Reviews by Allison T.

It is with great pleasure that I bring to your attention two charming Austen sequels by Ontario region JASNA member Judith Brocklehurst: A Letter from Lady Catherine and Maria, or the Story of a Disgraced Woman, both self-published at Lulu.com.

A Letter from Lady Catherine begins when that lady, despairing that Anne will ever find a husband, swallows her pride and informs the Darcys that she and Anne will visit and they are to look out for likely suitors. A carriage accident on the journey leaves Lady Catherine with a broken arm and food poisoning and Anne is forced to take action to care for her mother and herself. She meets a pleasant young man—a reader and a thinker—and begins to find him more attractive than any gentleman she has yet met, when the Darcys arrive to take Anne to Pemberley. A burgeoning literary career, attractive new clothes and a newfound health contribute to Anne’s increased happiness, but, as a wealthy heiress, she can never marry the poor man she loves—or can she?

After her disgraceful elopement, Maria Rushworth (née Bertram) is banished by her family to a lonely, half-ruined farmhouse in the north of England. Tormented by thoughts of Henry Crawford, she appears to local society as “Mrs. Ward” and turns to horse-breeding to make money, while Aunt Norris discovers a new happiness in bringing the rat-infested house to order. Maria, or the Story of a Disgraced Woman tells the story of how the bored and lonely Maria transforms herself into a well-regarded businesswoman. But then the story of her affair leaks out, and Maria is whisked by the family back to Mansfield Park, where she must help Lady Bertram with the hard parts of her embroidery and take care of pug. Will she be stuck there forever?

The plots of these two sequels are so fresh and unusual that I can’t reveal more about them without spoiling the endings, and that, in and of itself, tells you something about the quality of the stories. And Judith’s characterizations—whether of Austen’s people or her own—are charming , though I was a little grieved to find that both Fanny and Edmund have turned into real Mr. Collins-like pills, and refuse to have Maria visit them or even talk to her. But I closed the books with a sigh of regret that they were over, and look forward to reading them again.

Great characters, great plots—but wait! There’s more! What sets these two novels apart from many historically-based Austen continuations is the elegance and precision of the prose. There are no annoying anachronisms, no violations of the Regency rules of behavior, and the language really echoes that of the period. As a bonus, Judith puts in little Austenian allusions for our amusement: for instance , when the gentleman that Anne loves gives her a King Charles spaniel, a little dog of no use whatsoever for hunting, Mr. Darcy, who is not found of little dogs, comments that at least it isn’t a pug. (What would Lady B think?)

Austenland is growing so large that it is becoming a financial challenge keep on purchasing (and housing) the sequels that appear each month, but I found these two books well worth the money.