Melinda Hammond's Brand New Story on an Age-old Theme

The latest anthology in the Regency Romantics series is now published, containing six wonderful romances from myself and five fellow authors. My contribution to this edition is a brand new Regency romance, but I confess it is based on a very familiar theme.

Is there anyone who doesn't like the story of Cinderella?  It is certainly one of my favourite fairy tales and a re-working seemed perfect for this winter collection. Waldo, Duke of Charingden is reluctant to marry so his family decide they will bring  a selection of eligible ladies to the winter ball for him to choose from. Of course, nothing goes to plan, and Waldo becomes  entangled with the very ineligible young woman staying at Dove Cottage. Here is a short excerpt for you. I hope you enjoy it!

Waldo has just stepped out of his drawing room for a breath of air....

          And there, dancing on the snow-covered grass, was the girl he had met in the woods yesterday. She was so caught up with the dance that she did not see him and he stood for a moment, watching her. The strains of the piano music floated out into the still night air and she was turning and swaying, her cloak swirling around her. Then she swung around and saw him on the terrace and she stopped, her eyes widening in apprehension.

'Do not run away,' he ordered, when she turned to flee. He ran lightly down the steps and as he approached she slowly turned back towards him.

'I beg your pardon, I meant no harm,' she said breathlessly.

'Who are you?' he asked her. 'And tell me the truth this time. I mean no disrespect to the Goodliffes but I doubt any relative of theirs ever learned to dance like that.'

He watched as she caught her full bottom lip between her teeth.

'You are right, sir, I was given a good schooling, but I am an orphan, and my circumstances are now such that I am forced to throw myself upon the Misses Goodliffes' generosity. Miss Harriet was my nurse, you see, and I knew she would not turn me away. However, to avoid any awkward explanations I decided to remain here as their niece.'

'And not content with frightening my horse I find you spying upon my guests,' he said. 'You have no permission to collect sticks from here.'

          'No.' She hung her head. 'Your housekeeper sent over the remains of a game pie for our dinner and I promised Miss Hannah that I would return the dish. The snow and the moon made it light as day, so I thought I would bring it back tonight, rather than wait for the morning. Then I heard the music.' She glanced up at him. 'I love to dance,' she said simply. 'It is the one thing I have missed most since I came to Dove Cottage. I did not think you would mind if I just watched, through the window. But then, I just could not stop myself from dancing, too.'

She was looking so wistful that he came to a decision.

'Come along.'

He took her hand and she said in some alarm, 'What are you doing?'

'If you want to dance, you shall come inside and join us.'

'No, no, I cannot.' She dug in her heels and held back. 'Pray, your Grace, let me go.'

'But why? There is time for you to join in with one dance, at least.'

'No, no, I pray you, sir, do not humiliate me so!'

The anguished note in her voice made him stop.

'I have no wish to upset you,' he said gently.

'I should never have come here. Oh, your Grace, I beg your pardon.'

'Very well, I shall not force you to come indoors if you do not wish it.' Looking down into her face, pale and beautiful in the moonlight, a madness came over Waldo. 'But since you are here it is a pity to waste the music.' He pulled her closer. 'We shall tread a measure here, on the lawn.'

Distress was replaced by suspicion and a sudden contraction of her brows.

'Now you are making a May-game of me.'

Not at all. I am deadly serious. Well?' He smiled, at his most charming. 'Listen, another dance is starting. A waltz.' He took her hands. 'Come along, Clara, dance with me.'

'This is ridiculous.'

'Humour me.'

He was smiling down at her and Clara found it impossible to look away. His warm, strong fingers were wrapped around her hands and when he moved she followed him, dancing to the faint, sweet strains of the pianoforte that drifted out on the still night air. He led her through the dance, moving with a lithe grace as they glided across the lawn while the full moon hung like a silver lamp in the night sky. Clara forgot that she was wearing a red flannel petticoat beneath her old dimity gown, forgot the outdoor boots on her feet and the woollen cloak around her shoulders. She felt like a princess, dressed in the finest silks, skipping and twirling around the ballroom. The duke was still smiling and she found herself smiling too, laughing aloud as the joy of the music swelled within her. He lifted her hands high for the final rotation but at that moment a dip in the lawn caught Clara unawares. She stumbled and would have fallen if the duke had not caught her in his arms and pulled her against the hard wall of his chest.

She laughed up at him, breathing in the mixture of crisp, cold air, freshly laundered linen and a spicy rich scent. Then the glow in his eyes deepened and she could not breathe at all. She felt hot, giddy. Her heart was beating so hard she felt sure he must hear it. When he lowered his head she did not draw back, instead she turned her face up to meet him, her lips slightly parted. His kiss was soft, gentle as a breeze, but it sent a bolt of excitement zinging through to her core and she found herself reaching up, pushing up on her toes to prolong the moment.

When he ended the kiss and raised his head, she felt bereft. He was gazing down at her, a faint, puzzled frown creasing his brow and suddenly the chill night air rushed in, bringing her back to the reality of her situation. The duke was clearly ashamed of what he had done, disgusted with himself for kissing someone he saw as little better than a servant. And she had kissed him back! No respectable young lady would ever do such a thing. Tears were threatening. She must leave, before she made even more of a fool of herself.

She stepped away from him.

'Oh, I beg your pardon.'

Her anguished whisper hung on the night air.

'Clara, I – '

As he reached out for her she whisked herself out of reach, turned and fled.

***

Melinda Hammond

www.melindahammond.com

Candlelight Courtships is available now for you to enjoy from Amazon, with six spell-binding romances from Elizabeth Bailey, Monica Fairview, Amanda Grange, Fenella J Miller, Wendy Soliman and Melinda Hammond!

Jane Austen Made Me Do It!

When Laurel Ann Nattress of Austenprose contacted me about a new anthology she was putting together I knew straight away I'd like to be a part of it especially as I'd be sharing the wonderful company of fellow authors Amanda Grange, Monica Fairview and Jo Beverley.
Our brief was to write a 5000 word short story for the anthology, Jane Austen Made Me Do It, and as long as it related to Jane Austen in some way we were invited to let our imaginations take flight. The result is a collection of 22 stories-a veritable chocolate box of tales inspired by Jane Austen, some historical and some contemporary.

Amanda Grange's story is Mr. Bennet Meets his Match.
On his daughters’ wedding day, Mr. John Bennet’s mind drifts back to the events of twenty-three years before, and the events leading to his own marriage . . . Encouraged by his parents to marry sooner rather than later and thereby provide a new generation of Bennet heirs for the estate, John laughed at their hurry. However, a meeting with his Cousin Collins, who was next in line for the entail, and an unfortunate accident, made him reconsider his position, and the proximity of the lively, pretty Miss Jane Gardiner sealed his fate.

Monica Fairview's story is Nothing Less than Fairyland.
In this gently humorous story inspired by Jane Austen’s novel Emma, the day has come for Mr. Knightley to move into Hartfield, but Mr. Woodhouse is still not reconciled to the marriage. Trouble looms on the horizon, unless Emma can quickly come up with a way to convince her papa to accept Mr. Knightley’s presence.

Jo Beverley's story is The Mistletoe Kiss.
Elinor Carsholt is living on the charity of a connection of her late husband’s in the village of Chawton, facing a dismal future for her three young daughters, until she begins to hope that her oldest daughter Amy has caught the eye of local baronet Sir Nicholas Danvers. Amy must have been sneaking out for clandestine meetings, which disturbs her, and there is a ten-year age difference, but still, it would be the saving of them all.
When she and the girls go out on Christmas Eve to look for holly, ivy, and mistletoe, Elinor is still undecided and rejects Amy’s urging to go to Sir Nicholas’s estate in search of mistletoe, but then local resident Miss Austen drives by in her donkey cart and pauses to chat.Elinor doesn’t really approve of Miss Jane Austen, for she’s been told she writes novels, which Elinor thinks a bad influence on young female minds, but she has to be polite. Miss Jane turns talk to love and marriage, expressing far too romantic a view, but she also assures them all that Sir Nicholas would be delighted if they searched his orchard for mistletoe, changing the course of their lives.

My story is Waiting.
Captain Wentworth and his beloved Anne Elliot have waited almost nine years to be together. At last all misunderstandings are swept aside. They have declared their love for one another, and all that remains is for their union to be blessed by Anne’s father, the irascible Sir Walter Elliot, and for the family members to be told. As Anne and Frederick ponder their futures each is reminded of the past, and all that has happened.
Persuasion is my favourite Jane Austen novel, and so I knew straight away this was the story I wanted to write. I'd always wondered how Anne Elliot's family would react to the news that she and Captain Wentworth were going to be married, and I also couldn't resist having them look back to the time when they first met. It was such fun writing the characters of Sir Walter Elliot, Anne's sisters Elizabeth and Mary, and of course Anne and Frederick Wentworth too!

Here's a short excerpt:

Captain Wentworth was awake early to witness the greyness of the day, mists rising in a smoking pall above the city along with the icy rain which lashed at the windows of his lodgings in a manner fit for any storm at sea. His spirits were high, though to tell the truth, he was more than a little nervous at the prospect of the interview he was about to face. As he adjusted the cuffs at his wrists, he glanced out of the window to observe the dash of carriages rolling round the square depositing new arrivals in Bath.

Had it only been yesterday when the unimaginable had happened at last? Frederick recalled every second of the encounter, revived every feeling. They’d met in Union Street. He’d been almost afraid to witness her reaction to the heartfelt letter he’d sent. But he needn’t have worried. Her eyes had spoken the sentiments she could not immediately express. Anne Elliot had taken his arm, and he’d sheltered her from the rain with his umbrella.

From his viewpoint past the railings on the other side of Queen Square, Gay Street effortlessly progressed up its steep incline, elegant façades on either side ascending to the Circus much as he and Anne had advanced before turning off to find the relative quiet of the Gravel Walk. Heedless of the sauntering politicians, bustling housekeepers, and flirting girls around them, they had confessed all their hidden, secret feelings, buried for so long.
“She loves me, as I love her,” he said out loud to confirm the truth to himself. He wanted to open the window and shout it out to the muffin man below. “Anne Elliot never stopped loving me from the day we parted. Oh, that my stubborn pride had not prevented me from seeking her out sooner. I’ve wasted almost nine precious years when we could have been together! I admit; I felt very differently all those years ago when she rejected me. I held her in contempt then, although sweet Anne, I now believe, was perfectly justified in withdrawing from our engagement. I was proud, made to feel that I was not good enough for a baronet’s daughter, and the truth of it stung me to my very soul. But there is little point in grieving over the past; I must look to the future with the girl I love most in the world by my side. My only fear, nay dread, concerns the interview I am to have with her father this morning. Not that his consent really matters. Anne will not be persuaded against her wishes this time, not like the first time. We are older, and, I hope, much wiser, both secure in the knowledge that our love is ever true and constant. But, this will not do, I have an appointment with Sir Walter, and I must not be late!”

I had a lot of fun writing this story-if you know a Janeite, why not pop it in their stocking this Christmas?!

Jane Odiwe

Jane Austen's own "mashups"

Monica Fairview

I've been re-reading Jane Austen's Juvenilia lately, and once again I'm struck by her grotesque humour and her extreme parodic tendencies. I can't help comparing her strange inclination to distort and parody history to the mash-ups that have sprung up around her work, ranging from Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters to Mansfield Park and Mummies. It is as if the authors who penned these mash-ups were drawing on her Juvenilia. Certainly the mash-ups reflect Jane Austen's early stylistic tendencies.

The History of England -- my personal favourite -- illustrates this irreverant humour very clearly. Of Henry VIII Jane Austen has this to say:

The Crimes & Cruelties of this Prince were too numerous to be mentioned (as this history I trust has fully shown); & nothing can be said in his vindication, but that his abolishing Religious Houses & leaving them to the ruinous depredations of time has been of infinite use to the landscape of England in general, which probably was a principal motive for his doing it, since otherwise why should a Man who was of no Religion himself be at so much trouble to abolish one which had for Ages been established in the Kingdom?

Jane Austen's satirical wit -- including her self-parody -- emerges full scale in these Juvenile works -- untempered by her adult sense of what is acceptable and what was not. I always wonder how her writing would have been different if she had not been writing in the shadow of her two brothers, with all the weight of The Loiterer behind them, with its "moral lectures."

Certainly, Jane Austen as a teen was not in the least inclined to stick to realism. Her works are full of the grotesque and the improbable. Her heroes and heroines are far from ideal -- absolutely nothing is beneath them. They display a wanton cruelty and inclination to violence that is remarkable considering the relative propriety of her later works. In her Juvenilia Jane Austen writes with relish of disfigurement, cruelty, illegitimacy, drunkenness, theft, murder. In "Henry and Eliza" (and really, I have to call it a precursor to the mash-ups that are so popular today) Eliza, who steals from the people that adopted her, elopes, and uses up the fortune of her lover, and has two of her fingers eaten by her hungry children - quite literally -- and then raises an army to kill her benefactress.

It is particularly amusing when reading these strange tales to think of the image the Victorians formed of Jane Austen -- as the (somehow) diminutive old spinster whose mind "recoiled from anything gross". Fortunately for us, however, no one thought to destroy her juvenile writing as her letters were destroyed, so we still have a small glimpse into the less sanitized aspects of her writing.

The Value of a Posed Portrait

by Monica Fairview

I’ll admit this isn’t a subject I’ve given much thought to until lately. I was reading David Noke’s biography of Jane Austen when I came across a portrayal of Jane’s brother Edward, who was adopted into the aristocratic Knight family. Nokes describes Edward's process of integration into his adopted home as gradually became so complete that by the time Edward was twenty-one and doing the Grand Tour, he was “effortlessly affecting an aristocratic cross-legged pose, leaning nonchalantly on his walking-cane with a classical carving at his feet."

I wondered as I viewed the portrait how much a pose such as this contributed to Jane Austen's imaginary Mr Darcy.
Which got me thinking about poses and the whole culture of portraiture as such – so unlike the flash photography of today, which creates instantaneous images. The whole idea of portraiture is that it gives you time to “assemble yourself,” to create your own image, so to speak, or to be “assembled” by others, as for example Emma does with Harriet Smith. Harriet Smith is the “natural” daughter of an unknown family. As part of her attempt to make her appear more eligible to marry Mr Elton, Emma draws a portrait of her as a "standing memorial": "a little improvement to the figure, to give a little more height, and considerably more elegance." Of course, it backfires, because Mr Elton is more interested in the artist than in the subject of the painting.

In my novel, The Darcy Cousins, I have a scene in which Georgiana Darcy goes to Plymouth to catch a sight of Napoleon on board the Bellerophon. Of course hundreds of people gathered around the ship and artists rushed to take advantage of the rare opportunity to paint him. Napoleaon, quite willing to play the game, would grace people with half hour appearances. I was interested to compare his pose in the well known portrait by Eastlake with his earlier far more collected pose, the Hand-in-Waistcoat pose for which he is famous. The pose can also be called the Imperial pose, as it is based on the hand-in-toga Classical sculpture.

Note how on board the ship he has given up the Imperial pose in favour of a much more nonchalant aristocratic type of pose. But it's also striking that in all three portraits the left arm is hanging down while the right is bent -- as if that all too casual hanging arm must be counteracted by a suggestion of activity.

Speaking of images, by the way, it is apparently an “urban myth” (?) that Napoleon was short. The myth is based on his measured height of 5 foot 2 inches. However, this measurement uses the French foot, not the standard English measurement. He was actually average height, but generally looked short compared to his Imperial Guard because they had a basic height requirement of 5 foot 10 (French) -- the equivalent of 6 foot 2 inches. In this case, choosing to be surrounded by others who were much taller than him was a mistake serious enough to have him written into history as a short man!

History Unveiled: Attic Sale at Chatsworth

C.S. Lewis had it right. As he shows in Narnia, cupboards are the most fascinating things. You never know what’s behind them.

That’s certainly true of an item for sale at Chatsworth, one of the estates that has so many resonances for Regency buffs. Not only is Chatsworth the supposed original model for Jane Austen’s Pemberley, but it was also the Derbyshire seat of one of London’s leaders of the ton and Empress of Fashion, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, 1757-1806. Jane Austen wasn’t the only writer that found Chatsworth admirable, either. Some eighty years earlier, Daniel Defoe described it as “the most pleasant garden and most beautiful palace in the world”.

You may wonder what this has to do with cupboards. I should really say bookcases, because one very famous bookcase is for sale at Chatsworth. This was the bookcase through which Prince George, later to become Regent and then George IV. The mahogany bookcase had a secret door and was used to conceal another door behind it through which the prince gained access to his mistress/wife Maria Fitzherbert. The location of the bookcase? Devonshire House in Piccadilly, often called “The Lost Palace of London”. Obviously the Prince must have been a frequent visitor.

The Prince's passion for Mrs Fitzherbert was described in this manner: “He cried by the hour … he testified to the sincerity and violence of his passion and his despair by the most extravagant expressions and actions, rolling on the floor, striking his forehead, tearing his hair, falling into hysterics and swearing that he would abandon the country, forego the crown, sell his jewels and plate and scrape together a competence to fly with the object of his affections to America.”-- Lord Holland.

The last words call to mind another British Monarch, Edward the VIII, who also wanted to defy the Royal Marriages Act to marry his mistress, a divorcee and an American, but was forced to abdicate. The parallel is interesting, as both women had been married twice before.

Despite all his excesses, the Prince's passion for Mrs Fitzwilliam must have outdated their separation in 1810, because after the King's death on 26 June 1830, they found that he had kept all her letters. It makes for fascinating speculation to imagine how history would have been different if either the Prince’s marriage had been accepted as legal, or if he had abdicated as his descendent had. Would marriage to her have curbed some of his excesses?

The bookcase, which didn't have the curtains originally, was designed by Thomas Hope and made by Marsh and Titham. It was relegated to the nursery when it was moved from Devonshire House to Chatsworth. I wonder if any of the children ever discovered the secret door and speculated on who could have used it.

The secret bookcase/door is not the most expensive item on sale at Chatsworth. The honour belongs to a chimney marble piece of carved marble, one of the architectural fixtures designed by William Kent estimated at £200,000-£300,000. The chimney piece was taken from the saloon at Devonshire House where Georgiana held so many of her famous evenings and where mourners came to bid their last farewell to her after her death. Picture marble chimney piece. I can’t help thinking of Mr Collins in Pride and Prejudice when he raves about Lady Catherine’s chimney piece. Perhaps it, too, was designed by William Kent?

Other items for sale are chairs that belonged to Lady Georgiana and a snuffbox that features a miniature of Georgiana and her daughter based on the Joshua Reynolds painting that currently hangs in Chatsworth.

This fascinating auction is being held as we speak, from October 5th to 7th.

Meanwhile, I’ve decided that my next Regency or Jane Austen inspired novel will feature a bookcase similar to that belonging to the Regent.

Monica Fairview

A Chance to Love for Georgiana Darcy: The Darcy Cousins

You’re not supposed to have favourites as a writer, but I have to admit I’m partial to my just-released novel, The Darcy Cousins. Perhaps it’s because it’s a coming-of-age story for Georgiana Darcy and I enjoyed the way she develops and learns to trust herself as well as trust in love again after her disastrous experience with Wickham. Or perhaps because I was able to laugh as I wrote it, because it really did go in unexpected directions for me. And I love the hero, Mr Gatley, who is the quintessential, properly attired Regency hero who thinks himself morally superior and has to be taken down a peg or two. He puts me in mind of those arrogant cats who always pretend to groom themselves when you call them or try to get their attention.

(Mr Gatley Silhouette a-la-Jane Austen)

And, then, of course, though in a different way entirely, I really loved revisiting Lady Catherine, who to me is such a deliciously memorable villain. She’s certainly in good form in The Darcy Cousins.

Description
A young lady in disgrace should at least strive to behave with decorum...

Dispatched from America to England under a cloud of scandal, Mr. Darcy's incorrigible American cousin, Clarissa Darcy, manages to provoke Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr. Collins, and the parishioners of Hunsford all in one morning!

And there are more surprises in store for that bastion of tradition, Rosings Park, when the family gathers for their annual Easter visit. Georgiana Darcy, generally a shy model of propriety, decides to take a few lessons from her unconventional cousin, to the delight of a neighbouring gentleman. Anne de Bourgh, encouraged to escape her "keeper" Mrs. Jenkinson, simply...vanishes.

But the trouble really starts when Clarissa and Georgiana both set out to win the heart of the same young man...

Monica Fairview

Introducing The Other Mr Darcy: paperback edition

October 7th is the release date of the American trade paperback edition of The Other Mr Darcy from Sourcebooks. Isn't the cover gorgrous? I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

The story centres on Caroline Bingley and her interaction with the other Mr Darcy, Robert, who is Fitzwilliam Darcy’s cousin from Boston. Caroline is sincerely broken-hearted when Mr. Darcy marries Lizzy Bennet, so much so, that she breaks down entirely. And to make matters worse, her degradation is witnessed by the irrepressible American, who somehow expects her to confide in him! Caroline, caught in a moment of extreme vulnerability, intends to put as much distance between them as possible, preferably a whole ocean.

Faced with a wall of British reserve, Robert Darcy has a number of obstacles to face before he can discover the real Caroline Bingley, including Caroline herself. And meanwhile Caroline slowly finds herself stripped of her defences...

I’ll be going on a blog tour the last week of September until the middle of October in which I’ll be revealing my inspiration for the novel, talking about the similarities and differences between Mr Darcy and this other Mr Darcy, and describing my daily writing rituals. I'll also be giving away copies of the novel. So come follow me on the tour and maybe you’ll get a chance to win a free copy!

September 28: Fallen Angel Reviews Guest Blog

September 29: The Review from Here/ScribVibe

September 30: Everything Victorian

October 1: The Good, the Bad, the Unread Guest Blog

October 2: A Bibliophile’s Bookshelf

October 5: Grace’s Book Blog

October 6: The Burton Review

October 7: Bloody Bad Books

October 8: The Long & Short of It

October 9: Love Romance Passion

Date undetermined, but some time this week:
Curious Statistical Anomaly

October 12: Good and Bad Books

October 13: Lib’s Library

October 16: Fresh Fiction

The Other Mr Darcy UK edition now available!

I'm very glad to say that the UK version of my novel, THE OTHER MR DARCY, published by Robert Hale, is now available. I was quite thrilled with the cover, which looks very elegant indeed. The online image doesn't quite do it justice

Since I enjoy looking at things from a bit of a different perspective, I've teamed up two very different people: the prim and proper Miss Caroline Bingley, and Mr Darcy's enigmatic American cousin Robert Darcy, and I had the greatest fun (and I admit, more than a few chuckles) watching them interact.

It's very definitely a romance, so for those of you who don't care for the Jane Austen aspect of it, it's a stand alone novel.
You don't need to know Pride and Prejudice to enjoy it.

For a brief flavour of the novel, here's a short exerpt:

The Other Mr Darcy
Prologue

Caroline Bingley sank to the floor, her silk crepe dress crumpling up beneath her. Tears spurted from her eyes and poured down her face and, to her absolute dismay, a snorting, choking kind of sound issued from her mouth.

“This is most improper,” she tried to mutter, but the sobs — since that was what they were — the sobs refused to stay down her throat where they were supposed to be.

She had never sobbed in her life, so she could not possibly be sobbing now. But the horrible sounds kept coming from her throat. And water — tears — persisted in squeezing past her eyes and down her face.

Then with a wrench, something tore in her bosom — her chest — and she finally understood the expression that everyone used but that she had always considered distinctly vulgar. Her heart was breaking. And it was true because what else could account for that feeling, inside her, just in the centre there, of sharp, stabbing pain?

And what could account for the fact that her arms and her lower limbs were so incredibly heavy that she could not stand up?

She was heartbroken. Her Mr Darcy had married that very morning. In church, in front of everyone, and she had been unable to prevent it.

He had preferred Elizabeth Bennet. He had actually married her, in spite of her inferior connections, and even though he had alienated his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, whose brother was an earl. Caroline simply could not comprehend it.

She had that tearing feeling again and she looked down, just to make sure that it was not her bodice that was being ripped apart. But the bodice, revealing exactly enough of her bosom as was appropriate for a lady, remained steadfastly solid. So the tearing must have come from somewhere inside her. It squeezed at her with pain hard enough to stop her breathing, and to force those appalling sobs out even when she tried her best to swallow them down.

She rested her face in her hands and surrendered to them. She had no choice in the matter. They were like child’s sobs, loud and noisy. More like bawling, in fact. Her mouth was stretched and wide open. And the noise kept coming out, on and on.

On the floor, in the midst of merriment and laughter, on the day of William Fitzwilliam Darcy’s wedding, with strains of music accompanying her, Miss Caroline Bingley sobbed for her lost love.

***

A long time later, someone tried to open the door. She came to awareness suddenly, realizing where she was. The person on the other side tried again, but she resisted, terrified that someone would come in and catch sight of her tear-stained face. No one, no one, she resolved, would ever know that she had cried because of Mr Darcy.

Whoever was on the other side gave the doorknob a last puzzled rattle, then walked slowly back down the corridor.

She rose, straightening out her dress, smoothing down her hair with hands that were steady only because she forced them to be.

She needed to repair the ravages her pathetic bawling had caused. At any moment, someone else could come in and discover her. She moved to look into a mirror that hung above the mantelpiece.

And recoiled in shock...


Monica Fairview, whose Other Mr Darcy has finally made its appearance.

Fragment from Caroline Bingley's Diary Discovered

Below is a transcription of a rare document found revealing some hitherto unknown information about Miss Caroline Bingley, and providing our first evidence of the existence of a cousin to Mr Darcy. As yet, the cousin’s identity is unknown.

Note from the Editor: the following fragment was discovered among the coals in Miss Bingley’s bedchamber. Since it is a rare example of personal writing by her, we have here a discovery of monumental importance for those interested in determining the accuracy of Pride and Prejudice. One can only guess at Miss Bingley’s feelings throughout the piece, however. It is particularly unfortunate that the rest of the document is lost to us. We must hope that other evidence will be unearthed which will reveal more about this unknown cousin of Mr Darcy’s.


Transcription of diary fragment:

[I] do not keep a diary.

At least, I have never kept a diary until today. Only the direst circumstances could bring me to confess my feelings on a piece of paper. I have always found the idea utterly juvenile. Of course, I must have been juvenile once, but I did not keep a diary even then. For what is the point of writing one’s thoughts on paper, when one has already thought them, and no one will read them?

No one must read this, least of all my sister Louisa. I could [not?] bear to think of her as having even an inkling of how I feel.

However, there are moments in one’s life which demand to be recorded, and today is one of them.

Today was Mr Darcy’s wedding. To watch him slide the ring on Miss Eliza Bennet's finger, to hear him say his vows to her, to know that their lives are tied together, never to be split asunder -- I
the worst day I have ever experienced
to imagine that my outbu[rst]
watching me all the time
Mr Darcy’s cousin

By Monica Fairview, whose THE OTHER MR DARCY is coming out in June 2009

PITFALLS (OR DITCHES) OF WRITING REGENCY: THE HEROINE AND SOCIETY

You often hear of a reader tossing a Regency romance aside in disgust and saying: this is a modern romance in Regency clothing. The obvious reasons for this are that the language is all wrong, or there are several horrible historical howlers that are too obvious to ignore. But one of the most important things that makes a Regency novel indigestible for the savvy Regency reader is that it they’ve forgotten a crucial player on the stage: Society.

A Regency novel without the unspoken (and often spoken) presence of Society is like a plum pudding without the raisins.*


A modern heroine wondering onto a Regency set will act as if she’s an individual, as if she’s free to interact with her hero in any way she chooses. The conflict of the novel is restricted to just the two of them, and the world outside is tossed to the four winds. But in a good Regency novel, Society is the third party in a triangle. The Strong Regency Heroine, in addition to having conflict with her hero, has to contend with Society as well. The moment you have a heroine coming onto the scene with no clue that Society is her big adversary, she is either in for a big surprise, or the experienced reader is going to put down that book.

If you think of some of the best Regencies you have read, note how many of them have excerpts from scandal sheets or references to scandals. Julia Quinn comes to mind, with her excerpts from Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers. The need to include Society as a character at times becomes so crucial that the author will actually create a character – like Lady Whistledown -- or a group of ladies to embody it. The boundary between internal conflict and external conflict in these situations is blurred, because Society is both an internal and external part of the heroine’s makeup.

It doesn’t always have to be fear of scandal either. Society can intervene between the hero and heroine in many different ways. In my novel An Improper Suitor, for example, a bluestocking heroine is pressured by Society, represented unexpectedly by her grandmother, to marry, not to a bluestocking like her (can a gentleman be a bluestocking?**) but a rake, and she is later compelled to get engaged to him when she thinks she has been compromised by a kiss. She and her grandmother consult the Society papers to determine if she needs to go through with the engagement or not.

If you don’t want your phaeton wheels to fall into one of those ruts in the road that are so important to Regency plots – okay, maybe you do want that wheel to break – remember that the ever present ton is not simply a background stage drop – a chance to show those costumes, or to hold a ball -- but one of your biggest sources of conflict in the novel.

*Traditionally plums are not plums. “Plums” referred to raisins.
**The answer to this is yes – the original Blue Stockings Society’s
membership (some pictured here on the right) had a majority of women, but included men, and was named, in fact, after a knowledgeable gentleman, Benjamin Stillingfleet, was invited to join, but did not have the required formal wear which was black stockings. He showed up in blue stockings instead, and the group adopted this name to refer to their indifference to matters of fashion.

Monica Fairview, whose AN IMPROPER SUITOR is coming out in Large Print from Thorndike on 15 April 2009.

LOST IN AUSTEN Revisted

One of my Christmas presents this year was a DVD of Lost in Austen. So last Sunday afternoon I sat down at my computer (the TV was hijacked by family members) and watched the four-part series all in one go.

I think it’s only when you see all the episodes back to back that you realize how very clever it is. Because it really sucks you through that bathroom wall and into Eliza Bennet’s new/old world. Lost in Austen could easily have become a caricature of Pride and Prejudice. Just a touch more exaggeration or a heavier hand with the comedy, and it would have gone overboard. Instead, by being restrained, it takes Pride and Prejudice seriously enough to be a true tribute.

Of course you have to suspend disbelief to even watch it. People don’t step out of their bathrooms into Regency England. But wait – it isn’t Regency England. Amanda steps through her bathroom into a novel. Now that’s pure fiction.

But the funny thing about the whole film is that Lost in Austen manages to persuade us that P&P isn’t fiction, it’s somehow real. I had quite a jolt when Amanda tore a copy of Pride and Prejudice into pieces and threw it into the pond. Somehow, I didn’t want a reminder that P&P is just a novel.

Hats off to the actors. These actors had to play their roles on many levels it makes me dizzy to think of it. They had to be the original P&P characters, while at the same time, they followed a completely different script. Added to that, they had to work around the intrusion of the modern world into a period drama in the figure of Amanda, who constantly reminds them that there is a world beyond Jane Austen. Yet they not only pull it off and portray characters who are convincing, but they even add new dimensions to the JA’s characters. We believe them to be people from Pride and Prejudice, and the thrill of watching the drama is to see how these people who are so familiar to us will react to the new and unexpected twists in the plot. They were so convincing that fans on any number of websites have been voting to see which of the actors – Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen or Elliot Cowan portrays Darcy best.

Hold on a minute – Elliot Cowan didn’t do Pride and Prejudice!

I emerged from my three-hour stint squint-eyed but full of admiration (in case you didn’t notice). As a postmodern take on Austen, Lost in Austen succeeds in being lots of things at once: a spoof, a loving tribute to Austen, a time-travel tale, a reinterpretation of Austen’s characters, a critique of the social restrictions of regency England, a parody of other Jane Austen film adaptations, and, strangely enough, and most importantly, a romance, with Darcy as the hero.

Mr Darcy (played so skillfully by Elliot Cowan -- I swear his eyes kept changing colour with different emotions) emerges from this unlikely production still very much the romantic hero – not only the hero of P&P, but of Lost in Austen as well – dripping with water and magnetism, of course.

Though I admit to finding Wickham (the new and revamped version) very appealing indeed.

Monica Fairview, whose THE OTHER MR DARCY is coming out in June 2009.