that the TV debates have made the election even more about personalities than policies but on the other hand policies have been raised and discussed between the party leaders in front of millions of people: the electorate.

(Elections in Regency times were more straightforward: very few had the vote, and most voted as instructed by their local aristocracy.)

In the past week I've been conducting my own straw poll among female friends: which historical romantic heroes could the party leaders best portray?

Gordon Brown seems to be closest to those in the Byronic mould: dark, brooding, and even a little menancing. "He's definitely Heathcliffe," one friend said. "All that hidden passion we've not yet seen."

"Are you sure Mr Rochester isn't a better fit?" I argued.

"Maybe Cyrano de Bergerac, or even Max de Winter," another suggested.

Meanwhile David Cameron has more sharply divided opinion. "This is a difficult one," one friend said. "He can be both serious yet also fun-loving. Perhaps he would be a good Mr Bingley, or Henry Tilney."

"You mean lightweight?" another friend came in with. "He's a token hero to be accepted at face value. We don't really know what's behind it. Like Luke Skywalker."

"Luke Skywalker is not an historical romance hero," I pointed out. "Can we stay on topic?"

"He's my Mr Darcy for sure. Tall, handsome-" third friend came in with.

"No, Clegg is Darcy!" Friend number one. "He could give Colin Firth a run for his money."

It seems she's not the first person to liken Nick Clegg to Colin Firth as Darcy.

"I think Nick Clegg would be a good Dr Who..."

"Can we please stay on topic!"

--> Readers, what do you think the roles for Brown, Cameron and Clegg would be in historical romance?

Kate Allan

Henry Tilney's Diary

As I've mentioned before, when I'm writing the diaries I like to catch something of the hero's personality in the diary entries, so that the tone of the entries in Mr Darcy's Diary is very different to the tone in Edmund Bertram's Diary etc. In Henry Tilney's Diary I'm constantly aware that Henry is an ironic character and so I've tried to reflect this in his diary entries. I'm also aware of the strong elements of novelistic parody running through the book, as Jane Austen constantly pokes affectionate fun at the Gothic novel.

I wanted to have a house party in Henry Tilney's Diary because I wanted to explore the back story, introducing Eleanor's future husband, the man we only learn about right at the end of Northanger Abbey. I also wanted to show some of the family dynamics and to delve deeper into Fredeick's character.

I have had house parties in other novels but I have written them very differently.

In Mr Darcy's Diary I have this:

Monday 15th December

At last, they are here. Bingley and Jane were the first to arrive, bringing with them Caroline and Louisa.
‘Mrs Darcy,’ said Caroline, with an excess of civility. ‘How pleased I am to see you again.’ She smiled as though she and Elizabeth had always been the best of friends, then turned to me. ‘Mr Darcy, how well you look,’ she said. ‘And Georgiana. How you have grown! It must be this Derbyshire air. It is so invigorating.’
Louisa was less vocal but greeted us pleasantly. Mr Hurst merely grunted before retiring to the billiard room. Caroline and Louisa went upstairs, led there by Georgiana, and Elizabeth and I were free to talk to Jane and Bingley.

In Henry Tilney's Diary, the entry about the start of the house party is far more detached. It also plays on the theme of Gothic novels.

Thursday

And so, the characters are assembled: Eleanor Tilney, heroine; General Tilney, loud and irascible, demanding and domineering, determined to marry his daughter to the highest bidder; Mrs Tilney, soft and sweet; Frederick Tilney, the son and heir, a rake and a wastrel; Henry Tilney, the younger son, an ironic creature with - perhaps - the soul of a romantic; Sir Charles Borson, maybe hero, maybe villain, a man of fortune who seeks to take the heroine off to his castle in the remote reaches of -shire; friends of Frederick Tilney, idle and extravagant; a collection of military gentlemen, friends of general Tilney; and a group of young ladies and gentlemen, friends of Miss and Mr Henry Tilney.

Of course, this is just an early draft. As I'm writing it, I'm constantly asking myself questions, for example:

1) Should I leave it as

And so, the characters are assembled

or should I expand it to:


And so, the scene is set, the characters are assembled.

2) Should I keep it simple with Eleanor Tilney, heroine; or should I expand it, giving her some of the attributes of Gothic heroines, like this:

Eleanor Tilney, sweet and innocent, beloved of everyone who knows her

And if I expand it, do I want to expand it in that way, or do I want something even more over the top - more pointedly Gothic, with a greater element of parody, such as

Eleanor Tilney, friend to small animals in distress, saviour of wilting rose bushes,with a voice like a lark in the glowing dawn of a summer's day

Or should I have something even longer and more over the top?

These are the sort of things that will change a dozen times or more as I write the novel. On some days I'll prefer the simpler option, on other days I'll prefer the more over the top version, and I will probably only decide which to use when the book is nearly ready to send off to the publishers, because then I'll know how much parody is in the rest of the book, so I will know if I need more, or less, here.


Henry Tilney's diary is proving great fun to write. It's a very different writing experience to my other diaries, and it promises to be a very different reading experience.

Amanda Grange

Henry Tilney's Diary - Part 6: beginnings

I've been thinking a lot about beginnings lately as I'm at the beginning of Henry Tilney's Diary. In modern novels writers are often advised to begin the book at a moment of change and I thought about where Jane Austen's novels begin.

Pride and Prejudice - begins when Bingley and Darcy move to the area.
Sense and Sensibility - begins when Mr Dashwood dies.
Persuasion - begins when Wentworth returns to the area after a long absence
Mansfield Park - begins when Fanny arrives at Mansfield Park
Emma - begins with Mrs Weston's marriage
Northanger Abbey - begins with Catherine going to Bath.

In other words, they all start at a moment of change.
This is probably another reason why the books seem so modern and are still enjoyed today.

Henry Tilney's Diary - Part 5

When I write the heroes' diaries I try to keep the tone similar to the tone of the original, bearing in mind that it's seen through the hero's eyes, so in Henry Tilney's Diary I want to reflect the fact that Northanger Abbey is a Gothic, albeit a kind of spoof.

I agonised over this idea for ages because I couldn't see how to do it. In Northanger Abbey it's Catherine who brings the Gothic element because she imagines herself to be in one of Mrs Radcliffe's novels, but with Henry being a very different kind of person it was difficult to see how to do it. And then a line in the original gave me the clue because Henry and Eleanor read Gothic novels together.



This is perfect from my point of view because I can have some Gothic scenes, with thunder rolling outside the Abbey window and Henry and Eleanor sitting indoors, reading one of Mrs Radcliffe's novels by candlelight. If I add in some over-the-top Gothic elements like a few flashes of lightning the Gothic scene will be set.

It will also allow me to do something else I wanted to do, that is, introduce some text from The Mysteries of Udolpho. I know that not everyone will have read Mrs Radcliffe's classic, and that some people won't realise it's an actual novel, so this will allow me to give them a taste of the book.

I want to include something about the black veil, because Catherine and Isabella mention this in Northanger Abbey. Readers in Jane Austen's time would have read the scene and so they would know exactly what Austen was talking about. I want to give modern readers the same kind of knowledge.

The only thing I can't decide at the moment is whether or not I should have a later scene in which Henry and his sister read the passage that reveals what lies behind the veil. Would that spoil it for anyone who hasn't read Udolpho, or do I anticipate that everyone who is likely to do so has already read it and therefore they know the answer to this question?

At the moment I can't decide. One thing's for sure, there will be some very Gothic scenes in Henry's diary.

Amanda Grange

Writing a hero's diary, Henry Tilney - part 4

If you'd like to read the previous posts on this subject, then scroll down to 6th June, 21st June and 6th July

Here is the rough draft for the opening of Henry Tilney's Diary, as discussed in my previous post on 6th July

The opening scenes take place 9 years before the events of Northanger Abbey, which is why they are taking place in 1790

1790
Friday 2 July
Frederick came home roaring drunk again this morning and demanded a thousand pounds from my father to cover his losses at the gaming tables. My father, no stranger to the first half of Frederick’s complaint, began roaring himself, and said that Frederick had disgraced the name of Tilney.

‘By God, boy! It’s the army for you. I’ve been lenient with you for long enough.’
Mama implored him to change his mind, saying that Frederick was too young to join the army, to which my father replied, ‘Eighteen? Too young? If anything it is too old.’ Then turning to Frederick he demanded, ‘Well, Sir, what have you to say for yourself?’
Frederick smirked and fell into a chair.
‘That the women will not be able to resist me in uniform!’

‘Puppy!’ roared my father.
‘Please, dear, do reconsider,’ implored my mother. ‘Frederick is the heir. He cannot go into the army. What will happen if he is killed?’
‘He’ll be killed if he stays at home. He’s forever putting his horse at breakneck jumps, and drunk or sober he’s been in more duels than any man I know.’
‘But think of the estate,’ said Mama; a concern which fooled no one, for she cares very little for the estate and a great deal for her firstborn son.

‘If Frederick is fool enough to get himself killed then Henry will look after it,’ shouted my father, who has not yet mastered the skill of normal conversation but continues to speak as though he is on a battle field.
Mama pleaded with him for some time but to no avail, and at last she left the room, closely followed by my father, who was still shouting his dissatisfaction with his eldest son.
If I had a taste to step into Frederick’s shoes I would be well pleased with the turn events have taken, but alas! I have no desire to inherit the estate. It is not well managed and I have no desire to spend my time trying to reclaim it from the brink of disaster.

‘Have a thought for me,’ I said to Frederick, as he staggered drunkenly to his feet. ‘I would much rather inherit the family living than the family estate, so take care of your neck. I do not want to see it broken.’
He smiled broadly as he lurched towards me, then he put his arm round my neck, told me I was his best friend and passed out on the floor.


Saturday 3 July
‘Inherit the estate? Oh no, my dear Henry, it would never do,’ said my sister Eleanor, laughing, as we strolled through the gardens this morning. ‘You could never play the part of a firstborn son. You are not nearly reckless or rakish enough.’

I've no idea if this opening will remain. I will edit it many times before it goes to the publisher, and I might change it completely, or begin the book elsewhere, but somehow I don't think so. It accomplishes a lot in a small space. It introduces us to Henry and his family and it gives us some indication of their personalities. It also sets the scene for later events, such as Frederick running off with another man's fiancee and General Tilney trying to make his children marry wealthy spouses.

Next time I'll be talking about the Gothic influence on Northanger Abbey and my thoughts on working the same influence into Henry Tilney's Diary.
Amanda Grange

Available books in the Austen diaries series are Mr Darcy's Diary, Mr Knightley's Diary, Captain Wentworth's Diary, Edmund Bertram's Diary and Colonel Brandon's Diary. They're available from bookshops or from Amazons including Amazon US and Amazon UK

Writing a hero's diary, Henry Tilney - part 3

You can find previous posts about the writing of Henry Tilney's Diary on 6th and 21st June.

One of the most difficult decisions for me when I write the diaries is, Where should I start? In Mr Darcy's Diary I started with Darcy sending Georgiana out of London for the summer and then discovering that she was about to elope with Wickham. In Mr Knightley's Diary I started at the same point that Emma starts, with Emma's governess about to marry. In Captain Wentworth's Diary, Edmund Bertram's Diary and Col Brandon's Diary I started with the backstory, taking Wentworth back to his first meeting with Anne, Edmund back to his first meeting with Fanny and Brandon back to his first love affair with Eliza.

With Henry Tilney's Diary I was planning to start it with Henry going to Bath, just previous to his first meeting with Catherine, but when I read the last page of Northanger Abbey again I realised I wanted to start the book much, much earlier. This is the passage that made me change my mind:

The anxiety, which in this state of their attachment must be the portion of Henry and Catherine, and of all who loved either, as to its final event, can hardly extend, I fear, to the bosom of my readers, who will see in the tell–tale compression of the pages before them, that we are all hastening together to perfect felicity.

The means by which their early marriage was effected can be the only doubt: what probable circumstance could work upon a temper like the general’s? The circumstance which chiefly availed was the marriage of his daughter with a man of fortune and consequence, which took place in the course of the summer — an accession of dignity that threw him into a fit of good humour, from which he did not recover till after Eleanor had obtained his forgiveness of Henry, and his permission for him “to be a fool if he liked it!”

The marriage of Eleanor Tilney, her removal from all the evils of such a home as Northanger had been made by Henry’s banishment, to the home of her choice and the man of her choice, is an event which I expect to give general satisfaction among all her acquaintance.

My own joy on the occasion is very sincere. I know no one more entitled, by unpretending merit, or better prepared by habitual suffering, to receive and enjoy felicity. Her partiality for this gentleman was not of recent origin; and he had been long withheld only by inferiority of situation from addressing her. His unexpected accession to title and fortune had removed all his difficulties; and never had the general loved his daughter so well in all her hours of companionship, utility, and patient endurance as when he first hailed her “Your Ladyship!”

Her husband was really deserving of her; independent of his peerage, his wealth, and his attachment, being to a precision the most charming young man in the world. Any further definition of his merits must be unnecessary; the most charming young man in the world is instantly before the imagination of us all.

Concerning the one in question, therefore, I have only to add — aware that the rules of composition forbid the introduction of a character not connected with my fable — that this was the very gentleman whose negligent servant left behind him that collection of washing–bills, resulting from a long visit at Northanger, by which my heroine was involved in one of her most alarming adventures.


Here is a backstory indeed! One that involves a second love affair, that of Eleanor and her Viscount. Given that Eleanor and Henry are very close, it must have formed part of their conversations together at the time, and I saw that this would be a very good way for me to explore the relationship between the two siblings.

Then I realised that if I was going to explore the relationship between Eleanor and Henry I would also like to explore the relationship between Frederick and Henry.

It has some similarities to the relationship between Tom and Edmund Bertram. The older son, the heir, is in both cases a hopeless case, indulging in the usual heir-like pastimes of getting drunk, gambling and womanising. The younger son is in both cases destined for the church.

But there the similarity ends, because whilst Edmund is a serious young man, Henry Tilney is witty and light-hearted, almost a male version of Lizzy Bennet.

I decided I wanted to capture the family dynamics in the first few diary entries. Next time I'll be posting the rough draft of these entries so I hope you'll come back and read them!

Amanda Grange

Available books in the Austen diaries series are Mr Darcy's Diary, Mr Knightley's Diary, Captain Wentworth's Diary, Edmund Bertram's Diary and Colonel Brandon's Diary. They're available from bookshops or from Amazons including Amazon US and Amazon UK

Writing a Hero's Diary - Henry Tilney, part 2

You can find the first part of my meandering blogs which are following me through writing Henry Tilney's Diary by scrolling down to my last post on 6th June

Working out the timelines for the diaries is never easy because Austen doesn't usually mention specific years in her books, the exception being Persuasion which starts with a list of dates from the baronetcy and frequently talks about "the year six".

In Northanger Abbey no specific year is mentioned, but there's a good clue as to when it was set in Chapter Six. Isabella says to Catherine:

". . . when you have finished Udolpho, we will read the Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you.”

“Have you, indeed! How glad I am! What are they all?”

“I will read you their names directly; here they are, in my pocketbook. Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries. Those will last us some time.”

“Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?”

I looked up the publication dates for the books mentioned and found they were as follows: Castle of Wolfenbach,1793; Clermont,1798; Mysterious Warnings,1796; Necromancer of the Black Forest,1794; Midnight Bell, 1798; Orphan of the Rhine,1798; and Horrid Mysteries, 1796.

Given that Isabella and Catherine are talking to each other in February, it can't be any earlier than February 1799, because all the above books are already in circulation.

This also fits in very neatly with the fact that Austen started to write it in 1798/1799.

After that, it was just a question of printing out a blank calendar and adding the various events of the book on the relevant months, then checking in the almanack to add the days to the dates, eg to see that the first of February was a Friday.

Next time I'll be talking about how I take one of the most difficult decisions in the diaries, where to start.

Amanda Grange

Available books in the Austen diaries series are Mr Darcy's Diary, Mr Knightley's Diary, Captain Wentworth's Diary, Edmund Bertram's Diary and Colonel Brandon's Diary. They're available from bookshops or from Amazons including Amazon US and Amazon UK

Writing a hero's diary - Henry Tilney

I've just started my new Austen retelling and I thought I'd keep an account of the writing process on the blog. It will probably be rambling as I have an untidy mind, but I hope it will be interesting for anyone who likes reading the diaries and maybe for writers and aspiring writers, too.

When I finished writing Colonel Brandon's Diary at Christmas I decided to take a break from writing as it's tiring and I wanted to be fresh for the next diary. But I'm not very good at taking a break, and although I didn't write anything I was thinking all the time.

I knew that I wanted to write Henry Tilney's Diary next, because then I would have written a diary for each of Austen's novels, but I'm very bad at doing what I ought to be doing and I found myself thinking about Edward Ferrars.

I'd been uncertain which diary to do when I was retelling Sense and Sensibility, but I decided rather randomly on Colonel Brandon's Diary, which left Edward Ferrars's story untold. I thought I would probably write it after Henry's diary, but I kept wondering about Edward. Why hadn't he inherited the family estate and fortune when his father died? He was an older son and so, by rights he should have done so.Why did he fall in love with Lucy? What arts did she employ? Or was it just a question of proximity?

I decided I'd write Edward's diary next instead of Henry's diary, so I read Sense and Sensibility again and made notes - I'd already done this for Col Brandon's Diary, but I needed different notes so I couldn't reuse them.

Then I imagined what it must have been like for Edward when his father was alive, his relationship with his father, and I began to write some early scenes from his childhood.

Then I came across this portrait of Walter Scott, and I thought it looked like Mr Bennet:


I thought it was a pity that I wasn't going to write Mr Bennet's Diary because it would have made an ideal cover, and then I laughed at myself for even thinking of writing Mr Bennet's Diary. And then I started thinking about it and I realised it would make an interesting book because it would deal with Mr Bennet's courtship of Mrs Bennet and explain why he married such an unsuitable woman. It would explore the reasons for his disagreement with Mr Collins's father - I've always wondered about that - and the reasons why they stopped speaking to each other. And then it would follow Mr and Mrs Bennet through their early married life, with the birth of their daughters, and his close relationship with Lizzy and Jane. Then the gradual realisation that no son would be forthcoming, and his withdrawal to the library, where he could feel safe from feminine chatter. And then of course it would follow him through the events of Pride and Prejudice, with him paying a call on Bingley, meeting Mr Darcy, and chasing Lydia to London. And finally his thoughts on Mr Darcy's marrying Elizabeth.

I got so carried away by the idea that I wrote the opening diary entries, and then realised, rather guiltily, that I was meant to be writing Henry's diary. I also realised that, as I couldn't keep away from the keyboard and I couldn't keep my thoughts from Jane Austen, I was ready to start work again.

The first step was to reread Northanger Abbey and immerse myself in the world Austen created. The second step was to then read the book again more slowly and make detailed notes, particularly noting down any mention of days or months as they would be essential for writing the diary entries. And then it was time to work out the timeline.

I'll be posting more about this on 21st June, so I hope you can join me.

Amanda Grange

Available books in the Austen diaries series are Mr Darcy's Diary, Mr Knightley's Diary, Captain Wentworth's Diary, Edmund Bertram's Diary and Colonel Brandon's Diary. They're available from bookshops or from Amazons including Amazon US and Amazon UK