On the heels of the Woman’s Wit exhibition at the Morgan Library in New York closed in March, this is a new Jane Austen exhibition at Winchester Cathedral, in Hampshire. During her final bout of illness, Jane had moved to Winchester to be closer to her physician. She died there on July 18, 1817, attended […]
I am honored to host a guest post by fellow writer Christy English, whose début novel, THE QUEEN’S PAWN, has just been released. Christy kindly agreed to tell us more about the two French princesses, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Alaïs of France, who are the protagonists of her novel.
What a gorgeous day it was for a visit to the Getty Center. Sunny skies, clear vistas of the Pacific to the West and the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains to the East. For the first time I took the guided tour of the extraordinary gardens, where the red, pink and white azalea maze was still […]
Do book trailers work? The jury is still out on this one, but these short segments are certainly fun to watch, and I have heard many readers say they buy books based on them. So I asked fellow writer, and designer, Kris Waldherr to craft one for me.
… at the Morgan Library. Though the end of Jane’s earthly life is evoked in this beautiful exhibition, of course. The account of her last moments, when the only yearning left was for death, the terse expression of Cassandra’s sorrow, brought tears to my eyes. I have been very remiss in not posting earlier about […]
The Right Honourable Miss Moppet, heroine of the Misadventures of same name, has a post on the deleted chapter of Mistress of the Revolution. Not only that, but Miss Moppet puts my own Gabrielle in the company of Sergeanne Golon’s Angélique, Sandra Gulland’s Joséphine B, and Françoise Chandernagor’s Madame de Maintenon in the magnificent L’allée du […]
To introduce Elena Maria Vidal’s new novel, The Night’s Dark Shade, I will be content to quote the opening words of her preface: The Night’s Dark Shade is a novel of thirteenth-century France. The Middle Ages was an era of intensity. People applied themselves with great ardor to every endeavor, be it art, poetry, warfare, […]
As you probably know, many traditional media have cut down on their book review sections (sad, it was always the first section I read in my Sunday paper). Fortunately for writers and readers alike, literary bloggers have stepped in. We now have many more outlets, run, often without any expectation of profit, by people who […]
For decades I read and reread Jane Austen’s novels and yet refused to touch any biographies or scholarly analysis of her works. Why? I guess I wanted to preserve an unmitigated access to her. She was to remain my Jane Austen. How wrong I was! I have come full circle and joined online lists. I […]
A few years before the Civil War, in the “free” state of Ohio,Tawawa House offers respite from the summer heat. A beautiful, inviting house surrounded by a dozen private cottages, the resort is favored by wealthy Southern White men who vacation there, accompanied by their enslaved mistresses. Regular visitors Lizzie, Reenie, andSweet have forged an […]
Now in trade paperback.
"One of the best reads of the year." -Associated Press
