Elizabeth Kerri Mahon

Here we are in the dog days of summer, or at least they are supposed to be.   Here in New York it’s been raining on and off for the past three days.   Just the kind of weather that makes you want to curl up in your apartment with a good book or movie.   This month, two Austen inspired projects have been released for those of us who either enjoy reading or watching romances set in olden times or who just adore Jane Austen.   Yes, August is for Austen, in 2013. First up is the new non-fiction book AMONG THE JANEITES:   A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom by Deborah Yaffe which an enjoyable look at the Jane Austen fans who read her books religiously, belong to JASNA, love to wear the regency clothes, the very people that the new movie AUSTENLAND lovingly spoofs.   Along the way, she meets a Florida lawyer with a byzantine theory about hidden subtexts in the novels, a writer of Austen fan fiction who found her own Mr. Darcy while reimagini...

Title:   The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things Author:   Paula Byrne Publisher:    Harper Collins Publication Date:   1/29/2013 How Acquired:   Through the Publisher What it’s about:   I came to Jane Austen relatively late in life it feels.   I didn’t read Pride and Prejudice until my senior year of high school.   As a moody teenager, I reveled in the gothic novels of Emily and Charlotte Bronte.   It was actually the film version of Pride and Prejudice starring Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson that got me interested in reading the book.   I found the movie so delicious and fun that I had to read the book.   Since then I’ve read Northanger Abbey, Emma and Persuasion and I’ve seen almost every single adaptation of all the books.   I’ve even read several biographies but I’ve never really felt as if I knew who Jane was.   She certainly wasn’t the character played by Anne Hathaway in BECOMING ...

Just a quick round up of some links relating to various Scandalous Women. Historian Tracy Borman , whose new book Matilda: Queen of the Conqueror , was published by Jonathan Cape on 1 September, has a great podcast over at BBC History Magazine about Matilda. Borman is one of the History Chicks, along with Alison Weir, Kate Williams, and Sarah Gristwood, who lecture in the UK.  How I long to be included in that group! At History Today , there is a great article about Louis XV's mistress Madame de Pompadour, entitled Madame de Pompadour: The Other Cheek, detailing some of the obscene and irreverent 18th-century drawings targetting the royal mistress.  Thanks to Kathrynn Dennis of The History Hoydens for finding the article.  I would love to read a historical fiction novel from the POV of Madame de Pompadour. Robert K. Massie, whose new biography of Catherine the Great, just came out this month has an interesting article over at The Wall Street Journal entitled: Cather...

Dearest Cousin Jane by Jill Pitkeathly Harper Collins, March 2010 From the back cover: In Dearest Cousin Jane, an enchanting new novel that draws on historical fact, Jill Pitkeathley paints a luminous portrait of the true-life cousin of a literary legend—from her flirtatious younger years to her profound influence on one of the world's most beloved authors. Free-spirited and seductive—outrageous, precocious, and a well-known flirt—Countess Eliza de Feuillide has an unquenchable thirst for life and a glamorous air that captivates everyone around her. Rumored to have been born of a mad love affair between her mother and the great Warren Hastings of the East India Company, Eliza sees the world as her playground—filled with grand galas, theater, and romance—and she will let nothing hold her down. Even tragedy cannot dim her enthusiasm. Losing her only child at an early age and widowed when her husband—the dashing French count Jean de Feuillide—is claimed by Madame la Guillotine d...

Happy 224th birthday to Jane Austen! Even after all these years Jane is still relevant and selling books. Jane isn't strictly Scandalous (her cousin Eliza de Feuillide might qualify for that title), but she wrote a few women who would qualify like Mary Crawford in Mansfield Park. Although she only wrote 6 complete novels during her lifetime, there has been an explosion of sequels and prequels to many of her books, particularly in the last ten years. There's even a mystery series featuring both Jane Austen , as well as Elizabeth and Darcy . If you want to read a review of Jane Austen as a Vampire, check out Reading the Past's review here . And don't forget Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which Natalie Portman will produce and star in. In honor of Miss Austen's birthday, the Risky Regencies are hosting a week lost celebration here . Leave a comment on any post and be entered to win some groovy prizes. Also, there is a currently an exhibition on Jane Austen in ...