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Archive for the ‘Jane Austen’s World’ Category

Wild Jane Austen?

Posted in Book review, Jane Austen's World, tagged , , on January 26, 2026| 3 Comments »

Book Review by Brenda S. Cox

“Loving Jane Austen, to me, is dependent on continuing to find something new to appreciate, mull over, research, or reconsider in her writings. What’s wild is that although her books don’t change, I do. . . . Reading, and loving, Austen’s fiction means something far different to me at fifty-seven than it did at seventeen.”—Wild for Austen, 262.

A few days ago we reviewed Living with Jane Austen by Janet Todd. Today we get a personal perspective from another Austen expert, Devoney Looser, giving her view of Jane Austen as ‘wild,’ in Wild for Austen.

Wild for Austen by Devoney Looser seeks to undermine stereotypes about Austen.

Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane, by Devoney Looser

Devoney (DEV-uh-nee) Looser takes pride in being rather ‘wild’ herself. She dedicates this book to people in “the international roller derby community,” saying: “You got me rolling, knocked me down, and lifted me up, not only as Stone Cold Jane Austen [Looser’s roller derby name] but as a stronger and more joyful teacher-scholar.”

Devoney’s goal is to demolish the “myth of Jane Austen as a quiet, bland spinster.” She finds ‘wildness’ in Austen’s novels, in the lives of Austen’s connections, and in Austen’s ‘afterlives.’

Looser says ‘wild’ is ‘a linchpin word in Austen’s fiction.’ In the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), we find examples from Jane Austen for the earliest uses of ‘wild’ to mean ‘passionately or excitedly desirous to do something’ (Mrs. Palmer is ‘wild to buy all’ in S&S; Elizabeth is ‘wild to be at home’ in P&P; the Musgrove girls are ‘wild for dancing’ in Persuasion). ‘Wild’ can also mean ‘elated, enthusiastic, raving’ (“The men are all wild after Miss Elliot.”). The OED also defines ‘wild’ as ‘artless, free, unconventional, fanciful, or romantic in style,’ which Looser says characterizes Austen’s novels.

Looser also argues against the myth of “Austen’s fiction having been largely forgotten until 1870. It wasn’t.” Austen’s novels were apparently widely read and familiar throughout the 1800s. Looser gives examples, from the years following Jane’s death, of the novels mentioned in magazines, poems, and a court case. Here’s an example I like: “Mansfield Park was said to be the secretly chosen favorite (on private slips of paper) of seven distinguished literary gentlemen in 1862.” Looser has also found clear imitations of Austen in other stories published in the 1800s.

Chapters in Wild for Austen

Part I: Wild Writings
  1. Introduction: Austen Gone Wild
  2. Fierce, Wild, and Ruthless: Austen’s Juvenilia
  3. The Controversial Case of Sophia Sentiment (a letter in her brothers’ periodical The Loiterer, possibly Jane’s first published work)
  4. Running Wild: The Winning Immorality of Lady Susan
  5. Wildest: Sense and Sensibility (1811)
  6. Almost Wild: Pride and Prejudice (1813)
  7. Bewildering Mansfield Park (1814)
  8. Wild Speculation: Emma (1816)
  9. Wild to Know: Northanger Abbey (1818)
  10. The Young People Were All Wild: Persuasion (1818)
  11. Wild-Goose Chase: Unfinished Sanditon (111)
  12. Oh, Subjects Rebellious: The Watsons and Last Words
Part II: Fierce Family Ties (explores unexpected people and events among Austen’s family and acquaintances)
  1. Jane, the Wild Beast, and the Progressive Burdetts
  2. Cousin Eliza’s Statesman, Singer, and Spy (a lurid murder of Austen’s acquaintances)
  3. The Leighs as Learned Literary Ladies (authors among Austen’s relatives)
  4. The Sensational Shoplifting Trial of Aunt Jane Leigh Perrot
  5. Three Austen Brothers and the Abolition of Slavery (new evidence about Frank, Charles, and Henry)
  6. The Austen Family Legacy, Suffrage, and Anti-Suffrage (Austen descendants for and against the vote for women)
Part III: Shambolic Afterlives (how people have seen and adapted Austen since her death. ‘Shambolic’ means ‘chaotic.’)
  1. Seeing Jane Austen’s Ghost
  2. Sense and Sensibility Goes to Court (Quotes from S&S were used as evidence in an 1825 breach of promise suit, to support the idea that a woman would not fall in love with a much older man; counsel had obviously not read the whole book! Austen’s novels have also been cited in much more recent court cases.)
  3. Jane’s Imaginary Lover in Switzerland (Fake news in 1886 went viral.)
  4. Almost Pride and Prejudice: The Wild Films That Never Were
  5. Wild and Wanton: The Rise of Austen Erotica
  6. Loving (and Hating) Jane Austen
  7. Coda: Austen After 250
Marianne sees Willoughby and is about to approach him with the “wildest anxiety.”

Personally, I found the first two sections the most interesting. I’m still not convinced that Austen’s novels are what I would call ‘wild,’ though the Juvenilia and Lady Susan certainly are! But Looser brought out many intriguing insights about each novel, looking at the use of ‘wild’ in the books.

For example, she shows Sense and Sensibility defying expectations of romance novels: “the doublings and triplings, twists and turns, and backstories and backstabbings keep readers constantly on their toes” (46). Marianne is the “wildest,” speaking to Willoughby in “the wildest anxiety.” But the point of the story, recognized by early readers, is that both men and women should have a balance of both sense and sensibility; they need “both finely tuned minds and warm, rebellious feelings.” The best books should also “embody the best of both qualities” (57).

Mansfield Park has the least ‘wild’ heroine of the six novels. However, in my own humble opinion, it has the largest cast of other ‘wild’ characters—Henry Crawford, who commits arguably the worst action of the villains by eloping with a married woman, breaking up Maria’s marriage with no intention of marrying her; Mary Crawford, who makes a dirty joke and considers adultery ‘folly’; and Maria, who marries a man she hates and leaves him for a man she has already seen to be trifling and insincere. Julia, of course, elopes, which was also considered ‘wild.’ Tom Bertram not only convinces his household to put on a morally questionable play, but is so wild he drinks himself almost to death. Looser says Mansfield Park may have been “a jarring reading experience” for 1814 readers. She considers the wildest thing about it to be “its prompting of lively, difficult arguments and rousing debates” (76).

Wild for Austen, by Devoney Looser, may help you see Austen, her writings, and her connections in a new light. Or give you fodder for lively arguments. Enjoy Austen’s ‘wildness’! (UK link)

 

Brenda S. Cox is the author of Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England. She also blogs at Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen.

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Jane Austen, Bright and Dark?

Posted in Book review, Jane Austen's World, tagged , , on January 21, 2026| 1 Comment »

Book Review by Brenda S. Cox

“It’s an inspiring example [of growing older]—to be amazed, amused, and to laugh while choosing to wear just what you wanted.”—Janet Todd, in Living with Jane Austen, talks about Jane “writing little spoofs and funny letters to entertain her nieces and nephews,” in her late thirties, when she can dress for her own comfort rather than having to please others.

Many authors celebrated Austen’s 250th birthday with books giving their own slants on our beloved Jane Austen. Two university professors attracted my attention because of their high qualifications combined with reader-friendly writing. I knew Janet Todd’s name as the general editor of the authoritative Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen, the version I quote from for serious Austen articles. I knew Devoney Looser’s name as a vibrant speaker at JASNA AGMs. I enjoyed personally meeting and hearing both of them in September, one in England, one in Atlanta, Georgia. I enjoyed their talks so much that since then I’ve read both their books. Today I’ll review Todd’s book, and in a few days I’ll review Looser’s book.

Living with Jane Austen, by Janet Todd, gives an expert’s personal perspective on Jane Austen and her novels.

Living with Jane Austen, by Janet Todd

Living with Jane Austen by Janet Todd is like a fun ramble in the countryside with the author. She explores words, ideas, themes, connections, and sidelights of Austen’s novels and letters. Her introduction examines connections between her life and Austen’s, and the meanings of ‘memory’ in the novels. The other chapters cover an extensive array of topics. I’ll give you a quote from each chapter as a little taste, to whet your appetite.

Chapters in Living with Jane Austen

The Brightness of Pemberley

(mostly on the significance and implications of country estates)

“In the novels published after Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen will give her heroines many comfortable homes, though none so grand as Pemberley. In the last, Persuasion, however, she lets her heroine be married with no home to go to at all. . . . In this novel, the distinction is clear at least between a house and a home: the sailors can make a home on a boat, or in a rental for a few months in Lyme Regis, but Anne’s father, the landowner Sir Walter, can’t make one anywhere. . . . Anne Elliot understands that people are more important than property, and that they are not at all the same thing” (37).

The Darkness of Darcy

(mostly on patriarchy, with some extensive comparisons with feminist Mary Wollstonecraft’s writings and life)

“Is Darcy not Patriarchy itself, with all its glittering, merciless, unequal glamour?” (53) “The fact that as readers we delight in what both Darcy and Elizabeth have gained through the great property is the smudge of darkness I find at the heart of this lightest and brightest of novels” (57).

“Sir Thomas [Bertram of MP] is another patriarch in a big house frightening the vitality out of his dependants. Could he be Mr. Darcy, grown older, if he’d been foolish enough to marry Caroline Bingley instead of Elizabeth Bennet?” (or, I would say, if he’d married Anne de Bourgh . . . )

Talking and Not Talking

(mostly about the right and the wrong words, class, and wit)

“I revere Emma but something disturbs me. . . . Anyone who fears she might be an interloper, the not-quite-proper arrival in a new place will understand. . . . Mrs. Elton dropped abruptly into Highbury; loud Mrs. Elton, not quite ‘a lady’” (59). Ooh, can we relate to Mrs. Elton, of all people? Moving right along . . .

“As aware of rank as snobbish Emma, Elizabeth takes an opposite tack: where Emma disparages those beneath her—the Martins, Coleses and Eltons—Elizabeth mocks the ranks above her” (79).

Emma disparages farmer Robert Martin to Harriet, considering him too far below her rank.
Elizabeth Bennet, on the other hand, laughs at those above her in rank, like Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
Making Patterns

(patterns and connections that bring us deeper; includes comparisons of Northanger Abbey and Sanditon, Austen’s first and last written novels.)

“Austen’s late revising of Northanger Abbey possibly triggered the whole project of ‘Sanditon’. In which case, she’d be reversing the sexes: using the Henry Tilney—Catherine Morland dynamic to create (in the absence of Sydney Parker) the sober-minded Charlotte and fiction-addled, quixotic Sir Edward. Unlikely though it sounds, perhaps, after the gentleman has been chastened and reformed rather than the lady, these two might make a match. We’ll never know.”

Poor Nerves

(connections of mind and body; mental stress causing physical symptoms)

“Yes, the sun was hot, yes, Fanny [Price] had a headache. But it’s difficult for the reader not to see other factors at work. Fanny forgets to lock the spare room in the parsonage. We wouldn’t expect her to be so careless. Was she . . . already letting jealousy infect her mind because Edmund was away with Mary Crawford?” (115)

The Unruly Body

(illness, nursing, the skin, teeth, and headaches in Austen’s life and novels)

“If you want advice about teeth from Jane Austen, there it is: stay away from dentists” (147).

Into Nature

(weather, umbrellas, estate improvements, long walks)

“Dramatised in the novels, the Church of England becomes a matter of sermons and parsonages, ordination and tithes, but in the letters, underneath the worldly concerns, the Church emerges as a way of life, of experiencing life, like noting when Spring arrives, Autumn fades or Christmas approaches. It’s a very ‘moderate’ seasonal English way of being religious” (165).

Giving and Taking Advice

(advice from conduct books; advice in love; guidebook advice; writing advice)

Virginia Woolf wrote that ‘a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction,’ but Austen’s experience was different. Based on Austen:

“If you intend to write anything, best not follow Virginia Woolf and wait for your own room and money and certainly not depend on inspiration, but do avoid much housekeeping” (185).

Being in the Moment

(moments of stillness in Austen, Wollstonecraft, Wordsworth, Cowper; comfortable moments with good food)

“In the finished novels, there are moments when the heroines step aside. . . Without being overtly religious, these moments, prayerful and cloistered, resemble a stoical Christian meditative state in which the mind becomes stilled. Perhaps the woman is simply ‘reasoning with herself’, perhaps trying to gain composure to cope with a disruptive emotion or endeavouring to arrange feelings so they can be investigated later—or just accepting emptiness” (199).

How to Die

(death in Austen’s fiction and in her life)

After quoting Cassandra’s comments on Austen’s death, Todd summarizes: “Fortitude in life, patience in death, kindness and gratitude in both” (232).

Afterword

(One of the gifts Austen has given her is an appreciation of home.)

“Jane Austen . . . might have preferred to be in Chawton churchyard near the cottage where she’d now be lying with her mother and sister. It might have seemed more like home” (235).

These are just a few of the delightful tidbits I appreciated. Some references to other books of the time were less familiar, but still interesting. The book is full of fascinating insights, connections, and thoughts about Austen’s life, words, and world. I recommend Living with Jane Austen by Janet Todd. (UK link)

For a further perspective, read “Jane Austen and Me.”

 

Brenda S. Cox is the author of Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England. She also blogs at Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen.

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Book Review: A Guide to Regency Dress

Posted in 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen, Book review, Clothes, Fashions, Jane Austen's World, Regency Etiquette, Regency fashion, Regency Life, Regency style, Regency Women, Regency World on January 12, 2026| 8 Comments »

As we enter the new year, I introduce to you a beautiful new book by Hilary Davidson called A Guide to Regency Dress: from Corsets and Breeches to Bonnets and Muslins. This book is a true gem, and it was the perfect gift (to myself) for Christmas. I am a fashion and textiles nut, and a huge fan of Davidson’s work, including her previous book Jane Austen’s Wardrobe.

This is one of my favorite new books of the past year, and I plan to use it as I read and research Austen’s novels and watch the film adaptations. Davidson provides a comprehensive glossary of terms related to fashion and clothing during Austen’s time, included beautiful photography to help illustrate various items. Seeing everything in one place makes this a Jane Austen fashion dictionary and encyclopedia that is both fascinating and beautiful. What might normally take me hours to research for one of my articles, I can now find easily in one place.

I particularly enjoyed the way the book is broken up into sections, with a detailed glossary in each section. The sections include Women, Men, Hair and Beauty, Jewellry (sic), and Textiles and Trimmings. Each section includes information and a full glossary with exquisite, full-color photos and illustrations. I enjoyed reading about the differences between items such as women’s stockings and men’s stockings. Women are often the focal point of Regency dress, but men’s clothing and dress is just as interesting. As a writer, I also appreciated Richardson’s extensive bibliography at the end of the book.

You can peruse this book anytime you want to learn more about dress in Austen’s day or find inspiration for your next Regency tea party, event, or ball!

Order Your Copy Here

About the Book

An accessible, fun, yet authoritative guide to male and female Regency fashion: Celebrated dress historian Hilary Davidson brings together nearly 20 years of research on Regency fashion in an illustrated guide for the first time. All the elements of the Regency wardrobe of both men and women―from coats, gowns and undergarments to shoes, accessories, beauty, hair and jewellery―are assembled, along with their textiles and trimmings.

A Guide to Regency Dress is an essential companion to navigate the fashion world of Jane Austen or re-create the Regency look. Here’s a look inside the book:

About the Author

Hilary Davidson is a dress, textiles, and fashion historian and curator. Hilary trained as a bespoke shoemaker in her native Australia before completing a Masters in the History of Textiles and Dress at Winchester School of Art (University of Southampton) in 2004. As a skilled and meticulous hand-sewer, she has created replica clothing projects for a number of museums, including a ground-breaking replication of Jane Austen’s pelisse.

In 2007, Hilary became curator of fashion and decorative arts at the Museum of London. She also worked on the AHRC 5-star rated Early Modern Dress and Textiles Network (2007-2009) and from 2011 has appeared as an expert on a number of BBC historical television programs, and as a frequent radio guest speaker in London and Sydney. From 2012, Hilary worked between Sydney and London as a freelance curator, historian, broadcaster, teacher, lecturer, consultant and designer, while working on a PhD in Archaeology at La Trobe University, Melbourne. In 2022, she moved to New York City to take up the role of Associate Professor and Chair of the MA Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Hilary has taught and lectured extensively at the University of Southampton, Central St Martins, the University of Cambridge, the University of Glasgow, New York University London, The American University Paris, Fashion Design Studio TAFE Sydney and the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Sydney. Her previous books include Dress in the Age of Jane Austen (2019) and Jane Austen’s Wardrobe (2023).

Final Thoughts

When I attended my first JASNA AGM many years ago, I wore a beautiful Regency dress my mother sewed for me to the banquet and ball. I received a lot of compliments, but I only had a dress. Since then, I’ve slowly added to my “Jane Austen closet” with various accessories. Now that I have this book, I can continue to expand my collection until I can dress in Regency clothing from head to toe.

I could easily spend hours researching the fashion and textiles of Jane Austen’s era, and I hope others of you will find this new resource as fascinating as I do!

Rachel Dodge Bio

Rachel Dodge teaches writing classes, speaks at libraries, teas, and conferences, and writes for Jane Austen’s World blog. She is the bestselling, award-winning author of The Anne of Green Gables Devotional, The Little Women Devotional, The Secret Garden Devotional, and Praying with Jane: 31 Days Through the Prayers of Jane Austen. She has narrated numerous book titles, including the Praying with Jane Audiobook with actress Amanda Root. A true kindred spirit at heart, Rachel loves books, bonnets, and ballgowns. Visit her online at www.RachelDodge.com.

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Dear Readers: Merry Holiday Season and Have a Happy New Year’s Eve!

Posted in 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen, Christmas, Jane Austen's World, tagged on December 28, 2025| 8 Comments »

Ah, ’tis the season for celebrations! And what a better way to recall our dear Jane’s 250th birthday celebration than during the month of December?

This link leads you to a 2006 post of holiday celebrations Jane would have enjoyed.

Then, this YouTube video features both Chawton Cottage and Chawton House, and will take you on a walk past the beautifully preserved houses that Jane and Cassandra must have seen during their walks through the village.

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Jane Austen and Music

Posted in Jane Austen's World, Music, Music popular in Jane Austen's lifetime, Music review, Regency Period, tagged , , on December 20, 2025| 3 Comments »

Interview by Brenda S. Cox

“no one can be really esteemed accomplished [without] a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages”–Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen and Company, who have given us many fascinating series of talks, have been focusing on Austen and music this year. We asked Inger Brodey, Eric Bontempo, and Susan Ellen Ford to tell us more about that.

JAW: Thanks for joining us, Inger, Eric, and Susan. I understand that the three of you are directing the Jane Austen & Company program. Jane Austen & Co has been doing a series on Music and the Regency this year. Readers can watch and listen to the recordings here. Can you tell us about that?

Jane Austen & Co. did a series on Music in the Regency during 2025, and you can still enjoy the recordings online for free.

Eric:

Sure! Music making and music appreciation could be complicated—even contested—activities during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In 2025, Jane Austen & Co. wanted to look at aspects of public and domestic music in the Regency period, and zero in on Jane Austen’s own musical experience. Back in February, we kicked things off with Jeff Nigro’s talk on “Georgian Fangirls” and the influence that Italian castrati had on Regency Music in England. Then, Gillian Dooley discussed music in Austen’s life and work, including some of what Austen would have played and sang. Kathryn Libin moved our series outward to women and musical education during this period. In April, Laura Klein discussed the evolution of keyboard music during this period and considered the music Austen was practicing when she was writing.

This fall, we’ve added three more events to the series. Lidia Chang from Colorado College gave an insightful talk on “Frivolity, Foppery, and the English Gentleman at Music.” And just two weeks ago, Jeanice Brooks from the University of Southampton delighted us with her talk exploring how music making shaped perceptions of people and lands far beyond the British home. The grand finale of the series came in late November when Penelope Appleyard and Jonathan Delbridge revealed the new song they have commissioned, recorded, and released to celebrate Jane Austen’s 250th Anniversary.

JAW: Tell us a little about one of those recorded events that our readers might enjoy listening to.

Grand finale of Music and the Regency, “A Song for Jane”

Eric: I think our grand finale to “Music and the Regency” is definitely worth watching. The 90-minute episode has a little bit of everything: Penelope Appleyard and Jonathan Delbridge performed live, and you can watch their stunning renditions of songs that Jane Austen loved and copied down in her family’s music books. They performed “Robin Adair” and a “Song for Burns” before delighting us with their recently commissioned setting of Austen’s teenage poem “Ode to Pity.”

In between performances, they walked us through the historical context of these songs, the musical instrument being played by Jonathan, and their connection to Jane Austen and her novels. It was fascinating, and if you watch until the end, you’ll notice that the audience Q&A kept the momentum going!

JAW: What are a few interesting things that you personally have learned from that series?

Lidia Chang’s episode on music and gender

Susan: One of my favorite episodes was the interview with Lidia Chang. She taught me a great deal about music and gender. I was interested to hear about how seldom amateur men would perform music, compared to women. She also drew connections to the few examples from the novels where men perform for private audiences.

JAW: What will the next series be?

Susan: Jane Austen & Company is launching a brand new series focusing on Jane Austen’s “Unsung Characters.” We are envisioning a series of presentations that explores Austen’s minor characters and the un-thought-of connections that may tie them together. We will be announcing the list of speakers and presentations soon!

JAW: A few months ago I reviewed your lovely new site, Jane Austen’s Desk. How is that going?

Eliza de Feuillide is now in the travel section of Jane Austen’s Desk.

Inger: Yes, we were very grateful for your review! Since then, we have added a few things to Jane Austen’s Desk. Most importantly, we’ve added a new traveller: Eliza De Feuillide, Austen’s first cousin and sister-in-law. We included a new hand-drawn portrait of her and programmed in most of her travels during Austen’s lifetime. We really wanted another female traveller, along with Fanny Palmer Austen, to indicate what we are calling Austen’s “vicarious travels.”  We are countering the image of Austen living a sheltered existence by showing visual, interactive representations of how much her correspondents travelled, giving her vivid, second-hand experience of diverse regions of the world. 

Susan: In honor of our new holiday campaign to raise funds, we also added some professionally recorded Christmas music, performed by Laura Klein on a period harpsicord, and some holiday greenery.  Have you seen them yet? (You have to ignore, momentarily, the unseasonable weather for March 30.)

Under the painting for travel sits a thus-far mostly silent pianoforte on the website Jane Austen’s Desk. We can participate in bringing it to life!

JAW: I understand you are raising money for adding music to that site. What are you hoping to add? How will that enrich the site?

Inger: Music was key to Jane Austen’s creative process. As you know, in her years at Chawton Cottage, she got up early in the mornings to play her pianoforte and compose her thoughts. This Kickstarter will raise the funds necessary to give tribute to the specific music Austen knew, loved, and transcribed by hand. We will add interactive tools with access to this music to our free website, making it come alive for all kinds of Janeites. The music will be performed by professional performers on historical instruments. We will provide historic illustrations, information about composers and specific pieces, and crisp images of Austen’s own sheet music.

An exciting part of the plan is to link the mentions of music in the novels to recordings by Laura Klein, and vice versa. So when you read about Mary Crawford playing a glee, for example, you can play an example and learn about what glees are. It’s an important dimension of our plan to show how the many different parts of Austen’s lived experience come together in her masterful novels.

JAW: That sounds fantastic, Inger. Why do you need to raise the money with a Kickstarter?

Inger: The design and building of our site has been primarily funded by two “Digital Projects for the Public” grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. We were hoping for the largest, phase 3 grant in this line, but the whole program has been cancelled at the NEH, so we are forced to look elsewhere for our funding.  What we really need is a patroness! 

JAW: Lady Catherine de Bourgh, take note. Or perhaps someone who has “more true enjoyment of music” than she does, or “better natural taste”! How can our readers contribute, if they wish?

Inger: Our Kickstarter campaign is at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/janeaustencoll/adding-music-to-jane-austens-desk. On that site there are also two videos: one about our team that is making Jane Austen’s Desk and the other about the goals of our project. Kickstarter campaigns are all or nothing, so if we don’t meet our target by December 28th, then we don’t receive any of the promised funding! It’s a little nerve-wracking!

JAW: We very much hope you get all your need! Readers and music lovers, here’s an opportunity to contribute. Inger, Eric, and Susan, thanks for all your hard work to make so much great material available to us in such a fun way. (I vote that you do embroidery next 😊, but the music, “a very innocent diversion,” will be delightful!)

 

Brenda S. Cox is the author of Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England. She also blogs at Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen.

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