The Author's Desk
Writing insights, historical context, and dispatches from the world of Regency romance.
Why was it improper for an unmarried lady and gentleman to be alone together in the Regency era? The answer lies in one word: reputation.
From the 1995 BBC miniseries to the 2005 film, Bollywood reimaginings, and zombie-fighting Elizabeth Bennet — a look at the most notable adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and films about Jane Austen's life.
Beyond the glittering ballrooms of the Season lay another world of Regency social life: the summer house party. A month of country-house gatherings, carefully chosen guests, and countless opportunities for romance — the very setting at the heart of Dear Sir.
Why did Jane Austen give us five Bennet sisters — not three, not four? Each girl is a distinct shade of character and folly, and together they form a complete study of womanhood in the Regency world.
Rewatching Hollywood's first Pride and Prejudice — all sweeping gowns, recycled Gone With the Wind costumes, and a Lady Catherine who secretly approves. It is camp, it is charming, and it tells us everything about how America once imagined Austen.
Mary Bennet's maxim on pride and vanity is both correct and slightly beside the point. Beneath her earnest pronouncement lies the subtle moral architecture that shapes all of Pride and Prejudice.
There is something quietly delightful about a Regency picnic – and not only because of the food, though that certainly played its part.
Reflection on his character
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A list of books favourite in her time or by then classics
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Every writer who dares enter Austen's world must reckon with Fitzwilliam Darcy — perhaps the most beloved and most misunderstood hero in English literature.
For a Regency heroine, a ball was not entertainment. It was strategy, surveillance, and — occasionally — the first chapter of a love story.
Readers sometimes ask me, with a note of gentle condescension, whether I find the guaranteed happy ending limiting. I do not.
After three Pride and Prejudice variations, I dared to write a story wholly my own — an original Regency romance peopled by characters of my own imagining.
How a simple 'what if' led to a bold reimagining — and made Jane Bennet worthy of Pemberley.
After three novels, I returned to my first — richer, deeper, and flowing more naturally than ever before.
From a Hungarian grammar school to the drawing rooms of Regency England — my lifelong love of Austen began in translation.
What happens when Darcy stops leaving things to chance? A look at how Passion and Persistence reimagines Elizabeth, Jane, and a more deliberate Darcy — with a dash of new intrigue from a certain Viscount.
An extended, 9,500-word re-edit is now available. If you downloaded Passion and Persistence before December 2024, it may be worth rediscovering.
