There’s lots of new stuff to fill them up again!

Patrice Hannon’s new book, 101 Things You Didn’t Know About Jane Austen, is hot off the presses. Patrice is the author of Dear Jane Austen, which is being re-released by Penguin in June 2007.

The Tarot of Jane Austen by Diane Wilkes is now available. Each card in the deck represents a character or scene from Jane Austen’s novels in relation to the tarot. The companion book includes a how-to section for tarot beginners, sample spreads, and a complete storyline and interpretations for each card. The deck (which can be purchased separately) also contains a “little white book” that is not as detailed. We recommend the set, as the book also serves as an in-depth critical exploration of Jane Austen’s work (and goes into much more detail about each card).

Elizabeth Aston continues her Darcy series with The Second Mrs. Darcy. From Publishers Weekly, via Amazon:

Aston’s latest novel (after The True Darcy Spirit) focuses on another woman in the tradition of Elizabeth Bennet, Octavia Melbury. Tall and outspoken, Octavia fails to find a husband in London and is dispatched to India, where she is to live with relatives. There, she marries Capt. Christopher Darcy, but their happy union is cut short when he dies from an insect bite. Christopher’s spiteful cousin, George Warren, nabs the estate and leaves Octavia with a pittance. However, a surprise and sizable inheritance comes Octavia’s way, and she travels back to England, where she keeps mum about her newfound fortune while her conniving half-sister Theodosia schemes to marry her off. Octavia takes a shine to her smart, headstrong niece, Penelope, who, in turn, fancies a man of lower stature than her mother will accept. Not so for Octavia, whose rocky repartee with Lord Sholto Rutherford matures, inevitably, into love. Meanwhile, George realizes Christopher’s inheritance isn’t as large as he had thought and plots to steal Octavia’s fortune. Aston’s villains may be one-note wicked, but the lengths to which their puerile greed sends them make for good reading. Fans of the series will enjoy this chronicle of reversals of fortune.

Who knew Mr. Darcy had so many cousins?

We were amused by the press release for the book:

Austen fans have embraced Aston’s novels because she manages to sidestep the mistakes that previous sequel-writers have made. Austen fans don’t like to see their favorite characters portrayed by anyone except Austen, but Aston avoids this by setting her novels decades after Pride and Prejudice and mostly populating her novels with characters of her own creation yet in the tradition of Austen.

Well, that’s one way to do it, but it strikes us as a trifle cowardly. Some authors manage to do a fairly creditable job of continuing the characters’ stories. But, marketing types must have their little conceits.

We hope to have reviews of all three of these books quite soon. Lots more books out and on the way…head over to the right menu for links and information. (And as always, we have no affiliation with Amazon.com; we use the links only as a convenience. Please purchase your books from your favorite online or brick and mortar bookseller.)