Welcome Autumn!
Another day of gorgeous blue sky and colourful foliage as I'm posting for today's Tuesday Intros and Teaser Tuesdays~
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I am particularly pleased to have the opportunity to intro
and Welcome
both novel and author for today's post of the book I'm featuring for Monday's Reading, Tuesday Intros and Teasers ~
The new release from a favourite Jane Austen variation author, Shannon Winslow, has entirely captivated my imagination
with creative plotting and engaged me with Jane's world
in a most authentic and emotional connection.
The author has adeptly kept me guessing til the end...
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THE PERSUASION OF MISS JANE AUSTEN
~ Here's today's Tuesday Intro Teaser ~
"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?" ...
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For
every fan who has wished Jane Austen herself might have enjoyed the romance and
happy ending she so carefully crafted for all her heroines…
The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen
By Shannon Winslow
What if the tale
Jane Austen told in her last, most poignant novel was actually inspired by
momentous events in her own life? Did she in fact intend Persuasion to stand forever in homage to her one true love?
While creating Persuasion, Jane Austen also kept a private
journal in which she recorded the story behind the story – her real-life romance
with a navy captain of her own. The parallel could only go so far, however. As
author of her characters’ lives, but not her own, Jane Austen made sure to
fashion a second chance and happy ending for Anne and Captain Wentworth. Then,
with her novel complete and her health failing, Jane prepared her simple will
and resigned herself to never seeing the love of her life again. Yet fate, it
seems, wasn’t quite finished with her. Nor was Captain Devereaux.
The official
record says that Jane Austen died at 41, having never been married. But what if
that’s only what she wanted people to believe? It’s time she, through her own
private journal, revealed the rest of her story...
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Having just returned from my own varied travel experiences,
Shannon's insights and quotes from Jane Austen on her own travels will be of interest to other Janeites, I'm sure. Thanks for sharing with us Shannon!
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Town or country? Setting is one of the
things an author must consider when planning a novel. However, in the case of
my new book, The Persuasion of Miss Jane
Austen, it was decided for me. Since this story of her secret lifelong
romance with a gentleman by the name of Captain Philippe Devereaux is fit
within the framework of Jane Austen’s own life, it goes where she went –
starting in the country at Steventon, moving to the busy town of Bath (with an
excursion to Sidmouth), back to the country at Chawton and then finally
Winchester.
I’m
fortunate to live in a beautiful part of the world (in a semi-rural area south
of Seattle), surrounded by tall evergreen trees
and with a view of Mt.
Rainier from my windows.
And although I enjoy visiting cities, including my one trip to Bath, I’m just as glad I don’t live there.
Jane Austen shared my preference for
country life, and she was miserable the five years she spent in Bath. It’s her own attitude
that’s reflected in Persuasion when
she writes:
Anne entered [Bath]
with a sinking heart, anticipating an imprisonment of many months, and
anxiously saying to herself, “Oh! When shall I leave you again?”
“Imprisonment” may sound extreme to us, but
it was a pretty accurate description of Jane Austen’s situation. She had no
say; she was entirely dependent on her father for support and therefore captive
to his decision to move the family to Bath.
Since The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen
represents the author’s own journal, written in her own words, her attitude
towards the move to Bath
comes through loud and clear. She is shocked at the news, grieved to leave her
home in Steventon, and only briefly diverted by the freshness of her new
environs:
We had been at Bath for a full year by then; we had
seen all the sights in every season, attended the assembly rooms a dozen times
or more and begun to tire of our confined and unvarying society. At least I
had. Father promised we would go to the seaside again, as we did the summer
before, but until then we were consigned to suffer the white glare and dreadful
sameness of Bath.
And, after her respite at the seaside (more
specifically Sidmouth, where she had adventures much like Anne Elliot at Lyme),
she must return to town:
The setting itself gave me
no comfort, for I had learnt to dislike Bath.
Not least among its detractions for me was the familiar din that greeted us
immediately upon our arrival – the dash of other carriages, the heavy rumble of
carts and drays, the bawling of newsmen, muffin-men, and milk-men. These did
not upset my father, I noticed. No, his spirits rose under their influence, and
he remarked that, after being so long in retirement at the seashore, there was
“nothing like the cheerful sound of a little activity.” I suppose everybody has
their own tastes in noises, as well as in other matters, and sounds that are
quite innoxious to one ear may be most distressing to another. For me, it was a
sad thing indeed to exchange the natural music of wind and wave for the
mechanical clatter of town.
I trust this is an accurate representation
of Jane Austen’s way of thinking and not simply a reflection of my own. I
likewise much prefer the quiet music of nature to the “mechanical clatter of
town.”
Oh, but
there is one more location that plays a small but critical role in the story –
another place I have had the pleasure of visiting – and that is Venice, Italy.
It has a special light and a music all its own. Perhaps that unique
town/seaside setting would have been more to Jane Austen’s taste than Bath. What do you think?
I hope you’ll read The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen and follow Jane through her
travels – over the years and from place to place – as she recounts for us the
surprising story of her romance with Captain Devereaux.
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Author Shannon Winslow specializes in
fiction for fans of Jane Austen. Her popular debut novel, The Darcys of Pemberley, immediately established her place in the
genre, being particularly praised for the author’s authentic Austenesque style
and faithfulness to the original characters. For Myself Alone (a stand-alone Austen-inspired story) followed.
Then last year Return to Longbourn
wrapped up Winslow's Pride and Prejudice
saga, forming a trilogy when added to the original novel and her previous
sequel. Now she has given us a “what if” story starring Jane Austen herself. In
The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen,
that famous author tells her own tale of lost love, second chances, and finding
her happy ending.
Her two sons grown, Ms. Winslow lives with
her husband in the log home they built in the countryside south of Seattle, where she writes and paints in her studio facing Mt. Rainier.
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More Monday Reading, Tuesday Intros and Teasers linked as below...
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Anyone can play along! Join us?
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
and at Bibliophile by the Sea,Every Tuesday Diane hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where she shares the first paragraph or (a few) of a book she's reading or thinking about reading soon.
Feel free to join in and post the Intro from one of your reads by linking up.
as well as
It's Monday! What are You Reading?
a weekly book meme hosted at
Sheila's Book Journey with linkup and plenty of reading choices to inspire!
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FIND MORE FHC on PINTEREST | TWITTER | GOOGLE+ | GOODREADS | FACEBOOK | NETWORKED BLOGS
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