Friday Bookblogging: What To Read When You’ve Read All of Jane Edition
We heard from AustenBlog reader Molly, who wants some recommendations on what to read when you’ve read all of Jane Austen’s work.
I’ve recently rediscovered my love of Jane Austen’s fiction and have now devoured all of the fiction, most of which I hadn’t read since I was a teenager. This has whetted my appetite for more. I stumbled across your blog a while ago, and I’ve enjoyed it immensely. I have a query for you, which I think might make a lovely topic for a blog post. Recommended other reading for Austen-lovers. I’m specifically NOT looking for either nonfiction about Austen or her environs (which is easy enough to find) or fiction that’s a sequel (or prequel or otherwise directly coming out of) one of Austen’s books. Rather, I’m looking for other books written in the spirit or tone of Austen’s books (even if not 100% meeting her talent). I guess a “if you like Austen, you’ll love X.” I’m particularly curious about contemporary writers of period literature, but am also open to contemporary fiction or older fiction too. So, if you have any go-to suggestions, that would be grand.
Oh, do we have suggestions!!!
First, if you like historical fiction of the period, we suggest Georgette Heyer’s books, both her Regencies and her other books. Particular favorites at AustenBlog World Headquarters are the Alistair books (The Black Moth, These Old Shades, Devil’s Cub, (read Regency Buck here, though it’s not an Alastair, it is sort of the Ur-Regency anyway) and then An Infamous Army, which wraps them all up. For the Regencies, we especially love Friday’s Child and Cotillion, but everyone has their favorites, and we’re sure they will pop up in comments!
It might also be interesting for you to read the books that Jane Austen read herself. First on the list is one of her favorite authors, Fanny Burney. We recently read Evelina and Cecilia, and in Cecilia especially one can find many suggestions of Jane’s work; it is obvious that the books influenced her. (The title of Pride and Prejudice comes from the final chapter of Cecilia.) We started Camilla and were distracted by other things; we plan to finish it, though we looked over the first volume and there’s nothing in it but an old man playing at see-saw and learning Latin, upon our soul there is not. 
If you’re very brave, you can tackle another of Jane’s favorites, Samuel Richardson, particularly Pamela and Sir Richard Charles (oops) Grandison (if you can find it). Maria Edgeworth is another popular author of the period, and one whom Jane read and admired.
Remember also that the Austens “were novel readers and not ashamed of it,” and that included novels of the horrid variety. Mrs. Radcliffe’s charming works are definitely worth a read, particularly The Mysteries of Udolpho; we think you will get deeper enjoyment of Northanger Abbey after reading it. Valancourt Books is currently reprinting the “Northanger Canon,” the horrid novels that Isabella Thorpe names in NA.
“Dear creature! how much I am obliged to you; and when you have finished Udolpho, we will read the Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you.”
“Have you, indeed! How glad I am! — What are they all?”
“I will read you their names directly; here they are, in my pocket-book. Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries. Those will last us some time.”
“Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?”
See Cub Reporter Heather L.’s review of The Castle of Wolfenbach. Catherine Morland definitely read that one before she got to Northanger Abbey!
Speaking of Valancourt Books and horrid novels, Cub Reporter Heather L. spotted something of interest to some of our readers on Valancourt’s blog:
And on a similar and yet entirely different note, Natalie Schroeder, who has edited Regina Maria Roche’s Clermont and Ouida’s In Maremma for Valancourt Books, will be writing an introduction for a new edition of Roche’s The Children of the Abbey (1796). One of the most popular and bestselling novels of all time, Children of the Abbey was continuously in print in England and the United States from the late 18th century through the early 20th, and was beloved by many generations of readers. The Valancourt Books edition will follow the first edition text of 1796, thus making it the first edition in 200 years to follow faithfully the original text.
Attentive readers will remember Harriet Smith’s disappointment that Mr. Robert Martin had not read The Children of the Abbey or Mrs. Radcliffe’s The Romance of the Forest, though he had read Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield, a very improving sort of book.
If you want to go a little later into the Victorian period, we find Elizabeth Gaskell’s novels similar in tone and feeling to Jane Austen’s, especially Cranford, Wives and Daughters, and North and South.
An offshoot of our interest in Jane Austen is our interest in the Age of Sail, both the Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy of Jane Austen’s time period (in other words, the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812-era), engendered by our fascination with one Captain Frederick Wentworth. Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series of novels are often compared to Jane Austen’s in their rich complexity, and we also thoroughly enjoy the Hornblower series by C.S. Forester, both the books and the films.
In more modern works, we can heartily recommend Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series: The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, Something Rotten, and Thursday Next: First Among Sequels. We haven’t read the latest book yet, and are saving it for the plane trip to Vancouver for the JASNA AGM, so no spoilers, please! 
We once called these books “porn for English majors” on this blog, to general agreement.
Well, that’s enough from us. Anybody else have anything to add?
September 7th, 2007 at 2:48 am
I would add anything by Eliza Haywood as well. She predates Austen by about 50 years but her work has the energy of Austen’s juvenilia and Lady Susan.
Why recommend Samuel Richardson’s Pamela and the out-of-fashion Sir Charles (ahem) Grandison and not Richardson’s masterpiece, Clarissa? Clarissa is definitely different in tone than Austen, being a 1500-page tragedy written entirely in letters that requires a certain amount of persistence, but it’s brilliant.
Love the blog, by the way. I think it’s great fun.
September 7th, 2007 at 3:03 am
It might not be Austen’s period, but I would safely recommend E.M. Forster. He admired Jane Austen and in my opinion many of his book are written in a similar spirit: “A Room with a View”, “Howards End” and also in parts “Maurice”. He has a great sense of humor and a grasp of language very similar to Jane Austen.
September 7th, 2007 at 4:21 am
I’d recommend Charlotte Lennox’s The Female Quixote. It was written in the 1750s, but it’s an interesting companion to Northanger Abbey. Plus, HILARIOUS.
I’d also recommend any of the novels of Charlotte Smith. Austen knew Smith’s works very well. It’s interesting to compare The Old Manor House to Mansfield Park, for example, and there are definite hints of Emmeline in Northanger Abbey.
Also, don’t forget Fanny Burney’s The Wanderer, which delves into both the French Revolution and the place of women in eighteenth/nineteenth century society.
September 7th, 2007 at 5:09 am
Sylvester and Frederica are my particular favourite Georgette Heyers (as well as Friday’s Child and Devil’s Cub) (You can never read too many Georgette Heyers!)
Not at all of the same period but I imagine of the same spirit Dodi Smith’s I Capture the Castle has a little of the Austen touch!
September 7th, 2007 at 7:08 am
What about the Temeraire series, it’s a ‘historical fantasy’ series set in the Napoleonic era. The author, Naomi Novik, is a huge JA fan and it shows in her style. As one critic enthused about the books: “It’s like Jane Austen playing Dungeons & Dragons”.
September 7th, 2007 at 7:43 am
I don’t read Jane spin offs as a rule as I am quite satisfied rereading Jane’s own words for the umpteenth time, but I adore Georgette Heyer, especially Fredericka and The Grand Sophy.
September 7th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Here are some books by contemporary writers I have loved:
Ann-Marie MacDonald: Fall on your knees. A wonderfully melodramatic love it/hate it book about a Victorian coal mining family.
Bella Pollen: Hunting unicorns. Satire on English country manners. Had me howling with laughter.
A.S. Byatt: Possession. A legend already.
Lauren Belfer: City of light. About Victorian Buffalo in the early days of electricity.
Also, Marina Warner’s and Andrea Barrett’s stories are brilliant; they both write about past times, Warner from more cultural and Barrett from more natural historical (if that’s a word) perspective. And if children’s lit is not out of question, try L.M. Montgomery and Frances Hodgson Burnett for some light comfort reading
September 7th, 2007 at 8:55 am
One of the best books I’ve read in recent years is “Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell” by Susanna Clarke. It’s basically Jane Austen meets Harry Potter. Imagine that magic is real but has been out of practice for the last few centuries until the two title characters, both Regency gentleman, go about reviving it. The author creates such a vivid and amazing world that really adds to your understanding of Austen’s time period. The book is such an enjoyable read and even boasts a little Austen mention.
And to add to what Mags said, “Wives and Daughters” really is a wonderful book. The heroine, Molly Gibson, has a bit of Catherine Morland in her. It’s one of my favorite novels, and it has a lovely adaptation done by the BBC a few years ago.
(And it’s my personal opinion that “North and South” is Elizabeth Gaskell’s way of updating “Pride and Prejudice” for her time period. Oh, Mr Thornton.)
September 7th, 2007 at 9:05 am
I agree with the Gaskell recommendation. Especially North and South. Yes, a little similar to P&P in plot, but also very different. And make sure you watch the BBC adaptation afterwards.
September 7th, 2007 at 9:13 am
I’ll second the Thursday Next series. I started reading them (based on the recommendation here), and found them thoroughly entertaining.
September 7th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Here! Here! Many favorites of mine listed here. I would add a recent find courtesy of this month’s Atlantic Monthly. She’s another English writer writing in the 1940s and 1950s named Elizabeth Taylor. I’ve just read her first book At Mrs. Lippincote’s and started one written the year I was born, A View of the Harbour. She’s the author of the book on which the recent movie, ‘Mrs. Palfrey at the Clarmont’ was based.
Like Jane, she didn’t write many books, but these have that tone of being about a few characters in a small setting. She can write irony into a very short sentence. Beautiful.
September 7th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Everyone should read Gaskell’s North and South and then watch the miniseries.
Also, Jasper Fforde rocks my world.
Finally, I’d put in a recommendation for Middlemarch, if you can handle a very long and dense book. It has some wonderful character observation, though–very Austen-ish in a more melancholy, bittersweet way, with less sparkle and bite. But it’s very lovely and thoughtful and true to life.
September 7th, 2007 at 9:57 am
I would recommend three novels by some brilliant but lesser-known post-WWII British women novelists who were clearly influenced by Jane Austen. These post-War novels lack the Regency atmosphere, of course, but like Austen they create brilliant effects on their few inches of ivory.
Palladian by Elizabeth Taylor (not the actress), published in 1946. The main character is delightfully named Cassandra Dashwood. I’ve blogged about Taylor here.
The Village by Marghanita Laski, who also wrote a biography of Jane Austen. Published in 1952.
The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins, also an Austen biographer. Published in 1953.
The Jenkins and the Taylor are available in Virago Modern Classics editions; the Laski is available from Persephone Books.
Elizabeth Taylor is a wonderful novelist. Like Jane Austen, her novels have even made it to the big screen, with film versions of Angel (starring Romola Garai) and Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (starring Joan Plowright).
September 7th, 2007 at 10:04 am
I would add Anthony Trollope.
September 7th, 2007 at 10:56 am
I’ll second Elizabeth Gaskell (particularly Wives and Daughters, which is wonderful, and its BBC adaptation) and Jasper Fforde.
For modern writers, try Laurie Colwin (A Big Storm Knocked It Over; Happy All the Time; Goodbye Without Leaving) and Elinor Lipman (The Inn at Lake Devine; My Latest Grievance). I think Austen would very much have enjoyed their writing: their gentle but biting satire of human follies and their marvelous turns of phrase.
I’ve put several of the other recommendations on my to-be-read list - thanks!
September 7th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Oooh, I knew I loved you Austenblog people, but the fact that you read Heyer and like the Alastairs means I really love you now!!
I’ve read most of the suggestions, but will be trying Jasper Fforde very soon.
On the slightly fluffy side, but in the vein of Georgette Heyer, I would recommend Sylvia Thorpe and Alice Chetwynd Ley, though many of their books are out of print, so you may have to search. Oh, and if you’ve finished all of Heyers’ an excellent biography has just been re-printed by Jane Aiken Hodge and is well worth reading too
September 7th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
I heartily endorse reading the “horrid” books; they are fun in their own right and show how much better and clearer JA’s prose was compared to her contemporaries. I love Mrs Gaskell’s Cranford and also recommend the novels of Mrs. Oliphant (I think that’s how it is spelled). And Wilkie COllins, especially The Woman in White.
Don’t forget P.G. Wodehouse and E.F. Benson (the Lucia books). And Angela Thirkell, who took Trollope’s imaginary county of Barsetshire and brought it up to date. She wrote a book a year for most of her adult life and her descriptions of wartime Britain are fascinating.
September 7th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Georgette Heyer is one of my favourite authors! I heartily recommend her historical novels; they’ve humour, wit, story and characters that you will fall in love with (in various senses)She wrote A LOT of them too, so you won’t be without something to read for a while.
September 7th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Ditto on Elizabeth Gaskell, especially Cranford which is by far my favorite one of her works.
Has anyone mentioned Kate Fenton’s Vanity and Vexation (a.k.a Lions and Liquorice) a modern retelling of P&P with the genders reversed?
I just picked up a Mary Balogh and I think I am hooked on to her regency romances. Georgette Heyer is of course a great favorite (”Jane Austen on rollerblades!”).
How about the Richard Sharpe series? Bodice-rippers for men is how someone described them to me.
September 7th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Jasper Fforde, P. G. Wodehouse, and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell I can definitely second (or third), but I must say that I really dislike Pamela. I had to read it for a British Literature class, and it was almost impossible to get through. Two other contemporary books that I’ve read recently and loved: The Memory Keeper’s Daughter and The Time Traveler’s Wife. They’re not really “Austen-y,” but they are great books.
September 7th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
I second (or third, or fourth, or whatever) Gaskell, Wodehouse, Trollope, Middlemarch, and I Capture the Castle. Personally, I found Mysteries of Udolpho astonishingly, almost unreadably bad, but I guess there’s no accounting for tastes.
For me, one of the (fairly) contemporary writers closest in approach to Jane Austen is Barbara Pym. She writes about the quiet dailiness of women’s lives in England in the 1950s-70s. I’d recommend Excellent Women for starters.
September 7th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
For regency era books I would also recommend Patrica Veryan (particularly the Jeweled Men series).
September 7th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
I am not sure if these authors would be considered similar to Jane Austen in any form-but “I must have my share in the conversation!”
Jan Karon and “Miss Read” are wonderful writers of regional fiction. I really enjoy Anne Bronte’s novels more than those of her more famous sisters. Dorothy Sayers writes intelligent mysteries which take place in England. (That’s a bit of a stretch, eh?)
September 7th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
I heartily endorse Wilkie Collins. His “No Name” is clearly a tribute to “Sense and Sensibility.”
To take up the Northanger theme, I would also recommend Amelia Edwards, a Victorian explorer who endowed the first chair of Egyptology with the proceeds of her ghost stories. For twentieth-century horror with a Georgian flavor, try the one and only Howard Phillips Lovecraft. He was homeschooled with books from the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, and the style and many of the values remained with him throughout his short life.
September 7th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Thanks for the recommendations everyone. I now have more than enough to keep me busy for a long, long time. Some names were unfamiliar to me, others ones I’ve been meaning to read for a while and this just gives me the right nudge.
I have read a few– all of the speculative fiction bent (which is the genre I typically read in– and unabashedly second the nominations of Susannah Clarke’s “Jonathan Strange,” Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, Audrey Niefburger’s “Time Traveler’s Wife” and both of Jasper Fforde’s series.
I think I’ll start with some Elizabeth Gaskell.
September 7th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
No Nancy Mitford Fans? “The Pursuit of Love” and “Love In a Cold Climate”… very much in the spirit of Austen and are both hysterical reads.
Agree somewhat with the suggestion of E.M. Forster, but only for “Room With a View” (in all of its snarky glory) but don’t suggest “Where Angels Fear to Tread”, “Maurice”, “Howard’s End” or “The Longest Journey”… unless you mean to be depressed.
And we can not forget (ever) my beloved Stella Gibbons…. “Cold Comfort Farm” is witty and brilliant and very much in the “one or two families in a country village” genre!
September 7th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
OMG! How could I forget Chawton.org’s collection of early women’s writings.
My fav: Ashton Priory Written anonymously, but sometimes I fancy it “could” have been written by Jane.
There are many, many other novels and stories there, (and some perfectly horrid didactic fiction that only Mary Bennet could love).
September 8th, 2007 at 12:32 am
What about The Mitford series by Jan Karon. Lovely books; they detail the daily life of the rector of a small southern town. Among other authors, he is very fond of Jane Austen.
September 8th, 2007 at 12:43 am
I wholeheartedly agree on the Jasper Fforde - I’m a big Thursday Next fan (and I saw him at the Brisbane Writers Festival last year - he’s a very funny guy!).
What about some George Eliot and Virginia Woolf? Especially Middlemarch. Not necessarily in the vein of Austen, but they’ve certainly influenced my thoughts on the world (as has Jane).
September 8th, 2007 at 12:56 am
Dodi Smith’s I Capture the Castle is a brilliant combination of the best of the Bronte’s and Jane for me plus its own spark. I like Anne best of the Bronte’s, but if you’re looking writers with Jane’s sense of humour it’s best to steer clear of the Bronte’s in general.
I recently finished Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, seriously recommend it for people who love to read. Not very Jane-ish though.
And obviously Jasper Fforde. Thursday’s brilliant, but the Nursery Crimes series are well worth reading too.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:53 am
Agree with all the recommendations so far: O’Brien, Heyer, Fforde and Gaiskell, but I third and fourth and third again Anthony Trollope, particularly the Barchester Chronicles. Also Sir Walter Scott, who admired JA, and whom she admired.
September 8th, 2007 at 8:44 am
Teresa (#26): Have you read Stella Gibbons’ The Matchmaker? It’s sort of a post-WWII version of Emma. Gibbons actually wrote an introduction to an edition of Emma, and seems to have been heavily influenced by Emma in Cold Comfort Farm as well.
September 8th, 2007 at 10:46 am
What about Maria Edgeworth’s Belinda - recommended by Austen herself in her famous Defence of the Novel in Northanger Abbey! I think it’s about the closest thing you can get to an “undiscovered Austen novel” - it’s very clear that Austen was influenced by her style. Plus, it’s a very enjoyable read in its own right.
If you have time and leisure for a long read, Thackeray’s Vanity Fair begins in the Regency period and fills in a lot of the gaps as to the politics of Austen’s time, if you still feel you haven’t got the complete picture. It’s a real epic and full of a cast of terrifically drawn characters, which I think would appeal to the average Austen reader. Becky Sharpe must be one of the greatest anti-heroines ever. Try to ignore the Reese Witherspoon film version, if you have seen it!
I personally find Radcliffe’s work tedious - if only Udolpho had been one volume long, I might have liked it - but E.M. Forster is a fantastic recommendation, a Janeite fanboy if ever there was one.
September 8th, 2007 at 11:34 am
I recently read ‘A Fair Barbarian’ by Frances Hodgson Burnett which I had not read before. It is a slim but delicious volume and I think you can tell that her writing was influenced by our Jane. You can read it online for free!
September 8th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Don’t forget Harry Potter (not that anyone can, these days). J. K. Rowling loves Austen (Emma is her favorite novel), and that affinity is evident in her writing. I second the recommendation to read the authors Austen read: Edgeworth, Burney, Radcliffe, etc. Austen is timeless, but you can get a deeper knowledge of her works by understanding the cultural references sprinkled through them, and especially the comparisons and marked contrasts between them.
I also join the chorus praising Middlemarch, North and South, and A Room With a View. Nancy Mitford is as funny as Austen, but doesn’t have her moral foundation, so I found it difficult to care much what happened to her characters. Heyer and Fforde are lightweight fun. I loved Jonathan Strange, though I know many who did not. The Time-Traveller’s Wife was well-written, but one of the most depressing I have ever read, so not exactly Austen. Another along the same lines is The Lovely Bones.
Thanks to everyone, I have now expanded my list of books to read by about 20.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
I don’t read many contemporary works. So if you have read all of Jane I suggest these VERY STRONGLY:
Tom Jones- Henry Fielding
Vanity Fair- WM Thackeray
Wives and Daughters- Elizabeth Gaskell
September 8th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Thanks to everyone who has participated in this thread! (And keep going!) I’ve downloaded several books to my Treo to read later–I’m very interested in Austen-period literature and a couple mentioned here are now in my queue.
I can’t believe I forgot Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell. I, too, loved it, as well as Susannah Clarke’s followup, The Ladies of Grace Adieu, which is a collection of short stories. I described Jonathan Strange as Jane Austen on ’shrooms–if Jane had taken mind-altering drugs (not that she would, but you know what I mean), she would not have written Kubla Khan like Coleridge; she would have written a very long but controlled comedy of manners about gentleman-magicians, complete with three-page-long footnotes. Don’t you think? It’s like Jane Austen’s world but just a little bit skewed, and done with a wicked and very dry sense of humor. Fabulous, fabulous book.
And Vanity Fair, yes! One of my favorites.
Also second or third or whatever it is the recommendation of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series–wonderful books, and the fourth one is due out any day, if it isn’t out already. The first is called His Majesty’s Dragon in the U.S. and Temeraire in the U.K., the second is Throne of Jade, the third is Black Powder War. I think the new one is to be called Empire of Ivory.
Clarke, Thackeray, and Novik, incidentally, are/were all Friends of Jane.
September 8th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
I was so glad to see that Barbara Pym was mentioned! I have read every one of her books, and she has a deliciously sly wit. I also recommend Joanna Trollope as a contemporary author with a sharp eye to the manners and mores of England. OTHER PEOPLES CHILDREN and THE CHOIR are my favorites, but every one of the books are great. And how about Elizabeth Buchan?
September 9th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Late to the thread; just about everything I would have suggested has already been mentioned. I’ll only add the historical POLDARK novels by Winston Graham, which take place in Georgian Cornwall.
September 9th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Quote Marybeth
(And it’s my personal opinion that “North and South” is Elizabeth Gaskell’s way of updating “Pride and Prejudice” for her time period. Oh, Mr Thornton.)
I did a presentation once on how similar Wives and Daughters and Mansfield Park are. I had not come in contact with N&S at the time, but now that you mention it I wholeheartedly agree! Not that I dislike EG for it; in fact it makes me want to read her more.
Speaking of author admirers of Jane…Sir Walter Scott has some novels sort of Janelike and romantic. I recommend Rob Roy. (If you can read the Scottish bits.)
September 9th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
I can’t believe that no one has mentioned Edith Wharton. Jane Austen transplanted to nineteenth century New York city and just the slightest bit depressed. Custom of the Country is brilliant (Lucy Steele would be so jealous of Undine Spragg) and Jane would be right at home skewering the small minded of society as depicted in The Age of Innocence. Wharton was the first woman to win a Pulitzer.
September 10th, 2007 at 9:05 am
Tamara, that’s such a fascinating idea about “Wives and Daughters and “Mansfield Park.” I can already think of some of the similarities. (Although I think I prefer Roger a bit more than Edmund.)
September 10th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
This topic comes up on Molland’s every year or so, and leaves me excited and discouraged at the same time. So many good books now on my list, and not nearly enough time to read them all.
September 11th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
I’d put my hand up for most of these and would also add a wonderful Austen contemporary, Thomas Love Peacock. Surely one of the funniest, laugh out loud authors after Wodehouse I’ve read, with his blend of satire and comedy. Try Headlong Hall (1815), all about the eating, drinking, dancing and marrying at the houseparty in Wales held by Squire Headlong. He also satirised Shelley and Byron in Nightmare Abbey (1818).
I am sure we can all appreciate the heroine of Crochet Castle(1831), Lady Clarinda, who says that: “I am not fit to be a poor man’s wife, I cannot take any kind of trouble, or do any one thing that is of any use. Many decent families roast a bit of mutton on a string; but if I displese my father I shall not have as much as will buy the string, to say nothing of the meat; and the bare idea of cookery gives me the horrors”
September 12th, 2007 at 9:22 am
Emily Eden’s The Semi-Attached Couple, and The Semi-Dettached House. Both very funny! The first one written in 1829, so a bit after Austen. Reprintd in the 1980s by Virago press so you might find in used book stores or libraries. NYTimes review.
September 25th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Are there any Joan Aiken fans out there? Some of her adult romance fiction is clearly influenced by JA (and Aiken also did some of the sequels)- I don’t love all Aikens books, but two outstanding favorites: Five Minute Marriage and The Girl from Paris. Definitely worth it!