I’m so excited to be here representing the group of authors from the Austen Variations blog, who have teamed together to produce a rich, stuffed-with-stories, new anthology, entitled Persuasion, Behind the Scenes. Bound together by our common desire to visit favorite aspects of one of the most beloved Austen novels, Persuasion, we have brought a wide range of talents and imaginations to the task. With contributions from some of the finest writers in the Austenesque field, the result is a scintillating cornucopia of Austen fiction!
As Jane Austen has Charlotte Lucas say to Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, “I am not romantic. I never was.” And although Persuasion may be Jane Austen’s most poignantly romantic novel of all, with its autumnal themes of lost and recovered love, it is not the romance to which I am temperamentally drawn. I’ve always loved Jane Austen for her exquisitely elegant writing style, her priceless genius for characterization, and above all, her unmatched wit, which suffuses everything she writes and sets it sparkling.
In the no fewer than fourteen stories I have contributed to this volume, I have focused on some of the more hilarious and grotesque characters in Persuasion, such as silly and conceited Sir Walter Elliot, his cold and selfish oldest daughter Elizabeth, and his whining hypochondriac of a youngest daughter, Mary Musgrove. I love the novel’s actual heroine, Anne Elliot, but feel as Jane Austen said, that she is “almost too good for me.” Nor is Captain Wentworth, so dashing and delightful, someone to make fun of – much as Elizabeth says about Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, “I really cannot poke fun” at him. I deeply admire this stellar hero and heroine, but find that there’s more material for satire and laughter with the delightfully drawn “monsters.”
But the beauty of this anthology is that there are twelve authors represented, presenting wonderfully different peeks at Persuasion behind the scenes. There’s plenty of romance, as well as sea adventure, scheming, heartbreak, drama, the road to reconciliation, and more! It will provide many hours of reading, rollicking and relishing in new worlds inspired by Jane Austen.
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Here is an excerpt from one of my stories, “Mary Musgrove’s Complaint.”
Anne, who really thought Charles bore very patiently with his wife, disliked anything resembling interference, or being placed in the midst of disputes. Yet she felt decided sympathy for her brother-in-law, and so she resolved to try. A gentle word about her health brought Mary to a fine state of agitation and tirade, giving her an excuse for the most elaborate recitation of complaints her sister had heard yet. “I assure you, my health is very much worse than any body gives me credit for,” she cried. “You who are unmarried can have no conception – no idea. Indeed, I do not know if it is fit for me to discuss such things with a single woman.”
Anne assured her that there was no unfitness involved. “After all, it is not as if I were a very young girl, Mary, and I am your sister. I think you may tell me any thing you like.”
“Well! I will tell you this much, then,” Mary paused impressively. “That all the miseries I feel, emanate from the same place.”
“And where is that?” asked Anne, not without apprehension.
Mary sat up from the sofa in her urgency. “From my womb!”
Anne took this calmly. “I daresay that such symptoms are often the case with young married women. Has the doctor been consulted?”
“Certainly, I had Dr. Black for both confinements, you recall. And with little Walter – well, to be sure he was not little, he was a baby of near nine pounds, and I assure you I felt ripped apart from limb to limb. You cannot possibly imagine how I suffered, and still do suffer.”
“That is very sad to hear,” said Anne, “but Walter is now two years old. Surely there has been some – healing?”
Mary shook her head vigorously. “Not a bit of it. Such tears, such miseries, such spasms, as I endured, may never be recovered from, not in a lifetime. You have never endured the unspeakable agony of childbirth, when you lie expecting to die at every instant!”
“But you have two fine, healthy little boys, and you have always gone on well afterwards.”
“Yes, but at what cost! Why, between us, I would have you know, every month I virtually exsanguinate.”
“Why, Mary,” Anne replied mildly, “you know, such courses are what all women must experience; it is women’s lot.”
“How can you talk of women’s lot? Whatever other women may endure, I am sure that my courses are worse than any one’s!”
“I am very sorry to hear that, Mary.”
“We have to pay the laundry-maid double wages, and I never hear the end of it from Charles. He has no sympathy or comprehension of what we women have to go through.”
Anne did not feel that she was making much headway.
“I am sure he does feel sympathy,” she assured her sister earnestly.
“He has a fine way of showing it then. Do you know, Anne, I should not even be speaking of this, but I have started another. It is all Charles’ fault. Deny that, if you can. But oh,” she wrung her hands, “there is no use talking to you. You are not a married woman, and cannot put yourself in my place.”
* * *
About Diana BirchallDiana Birchall recently retired as a story analyst for Warner Bros Studios, reading novels to see if they would make movies. Reading popular manuscripts went side by side with a lifetime of Jane Austen scholarship, and resulted in her being a pioneer in the field of writing Austenesque fiction. She is the author of Mrs. Darcy’s Dilemma and Mrs. Elton in America, both published by Sourcebooks, as well as In Defense of Mrs. Elton, published by JASNA, and hundreds of short stories. Her plays have been performed in many cities, with “You Are Passionate, Jane,” a two-person play about Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, being featured at Chawton House Library. She grew up in New York City, and now lives in Santa Monica, California with her husband and son, and three cats.
Persuasion: Behind the Scenes
You pierce my soul.
Before Jane Austen wrote that romantic letter from Captain Frederick Wentworth to Anne Elliot, she crafted a masterful story of heartbreak and longing that still resonates with readers today.
But what of those scenes that Jane Austen never wrote? What Persuasion fan doesn't want to listen in on Anne and Wentworth's first courtship, laugh at the follies and foibles of the Elliot family, sail along on Captain Wentworth's harrowing adventures at sea or attend Wentworth and Anne's wedding?
Twelve authors of Austen-inspired fiction: Diana Birchall, Marilyn Brant, Jack Caldwell, L.L. Diamond, Maria Grace, Cassandra Grafton, Kara Louise, Susan Mason-Milks, Jane Odiwe, C. Allyn Pierson, Mary Lydon Simonsen, and Shannon Winslow collaborated to put this unique collection that fills in "missing" scenes from Austen's classic work, sure to delight any true Persuasion fan.
You pierce my soul.
Before Jane Austen wrote that romantic letter from Captain Frederick Wentworth to Anne Elliot, she crafted a masterful story of heartbreak and longing that still resonates with readers today.
But what of those scenes that Jane Austen never wrote? What Persuasion fan doesn't want to listen in on Anne and Wentworth's first courtship, laugh at the follies and foibles of the Elliot family, sail along on Captain Wentworth's harrowing adventures at sea or attend Wentworth and Anne's wedding?
Twelve authors of Austen-inspired fiction: Diana Birchall, Marilyn Brant, Jack Caldwell, L.L. Diamond, Maria Grace, Cassandra Grafton, Kara Louise, Susan Mason-Milks, Jane Odiwe, C. Allyn Pierson, Mary Lydon Simonsen, and Shannon Winslow collaborated to put this unique collection that fills in "missing" scenes from Austen's classic work, sure to delight any true Persuasion fan.
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Tour Schedule
February 13: Austenesque Reviews
February 14: Jane Austen Variations
February 15: Babblings of a Bookworm
February 16: Random Bits of Fascination
February 18: More Agreeably Engaged
February 19: From Pemberley to Milton
February 20: My Jane Austen Book Club
February 22: So Little Time...
* * * GIVEAWAY * * *
It's giveaway time! The authors of Persuasion: Behind the Scenes are giving away an amazing gift package! To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter below!
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Congratulations to all the authors of Persuasion: Behind the Scenes!
It was such a pleasure to have Diana here today! I enjoyed listening to Mary's complaints! I was always of the mind that they were imaginary, but Diana might just be on to something here! What say you, friends?
