DescriptionThis book, written by a woman who wished to remain anonymous, covers the social customs and manners of her time, the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the times of Jane Austen and of Napoleon. It is devoted in large part to the "English lady's costume"…
DescriptionSusanna Clarke discusses her remarkable debut novel, the BookSense Book of the Year, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell with her friend, novelist Neil Gaiman. Set in an alternate version of England in the early 1800s, an England in which the people yearn to recapture the practical magic of an earlier era, this fantasy novel combines the wit of Jane Austen with rollicking adventure and hilarious scholarly footnotes.
DescriptionJane Austen, novelist and private investigator, is back on another case, this one involving the Royal Navy. Her brother Frank's friend, Tom Seagrave, is in the brig, accused by his first mate of stabbing a French captain after the captain surrendered. Tom denies the charges, but his dagger was found in the French captain's chest. To clear up this mystery, Jane agrees to go to the Wool House, a building where French prisoners are jailed. Risking infection, she nurses the French ship's crew, and gets an account from the ship's surgeon that exonerates Tom. But at that moment, the first mate is killed, and Tom is now doubly under suspicion. Who could want to send him to the gallows?
DescriptionThis is Jane Austen updated, a sparkling novel of love, marriage, and manners. The Rubin daughters are three eligible sisters from an affluent suburban Philadelphia family whose well-meaning but domineering mother is single-mindedly determined to see them all happily married. Reminiscent of the work of Laurie Colwin, This Side of Married is a brilliant, ironic, domestic comedy of manners. Full of surprises, yet filled with feeling, it is a witty, intelligent, and utterly delicious novel.
DescriptionThe 18th century novelist-of-manners-turned-sleuth returns to delight readers with another nimble-witted investigation of mayhem in the pastoral landscape of rural England. When Jane's gentleman friend Lord Trowbridge sends her, in the utmost secrecy, to retrieve a parcel hidden amidst the ruins of Netley Abbey, Jane finds not only the parcel but also a dying man. When events take a regrettably sinister turn, only Jane is clever enough to pursue the miscreant. Stephanie Barron's series masterfully evokes Jane Austen's witty style, the intricacies of manners in this genteel era, and the rich tapestry of gossip in a milieu of carefully nuanced social relationships. The classic murder mystery meets its match in a plucky heroine who layers Austen's sense and sensibility on top of an inquisitive nature and a natural resolve.
DescriptionIt is July 1809, and Jane is just beginning to emerge from her grief over her lost love, Lord Harold Trowbridge. When, moving with her mother and sister into a cottage on her brother's estate in Chawton, Hampshire, she begins to revise one of her first manuscripts, determined to honor Lord Trowbridge's confidence in her work, a corpse is suddenly discovered in the cellar. Who killed Henry French? And what does his death have to do with the stolen Chawton Emeralds? Jane can't keep her mind off the mystery, even though someone who will stop at nothing to secure a fortune is lurking just out of sight.
