Not to be outdone by the current deluge of time-traveling Janeites, the West Coast Bureau Correspondent discovered a pair of long stays which, if laced too tightly, send the wearer back to Georgian/Regency England … but rather than follow the herd to chase after Mr. Darcy, she recalled her duty to review the following:

Chapbooks (unbound, usually under 24 pages) and bluebooks (blue paper cover, 36-72 pages) were inexpensive, popular reading material before and through Jane Austen’s time. The Veiled Picture, originally published in 1802 and now reissued by Valancourt Books, is a “bluebook” edition of Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, intended to make fashionable Gothic literature accessible to the common reader.

In this unofficial abridgement, the names of places and characters have been changed (Valancourt’s edition includes a handy reference guide). All the descriptions and philosophical reveries on landscape, the picturesque, morality, or poetry have been removed. What remains reads like a 72-page (!) screenplay treatment: breathless, nonstop action and, as Henry Tilney notes, hair-raising. It’s a wild ride. If Eleanor stepped away even for five minutes she would miss much of the story:

Beautiful young Emily D’Orville lives a peaceful existence in the French countryside with her loving parents. But when tragedy strikes and leaves her an orphan, Emily is separated from her true love Angereau and imprisoned in the Castle of Gorgono, her sinister uncle’s fortress in the Apennine Mountains. Can Emily escape the horrors of Gorgono, or will she fall victim to Signor Androssi and his murderous friends? And what is the mystery of the horrifying picture that hangs in a locked chamber, shrouded in a black veil?

Valancourt’s edition, edited by Jack G. Voller, includes a new introduction and notes, contemporary reviews and reactions to the original Mysteries of Udolpho, short essays on Gothic architecture and the sublime, an essay by Ann Radcliffe on the role of supernatural in poetry, and a comparison of selected passages from Udolpho with their abbreviated bluebook counterparts: see how 547 words can be compressed to 15! Last, if The Veiled Picture excites your curiosity (as it did mine), the select bibliography is an excellent resource to learn more about Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, and Gothic bluebooks.

I’m reluctant to recommend The Veiled Picture as a first experience with Udolpho, especially to those who wish to learn more about how it relates to Northanger Abbey. The original Udolpho is a more accurate place to start, because Jane Austen alluded to and parodied more than the plot alone. Udolpho’s style, subtleties, and contemplation of aesthetics immerse the reader in the Gothic environment, especially the suspense and terror Radcliffe sought to create, and all these elements are addressed in Northanger Abbey.

Nevertheless, Valancourt Books’ edition of The Veiled Picture is a fascinating little book in its own right: a peek into the past at the height of the Gothic craze and the chapbook/bluebook tradition.

Review by Diana Birchall

Laurie Viera Rigler’s Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict is forthcoming from Dutton in August. I’ve just finished reading an advance copy, and thought you would like to hear about it as it’s quite a charming novel. You may be put off by hearing that it’s a form of “time travel” novel, which conjures up images of Harlequin romances where our heroine gets boinked by a Regency dude, but disabuse yourself - this is the luxury model of the genre. The difference is that Rigler writes beautifully and is a true genuine Austen addict herself, with the result that when she does the early 19th century characters, the purist doesn’t wince. Equally engaging is her 21st century American heroine and narrator, Courtney Stone, who finds herself in the body and life of a nineteenth-century woman named Jane Mansfield. Courtney’s sharp and slangy modern young sensibility contrasts piquantly and amusingly with the new (or old) world where she finds herself. Rigler has an excellent eye for period detail, and is able to produce a highly effective novelistic “you-are-there” experience. The heroine’s reactions to the realities of 19th century life, not just the cumbersome bathing methods and medical horrors but the behavior and assumptions of the people she is suddenly forced to live with, are extremely vividly told. To travel with Courtney as Jane into the world of another Jane (and they do come briefly and satisfyingly face to face) is quite pleasurable, and I’d have no hesitation about recommending this book to those who’d enjoy a lightly and deftly orchestrated visit to 1813.

It is easy for the cynical Janeite (who, us? cynical? pish!) to get burned out on Pride and Prejudice sequels, especially when there are so many of them, and so many of them are quite bad. (Can you say Emma Tennant? We thought you could.) But we keep reading them, because we know that there are a few jewels in the sludge. We’re not sure that Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride is a jewel exactly, but we think it will appeal to a wide cross-section of Janeites.

The book starts pretty much where P&P left off, with Elizabeth and Darcy preparing for their marriage and removal to the elegance of their family party at Pemberley. Unfortunately they are immediately troubled by the problem of whether Mrs. Darcy will be accepted by Mr. Darcy’s neighbors, friends, and family, especially those under the influence of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Working through these issues, and the romantic entanglements of those characters still single at the end of P&P, form the rest of the story.

A novel by its nature must have conflict, and in our view the problem with many Austen sequels is subverting the happy-ever-after endings of the originals by making the conflict come from within the Darcys’ relationship. Happily, Ms. Halstead gives the Darcys mostly external conflict, allowing the reader to see them as a loving newlywed couple, which is just what we want. The authoress seems, to us, to have her finger on the pulse of the Lizzy/Darcy zeitgeist: there is a touch of angst and melodrama (which a certain constituency of fans seems to like) and the Darcys are sexy without being explicit, a circumstance sure to please a wide audience.

We could wish there were less swanning about with earls and marchionesses in Town during the Season, which is rather more Georgette Heyer than Jane Austen in our opinion (and we love Heyer), but at least our sensible Lizzy tires of the ton quickly and pines for Pemberley, and her husband is happy to oblige her. The writing is sharp and intelligent, with no twee attempts to imitate Austen’s voice. The authoress trusts her own style, and rightly so.

Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride is a comfortable sort of book, not spectacular but solid and enjoyable. We think Team Darcy will love it; we suspect the authoress is a teammate herself, and gives her audience just what they are looking for.

Note: The book was formerly published under the title A Private Performance.

We wrote a little about the new graphic novel Gothic Classics Volume 14 yesterday, but received more information about it today, and since it is Books are Nice week here at AustenBlog, thought we would post a follow-up. First, from the publisher’s official press release:

Eureka Productions is pleased to announce the publication of GOTHIC CLASSICS: Graphic Classics Volume Fourteen, an all-new graphic novel.

GOTHIC CLASSICS is the third multi-author anthology in the GRAPHIC CLASSICS series of adaptations of great literature. The book presents Ann Radcliffe’s archetypal gothic novel “The Mysteries of Udolpho,” adapted by Antonella Caputo and Carlo Vergara. Plus Jane Austen’s gothic parody “Northanger Abbey,” by Trina Robbins and Anne Timmons, and Poe’s “The Oval Portrait,” by Malaysian illustrator Leong Wan Kok. Also “At the Gate,” a canine ghost story by Myla Jo Closser, illustrated by Shary Flenniken, and J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s great vampire tale “Carmilla,” by Rod Lott and Lisa K. Weber. With a dramatic cover painting from “Carmilla” by Lisa K. Weber.

GOTHIC CLASSICS: Graphic Classics Volume Fourteen is available in bookstores, comics shops, or direct from the publisher at http://www.graphicclassics.com.

For a more objective viewpoint, check out the review of the anthology in Publisher’s Weekly:

Ann Radcliffe’s inimitable “Mysteries of Udolpho” is rendered in a faithful, nearly documentary style by Carlo Vergara, while Jane Austen’s play upon the gothic, “Northanger Abbey,” is charmingly illustrated by Anne Timmons.

Sounds like a winner; we cannot wait to spend two days reading it, our hair standing on end the whole time.

Alert Janeite Joan Ellen wrote to tell us that Jane Odiwe, author and illustrator of the lovely Effusions of Fancy, has a book coming out called Lydia’s Story. She has set up a page for the book at her Web site, where she has posted some of her illustrations and wrote a little about the book.

Lydia’s Story is a book I thought could not be written. Who, after all, could like a girl who is badly behaved, who has little regard for propriety and who is described as being vain, ignorant, idle and uncontrolled? I confess I was intrigued by her character and her story, though I resisted putting my ideas down on paper for some time. But Lydia refused to go away and so did the questions I wanted answering. Why and how did she and Mr. Wickham actually get together? We know they must have been thrown together in Brighton but I wanted to know the details, especially as it seemed they did not take much notice of one another in Meryton, or so I thought until I started to write the book! It is one of the surprises of Pride and Prejudice that Lydia and Mr. Wickham elope to London and of course it is a shocking revelation when we first read the book. But despite this foolhardy act, I wanted to write her side of the story. Lydia, it seemed to me had always been given a bad press and though she should not have risked her reputation or that of her sisters by running away with Mr. Wickham, I felt rather sorry for her. It is clear that Lydia adores George Wickham and she believes his feelings for her are the same as her own. But how does Lydia come to regard him so highly? I wanted to know how their relationship developed from their earliest days in Hertfordshire, to the point of their elopement, marriage and beyond. There were so many questions that puzzled me and as Jane Austen does not tell us all the answers, I felt the only way to guess at what really happened was to write a book about her follies and adventures.

Diana Birchall, herself an Austen paraliterature author, wrote to tell us that she has had a preview of the book, and that it is “very lively and well written. . .I have read her manuscript and think a lot of it.”

We found a more descriptive blurb about Me and Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter, which was mentioned in yesterday’s book roundup.

U.K. author Potter makes her U.S. debut with Emily Albright, 29, a New York bookstore manager, who half-seriously blames Jane Austen’s Fitzwilliam Darcy for her abysmal dating life: Darcy sets the bar too high. As Christmas approaches, Emily, to avoid a holiday with co-worker Stella, signs up for a tour of Darcy territory, lighting out, amusingly, with a gaggle of gray-haired Darcy maniacs. As the tour group weaves in and out of Darcy locales, Emily butts heads with Spike Hargreaves, a handsome young journalist interviewing the group. Soon, the jet-lagged, drink-laden Emily finds herself—presto!—time traveling and meeting Mr. Darcy himself, complete with frock coat. As her acquaintance with Darcy deepens, Emily, to her great surprise, finds herself thinking about Spike. Despite the plot’s predictability, Potter’s chick lit take on Darcy has a refreshing not-trying-to-equal-the-master feel. (July)

This sounds EXTREMELY similar to the plot of Austenland (for which we’ll have a review this week). Extremely. Like, a lot. And, as you can probably read, it’s out in July, NOT next year as we mistakenly assumed.

ETA: Next time we’ll just check Amazon. *slaps self with Clue Trout*