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Coming Soon

July 21, 2007 by Vic

In addition to my review of A Walk With Jane Austen by Lori Smith (see the book cover on my side bar), Penguin Books has asked me to review Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Lauren Viera Rigler. I am spending this weekend curled up with both books – Isn’t that lovely? – and will publish my thoughts as soon as I am done. I must say that both books are clothed in lovely covers.

Pre order copies of both books at Amazon.com. Confessions is coming out August 1, and A Walk will be coming out this fall.

Please be aware that I am reviewing these books only as a Jane Austen fan. I am not paid by the authors or publishers, do not earn money through my blog, or advertise any products for financial gain.

Posted in Book review |

Quiz: How well do you know your Jane Austen trivia?

July 21, 2007 by Vic

Gentle, Readers, these questions are designed to tickle the fancy of a Jane Austen fan who has read her books recently or often. The answers sit backwards at the bottom of this post.

1) Name the sixth mother mentioned in Sense and Sensibility: Mrs John Dashwood, Mrs Henry Dashwood, Mrs Jennings, Lady Middleton, Mrs. Palmer, and __________.

2) At the ball in her honor, Fanny Price wears a necklace, along with a chain that holds an amber cross. Who gave the necklace? Who gave the cross? And who gave the chain? For a bonus point: Who actually gave the necklace?

3) In Pride & Prejudice, what relationship is Mr. Phillips to Elizabeth Bennett?

4) How many siblings does Catherine Morland, the heroine of Northanger Abbey, have?

5) In Emma, what is Robert Martin’s occupation? Who does he wish to court?

6) In Persuasion how did Mrs. Smith and Anne Elliot first meet each other? Who wronged Mrs. Smith? And who helps her regain her husband’s investment in the West Indies?

7) Who is the actress who portrays Lizzie Bennett in the photo above?

8) The photo on the right portrays which family in what ITV film of a Jane Austen novel?

1) srarreF srM
2) a) drofwarC yraM, b) dnumdE, c) mailliW, d)yrneH
3) egairram yb elcnu lanretaM
4) eniN
5) a) remraF b) teirraH
6) a) loohcs tA b) toillE mailliW c) htrowtneW niatpaC
7) eivraG htebazilE
8) noisausreP, stoillE ehT

Questions inspired by So You Think You Know Jane Austen? A Literary Quiz Book, John Sutherland & Deirdre Le Faye.

Posted in Popular culture |

Jewellery in the Regency Era

July 21, 2007 by Vic

Jewellery was not as popular during the Regency Era as one might surmise and its blatant use was considered vulgar. Nevertheless, beautiful examples survive from that era in the form of delicate earrings, necklaces, and bracelets, as in the heart pendant from 1800 above, the garnet and crystal ring and the long diamond and emerald earrings below. Diamonds were the preferred gemstone during this period, but pearls were also popular.


As always, the Prince Regent lived according to his own extravagant standards. In An Elegant Madness: High Society in Regency England, Venetia Murray writes: The Prince was clearly unable to pass a jewellery shop without buying what he referred to as a ‘trinket’, meaning anything from a diamond tiara to a butterfly brooch with emerald eyes. Among the fashionable jewellers he patronized were Hamlet’s – whose customers included the Duke of York, the Duchess of Cloucester and various foreign rolyals – Thomas Gray in Sackville Street and Phillips in Bond Street. But his favoroute by far was Rundell and Bridge on Ludgate Hill, the principal goldsmiths and jewellers at the time.

Constance Hill writes in Jane Austen: Her Homes and Friends:

“Sense and Sensibility” was, as yet, unwritten in 1796, and we can imagine the future author taking note of the various localities in the neighbourhood which she afterwards introduced into her story. Sackville Street is close by, in which she placed the shop of Mr. Gray, the jeweller at whose counter Elinor and Marianne were kept waiting whilst the coxcomb Robert Ferrars was giving elaborate directions for the design of a toothpick case. At last the affair was decided. The ivory, the gold, and the pearls, all received their appointment, and the gentleman having named the last day on which his existence could be continued without the possession of the toothpick case, drew on his gloves with leisurely care, and bestowing a glance on the Miss Dashwoods which seemed rather to demand, than express, admiration, walked off with a happy air of real conceit and affected indifference.


The Castlereach Inkstand, Rundell and Bridge, 1817-1819. Click here for details.

Posted in jane austen | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

Jane, A Tribute to A Too Short Life

July 18, 2007 by Vic

On the anniversary of Jane Austen’s death – she died 190 years ago today – I thought I would put a different spin on things and celebrate her life. Jane means so many things to so many people, and her popularity, instead of diminishing, increases each year. What is it about Jane that attracts so many to her? It seems that every time we turn around, another book about Jane’s life sits on a shelf in a book store and she is more popular than ever.

In her new book, A Walk With Jane Austen, author Lori Smith describes the first time she encountered Jane Austen in college. She discovered Pride and Prejudice in a used book sale, and so, over Christmas break, her love affair with Jane Austen began. My own relationship with Jane’s novels started during my fourteenth summer. Like Lori I have read Jane’s marvelous words ever since. But I digress. This post is meant to be a review of Lori’s quest to strengthen her relationship with Jane and, in doing so, gain a better sense of her own life, which was whirling out of kilter.

During a critical juncture in Lori’s life when she faced a personal crisis, she chose to do what many of us yearn to do but few actually dare, which is to leave everything behind and embark on a life altering journey. Lori’s account about her search for Jane is written on several levels, as a memoir and personal journey of faith and discovery, as a search for the places where Jane Austen lived and trod, as a straightforward history of Jane’s life, and as a way to deepen her understanding of the author.

One January not long ago Lori gave her notice at work. “In February I walked away from meetings and coffee breaks and lunch breaks and paid vacation and health insurance to the gloriously terrifying world of writing full-time.” Lori did not choose an easy road when she decided to walk with Jane Austen. Writing a memoir might seem straightforward on the surface, but…

There are enormous difficulties in reconstructing anyone’s life, for however copious the evidence of letters, diaries, journals, and eye witness accounts, there is always the problem of interpretation, of the subjectivity of witnesses, and of the basic contradictoriness of the human being. Moods and emotions are volatile, but when recorded on the page are often forced by posterity to carry a much greater weight than was ever intended by their author. The Art of Writing Biography

Lori’s journey is deeply personal, but one she willingly shares with her readers. The first chapter ends with her heading for Oxford, the city where Jane’s parents met and married.

I plan to review Lori’s book chapter by chapter. The book, published by Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group, a Division of Random House, Inc., will be available this fall. Click here to visit Lori’s blog.

Click here for my post about Jane’s last illness.

Posted in Biography, Book review, Popular culture | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

My Take On Regency Fashion in Film…

July 17, 2007 by Vic

These days it is not uncommon to see prominent cleavage shown in films set during the Regency era, most recently in ITV’s Mansfield Park, where the actress Billie Piper in the role of Fannie Price is dressed to show off her two best assets. Aside from her loose and riotous hair, with which I also find exception, this particular Fanny Price fails to exhibit in her daytime attire the modesty of character for which she is famously known. I understand the producers deliberately chose a livelier actress to play this rather stiff and morally upright heroine, but in my opinion they went overboard in “undressing” her.

In The Mirror of Graces a Lady of Distinction writes: “Indeed, in all cases, a modest reserve is essential to the perfection of feminine attraction.” The author goes on to caution young women to “throw a shadow over her yet-unimpaired charms, than to hold them in the light…” In other words, modesty was the key for daytime attire. Bosoms were to be entirely covered, and if the dresses were designed with a low scoop neckline, they were “filled in with a chemisette (a dickey made of thin material) or fichu (a thin scarf tucked into a low neckline). Unlike today, cleavage was NOT a daytime accessory.” Rakehell

In the image above, Catherine Morland (Felicity Jones) is shown in proper modest attire; her friend Isabella Thorpe (Carey Mulligan) is not. One imagines that the director and costume designer hoped to demonstrate the difference between the young ladies’ temperaments through visual cues, but I found this inaccuracy to historical detail distracting.

Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility clung to a much more accurate picture of the modesty women displayed in those times.


A woman’s assets could be revealed during the evening, however. Evening gowns allowed even a girl on the marriage mart to bare her bosom and arms, but she was also required to wear long evening gloves that came up high or over the elbow. In fact, James Gillray famously poked fun at the evening fashions of the day, depicting a slut dressed in evening attire without gloves. Shameless!

Despite Gillray’s satiric viewpoint, a young lady of quality would only dare to go so far and then would step no further, as shown in the rather chaste evening gown from Vintage Textiles below and in the fronticepiece of The Mirror of Graces.

Neoclassic silk evening gown with metallic trim, 1800Evening Gowns, Fronticepiece of The Mirror of Graces

Read more about Regency Fashion on this Jane Austen Centre site: A Tour of Regency Fashion: Day and Evening Dress

In addition, click here in order to read all my posts on Regency Fashion.

Posted in Billie Piper, jane austen, Movie review, Northanger Abbey | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments »

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