The 200th Anniversary of Jane Austen's Death

Today is the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death. Which is your favorite of her books? I love Sense and Sensibility the best, but a close second is Pride and Prejudice. What's not to like about this brilliant depiction of a Regency era family consisting of five daughters about whose futures every parent might worry.

My story, "The Forgotten Sister", concentrates on the fate of Mary, the blurry middle daughter, who is so bookish and impractical, that even Jane Austen has a hard time trying to say something positive about her.

Take another look at this much maligned middle sister and see where her life took her after Pride and Prejudice's last words were penned.

"The Forgotten Sister: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice" is available for only $1.99

at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Smashwords and Kobo.

Here is the book's link to Amazon

The Regency Period and Jane Austen

Here is an excerpt from The Forgotten Sister: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice 

My family and I are visiting Brighton today.  My sisters’ husbands have stayed behind. Everyone thinks that the fresh sea air will be good for our constitutions.  I must admit that it’s nice to get out of Longbourn for a change.  It’s so provincial.  I am hoping to see what “the real world” is like.

Whilst there, my sisters got it into their heads that they wanted to rent a bathing machine.  I had never seen one of these contraptions and was eager to learn all about them.  They are basically large covered wagons attached to a horse who tows people out into several feet of water. Once there, the the swimmer undresses inside the machines, puts on her bathing costume, and is lowered into the water by a female attendant.  Once in the water, one may swim or hang on to a rope attached to the “machine” while the waves wash over you.

I had never swam in the ocean.  I have dipped my feet into the waves a few times, but this was a first. Once inside the wagon, I found it was small, badly lit, and poorly ventilated.  The only light that came in was from small openings placed high up to deter voyeurs.  We changed into our bathing costumes and an old hag of a bathing attendant who seemed to have imbibed in the sherry a bit too much assisted us as we boldly dropped into the sea.

Mama demanded to go first.  Once in the water, she screamed, “It’s too cold!  I’m going to die of hypothermia!  Quick! Somebody get me out of here!”

Lydia said, “For heaven’s sake, Mama!”

The attendant helped Mama back up into the covered wagon and wrapped her with a blanket.

To show everyone that she wasn’t afraid, Lydia jumped into the water with the confidence of Aphrodite riding ashore on an oyster shell.  “Come on,” she told us sisters.  “The water is fine!”

The rest of us followed suit.  I must admit, I did not care for it.  Mama was right: it was too cold! I didn’t stay in the water for very long and asked the attendant to help me up.  The old woman thought she’d regale us with her stories.  She said that women and men swam miles apart in Brighton.  She went on to say that men swam nude.

Once Lydia heard that, her ears perked up.  She asked the hag to lift her out and inquired, “Where exactly do the men swim nude?”

My sister Jane chastised her saying, “We mustn’t go there.  What would people say?!”

Elizabeth, my other sister, said, “Papa would be appalled.”

My sister Kitty started coughing and frantically asked to be pulled out of the sea.  I’ve been worrying about her.  She’s had this cough for a long time.  I hope she doesn’t have consumption!  I shall demand that Papa have a doctor give the poor girl a thorough checkup the minute we arrive home.

###

Would you like to read what happens next?

Please check out The Forgotten Sister: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice 

by Louise Hathaway.

Purchase at Amazon 

Purchase at iTunes

Purchase at Barnes and Noble

Purchase at Google Play

Purchase at Smashwords

Purchase at Kobo

Who loves Jane Austen?

I found out that not everybody does when I was in graduate school and announced to my Romantic Literature class that I had chosen Pride and Prejudice as my essay assignment. My fellow classmates dismissed Austen's book, saying that "it was just about some silly girls wanting to get married"; one of the ladies said, "Oh, I read that in grammar school." I couldn’t help but be reminded of a letter that Jane Austen wrote to her sister, saying, “I must confess that I think [Elizabeth Bennet, the main character in the novel] as delightful a character as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her …I do not know.”

Here's some good news for Jane Austen fans: "The Forgotten Sister: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice" is now available at the lowered price of $1.99. It's about Mary Bennet, the plain middle daughter in Pride and Prejudice, as she compares herself to her beautiful sisters, tries to get her father to notice her, complains about her mother’s melodramatics, falls in love, considers a move to America, becomes a writer, and a ultimately becomes a champion of those less fortunate. What makes this book different from other books written about Pride and Prejudice is its depiction of the social history in Britain during the nineteenth century. Mary Bennet learns about the worlds of their servants in Pemberley, poor chimney sweeps, and factory workers. Transport yourself back to the Regency era and get better acquainted with one of period's famous fictional families.

The Forgotten Sister: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice

is available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble,

Kobo, Smashwords, and Google Play

for $1.99 

Jane Austen's Sisters

It's an interesting family dynamic to be a middle sister.  It's like the best of both worlds: I get an older sister to mother and protect me and a younger sister that I can try to nurture and influence, as if she were my daughter.  Before my younger sister died, we had a saying:  "There's no friend like a sister." I'd like to add that "there's no friend like a little sister."  She used to put me on a pedestal--no matter what stupid thing that I would ever do, she always believed in me.  Any book, movie or song I ever liked, my sister would run out and purchase for herself, so that we could "relate" to each other.  I have always done the same with my big sister.  I try to impress her with my knowledge of the music from her "Summer of Love" generation.  Not only have I tried to emulate my older sister: I am her biggest fan.

"What's this have to do with Jane Austen?" you might be asking.  My little sister and I loved Sense and Sensibility.  We often said that I was "sensibility" because of my caution and practicality and she was "sense" with her heady ideas of love.  She told me once, "You want to be safe and secure in love, but I like the roller coaster ride."  Doesn't she sound like Marianne in Jane Austen's book?  There is a scene in the book that my sister and I once talked about: Marianne is critically ill, on the brink of death, and Elinor, at her bedside, totally breaks down.  She practically demands that Marianne stay alive: "Would you break mother's heart?  Would you break mine?" I told my sister that I'd react the same way if anything ever happened to her.  Little did we know that a few years later, our lives would mimic this scene.  My sister was in Intensive Care for six months and I often thought of Marianne when I visited the hospital. Austen's fictional character was spared; but my real life one wasn't.  I wrote and dedicated this book to the memory of my little sister:

Nonsense and Sensibility: A Modern Austen Variation

by Louise Hathaway

$1.99

At Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play,

Kobo and Smashwords

Jane Austen-Inspired Books for only 99 cents

Are you a Jane Austen fan?  She is one of my favorites.  I'm an English Literature Major and, believe it or not, didn't read my first Jane Austen novel until the semester before I received my Master's Degree.  When I announced to my class that I was writing my term paper on Pride and Prejudice, I was surprised by the reactions of my fellow students.  One man dismissively said, "Oh, that's just about a bunch of silly girls who want to get married." A lady in the class said, "I read that in elementary school."  I'm a late bloomer, I guess.

I loved Pride and Prejudice and the 5 sister who inhabit the story.  I'm a middle sister and paid close attention to Mary Bennet, "The Forgotten Sister", as I like to call her.  I don't think Jane Austen was very kind to her and poor Mary was more or less a foil for her beautiful older sisters and silly, boy-crazy younger ones.  There was a lot of room for a writer such as myself to pick up the story of Mary Bennet where Pride and Prejudice left off and show how she develops through the years.  Taking up the challenge, I came up with this novel, "The Forgotten Sister: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice."  It costs only 99 cents today, exclusively at my publisher, Smashwords.  Just use code RAE50 at checkout to receive it for 50% off.  It's available at Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo at its usual price of $1.99.

Click here to purchase at Smashwords for 99 cents.

I've written another book inspired by Jane Austen.  It's entitled "Nonsense and Sensibility: A Modern Austen Variation."  It is a romantic comedy that takes place in modern times.  I've changed the locale from Regency England to Southern California.  I love how Jane writes about the relationship between Marianne and Elinor and Sense and Sensibility was a particular favorite of my younger sister, who recently passed away.  The scene in which Marianne almost dies and her older sister tries to give her the forbearance to keep fighting and not leave her loved ones behind is especially heartbreaking to me.  In my book, I use my experiences of watching my sister pass away, as I noticed the different foibles of her friends who came to visit her at the hospital.  One of her friends set up a "Care Page" so that there would be a central place for friends and family to talk about their visits and provide updates. It was quite the fodder for me to add some social commentary to my book:  the lady who created my sister's care page was very much like Jane Austen's Lucy in Sense and Sensibility and I definitely had her in mind while I was writing my book. I hope you enjoy it.  This book received a very unfair and hurtful review on Amazon, which resulted in my unpublishing it for a few months. I've corrected all the typos that were such a "travesty" to this reviewer and I hope readers will give it another chance.  It is available today at Smashwords for half off.  That's only 99 cents.  Use code RAE50 upon checkout.  It is also available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play for $1.99.

Click here to purchase at Smashwords for 99 cents

Pride and Prejudice

I'm a fan of Pride and Prejudice but I’ve always felt that poor Mary Bennet, the middle sister, was an undeveloped character.  What happens to her after Jane Austen's beloved story ended? In my novel, I show this "forgotten sister's" development as she goes from being a petulant teenager who compares herself to her beautiful sisters, tries to get her father to notice her, and complains about her mother’s melodramatics, who grows into young woman who learns that there's a wider world outside of Pemberley and the Bennet family.

The Forgotten Sister: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice

By Louise Hathaway

In her twenties, she falls in love and considers a move to America, where her fiancé owns a plantation. She starts writing fiction and learns all about publishing during the Regency era.  When she walks in on an older chimney sweep holding lighted straw and threatening to burn the feet of a five-year-old boy who's up inside the chimney trying to keep his balance while cleaning, she helps the child and becomes a champion of those less fortunate, including the maids at Pemberley and the factory workers in London. This book isn't a regency romance, but Mary has two serious love interests and Mr. Darcy does make a few appearances (and passes away, doing a very heroic deed).  What makes The Forgotten Sister different from other books written about Pride and Prejudice is its depiction of the social history in Britain during the nineteenth century as seen through Mary's eyes as she tries to help the poor lead better lives.

Only $1.99

Available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble,

Google Play, Kobo, Smashwords and Scribd

RIP David Bowie and Alan Rickman

What a week this has been after losing two of my favorite British performers, both of them only 69 years old. I first heard an album by David Bowie in 1972 when I was a teenager.  At the time I was into country-rock like The Eagles and Linda Ronstadt, so I didn't appreciate him right away.  I watched his various transformations through the years and didn't become a huge fan until the 80s when I heard him sing the sublime song "Under Pressure," a duet he did with Freddie Mercury and Queen. It showcased the best of both of their voices.  I've listened to it probably one hundred times and never get sick of it; I love the way he and Freddie trade off singing lead, egging each other on, encouraging each other to soar to the next level of unbridled emotions.  I recently saw their performance in a YouTube video. Freddie is hot and sweaty, looking like he'd been on stage for a long time, offering his usual rousing set, and in walks Bowie, cool as a cucumber, in a green suit.  Only Bowie could pull off wearing a green suit. So stylish!  He looked the most handsome I'd ever seen him. Gone were all the Ziggy Stardust makeup and theatrics, and there he was, looking like a fashion model.  He was "Oh, so very British."

And then, there's Alan Rickman--one of my favorite British actors.  Sometimes it feels like I'm the only person on the planet who has not read and seen any of the Harry Potter books and movies. Everyone says Alan was great in it, and I believe it.  His performance in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility was what first got my attention.  I was immediately smitten.  It wasn't just his voice: it was his character.  There's nothing more painful than to watch a young woman fall head over heels in love with the wrong man.  We've all seen it: our sisters or our friends being so blind to reason that you want to shake their shoulders and say, "Wake up and smell the coffee!"  In Sense and Sensibility, Marianne is forever mooning over the studly Willoughby and all the while she can't see the forest for the trees.  Alan's character in the book, Colonel Brandon, has been there all along.  Only after she almost dies does she realize his true worth: he has been by her side throughout her illness. He is the rock she needs to counteract her school girl way of looking at romance.  So what if he's older and isn't as dashing as Willoughby.  He is the love of her life and she's lucky to have him.  Alan was such an awesome Colonel Brandon with his low and sexy voice.  Forget about Mr. Darcy--I'll take Colonel Brandon any day.  How about you?

Literary Pilgrimage to England

This is an excerpt from my eBook entitled "England in the Footsteps of its Literary Giants".   I wrote this in 1987 after I'd received my Bachelors Degree in English Literature.  My husband & I took a 3 week trip to see the birthplaces and environs of some of my favorite British writers.  

Our next stop was the Yorkshire Dales, where James Herriot lived and wrote of his experiences as a veterinarian in “All Creatures Great and Small”.  We knew that the name “James Herriot” was his “nom de plume” and we wouldn’t be able to look up that name in the local phone book, but we wanted to make a pilgrimage to Thirsk, the town where we’d heard that he lived and practiced.  We went into a bookstore in the town’s square, and, being the intrepid travelers, asked the clerk if he knew where the famous writer lived or worked.  He told us that all we had to do was to walk across the street and look for the red door and the sign, “Veterinary Surgeon’s Premises”.  Outside was a white drop off box where Herriot often left medication for his clients to pick up after hours.  He was still practicing medicine at the time when we were there, but, unfortunately, we never got to meet him.  He has passed away since our visit and his home/office is now a museum in his honor.

Home/Office of James Herriot

****

The Yorkshire Dales really were beautiful: rolling green hills with hedgerows discretely separating each farm.  Another reason why we had come to this area was to visit the home of the Brontes.  We saw the Parsonage where the family resided and were able to see the desks where the sisters had done their writing. We walked the moors and thought of Heathcliffe and Kathy from “Wuthering Heights”.  It was cold there and we stopped for some tea in a little shoppe.

****

The Bronte Parsonage

****

The Brontes weren’t the only 19^th century female writers whose house we visited--we also made a pilgrimage to two of Jane Austen’s houses.  The first was in Chawton, which is about 60 miles from London. Walking the neighborhood, I was struck by the vision of thatch-roofed cottages and I saw an old, creepy cemetery attached to an ancient-looking church. The town looked like it hadn’t changed much since Jane Austen’s time.

****

Her last home was across the street from the Winchester Cathedral.  She died here just when she was starting to get famous.  She is buried beneath the floors of the cathedral. I again thought of music from the 1960’s and the popular song that said, “Winchester Cathedral—you’re bringing me down”.  I seemed to have had a 1960’s song track playing in my head on this vacation.  Not only did I think of music on this trip: almost every place we visited also spoke of England’s literary heritage.  We strolled through the town of Winchester, and we saw a parade of “19^th Century British soldiers” marching through the Victorian-looking town.  We found out that the mini-series, “Vanity Faire”, by William Makepeace Thackeray (another of my favorite Victorian writers), was being filmed.

****

“Are you going to Scarborough Faire”? asks the song from Simon and Garfunkel—another of my favorites from the 1960’s.  The town of Scarborough, northeast of York, sits on a bluff overlooking the coast.  It is famous for the awe-inspiring remains of a castle and a church.  The ruins were partially destroyed in 1645 during the Civil War between Cromwell and Charles I.  When we were there, the wind from the coast was eerily whipping through the ruins.  It was a very beautiful location and definitely “worth a detour” as guide book say.

Scarborough Ruins

****

When the time had come to return to our lives in California, we didn’t want to leave. England has so much more to see.  California is so young compared to “jolly olde England”, with all its history and culture.  The trip was a splurge—we were lucky that our bosses allowed us to take three weeks off for our vacation.  Before we had left California for our pilgrimage to literary England, I had been saving up money from my paychecks all year.  We wouldn’t have changed a thing.  It was the trip of a lifetime and a dream come true for this English Major.

###

Would you like to read the rest of this eBook?

It's only 99 cents.

Available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play,

Kobo and Smashwords.

Jane Austen

The Forgotten Sister: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice

by Louise Hathaway

Only $1.99

Here's some good news for Jane Austen fans: "The Forgotten Sister: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice" is now available at the lowered price of $1.99. It's about Mary Bennet, the plain middle daughter in Pride and Prejudice, as she compares herself to her beautiful sisters, tries to get her father to notice her, complains about her mother’s melodramatics, falls in love, considers a move to America, becomes a writer, and a ultimately becomes a champion of those less fortunate. What makes this book different from other books written about Pride and Prejudice is its depiction of the social history in Britain during the nineteenth century. Mary Bennet learns about the worlds of their servants in Pemberley, poor chimney sweeps, and factory workers. Transport yourself back to the Regency era and get better aquainted with one of period's famous fictional families.

Available at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Scribd, and Smashwords.  Here are the book's direct links at each store:

Purchase at Amazon
Purchase at iTunes
Purchase at Barnes & Noble
Purchase at Google Play
Purchase at Kobo
Purchase at Smashwords

Jane Austen

Do you like Jane Austen? Do you wish you'd lived in the Regency era? Can't get enough of Mr. Darcy? If so, perhaps you'll like my books:

The Forgotten Sister: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice:

http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Sister-Sequel-…/…/B00S04BKX4

Marriage in Pride and Prejudice (this is a literary essay I wrote in Graduate School):
http://www.amazon.com/Marriage-Pride-Prejudice…/…/B00PYYS8U6

Nonsense and Sensibility: A Modern Austen Variation:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/nonsense-and-sensibility-louise-hathaway/1122360779

Also available at iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Kobo, Smashwords and Oyster

What is your favorite Jane Austen novel?

I had never read Jane Austen until the semester before I received my Master's Degree in English. Isn't that odd?  What took so long?  I think Jane was a bit looked down upon in the "serious" literature department: I remember how my classmates dismissed Pride and Prejudice as "a story about a bunch of girls wanting to get married."  That's what they said to me when I announced that I wanted to write my research paper on it.

Needless to say, I loved Jane from the very first page of Pride and Prejudice.  I'm from a family of a lot of girls, so the characters and their concerns seem very real to me.  Add to that attraction, I loved everything British:"Masterpiece Theatre," The Rollings Stones, Twiggy, Yardley lipstick--I could go on and on.

Looking back, from where I am in my life right now, I would choose "Sense and Sensibility" as my favorite Jane Austen novel.  To me, it echoed my relationship with my sisters; especially between my younger sister and myself.  She and I would often say about the novel that she was the "Sense" to my "Sensibility": she was the one who went for the bad boys; for the roller coaster ride; while I played it safe in my world of prudence and sensibility.

My younger sister died six years ago.  I often think about Jane Austen's novel as it pertains to her: I remember discussing it with my sister and saying that the scene in the novel where Marianne almost dies is how I would feel towards her if anything ever happened to her.

Unfortunately, my fears came true when my sister, like Marianne in the novel, had a life-threatening illness.  Marianne survived; but my sister did not.  I loved her with my heart and soul and I dedicate my book to her:

Nonsense and Sensibility: 

A Modern Austen Variation

By Louise Hathaway

Available for $1.99 at iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Kobo Books, Smashword, and Oyster.

Jane Austen and Sense and Sensibility

30% Off.  Only $1.99

Nonsense and Sensibility:

A Modern Austen Variation

by: Louise Hathaway

$1.99 at Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Google Play, Kobo and Smashwords

This romantic comedy is a modern version of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. It’s the story of two American sisters and the men who love them. Elinor, the older of the two, is the sensible one who is prudent and dependable. In contrast, Marianne is the passionate one guided by her emotions who tends to get carried away, especially when it comes to love. Will she choose bad boy Willoughby who comes to her rescue on his mighty steed, or Colonel Brandon, an older man who could offer her a lifetime of safe and dependable love? Will Elinor and her true love, Edward, ever be free to marry? Will Lucy ever let him go? Find out in this story, told with deep and abiding love for the inimitable Jane Austen.

A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice

In The Forgotten Sister, the drawing rooms of the Regency era are opened for us to view the world where Jane Austen left off when she wrote Pride and Prejudice. This novel is about Mary Bennet, the plain middle daughter, as she compares herself to her beautiful sisters, tries to get her father to notice her, complains about her mother’s melodramatics, falls in love, considers a move to America, becomes a writer, and a ultimately a champion of those less fortunate. What makes this book different from other books written about Pride and Prejudice is its depiction of the social history in Great Britain during the nineteenth century. Mary Bennet learns about the worlds of their servants in Pemberley, poor chimney sweeps, and factory workers. The Forgotten Sister also proposes the provocative question: What if Mr. Bennet went to school with Jane Austen’s father and had been writing to him for years, telling him all about the antics of his wife and daughters? And, what if Mr. Austen had been sharing these stories with his witty daughter who likes to write? Is that how Jane Austen knows the Bennet family so intimately?

The Forgotten Sister: A Sequel To Pride and Prejudice

By Louise Hathaway

eBook available at $2.99
To Purchase at Amazon

To Purchase at iTunes

To Purchase At Barnes and Noble

To Purchase at Smashwords

To Purchase At Google Play

To Purchase at Kobo

Pride and Prejudice

I have just published a new novel.  It is called: The Forgotten Sister: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice.

Here's what it is about:

In The Forgotten Sister, the drawing rooms of the Regency era are opened for us to view the world where Jane Austen left off when she wrote Pride and Prejudice. This novel is about Mary Bennet, the plain middle daughter, as she compares herself to her beautiful sisters, tries to get her father to notice her, complains about her mother’s melodramatics, falls in love, considers a move to America, becomes a writer, and a ultimately a champion of those less fortunate. What makes this book different from other books written about Pride and Prejudice is its depiction of the social history in Britain during the nineteenth century. Mary Bennet learns about the worlds of their servants in Pemberley, poor chimney sweeps, and factory workers. 

The Forgotten Sister also proposes the provocative question: What if Mr. Bennet went to school with Jane Austen’s father and had been writing to him for years, telling him all about the antics of his wife and daughters? And, what if Mr. Austen had been sharing these stories with his witty daughter who likes to write? Is that how Jane Austen knows the Bennet family so intimately?

eBook available at $2.99

Click here to purchase at Amazon

Click her to purchase at Smashwords

Pride and Prejudice

This eBook is a scholarly essay about marriage expectations in the Regency period as expressed in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.  It explores the different relationships between the sexes in the novel, and what the options were for women who were not yet married during this period. Accompanied by photographs taken by the author when she made a Jane Austen pilgrimage to Winchester and Chawton, England, this is a must read for all the “Janites” out there.

How can anyone not love Jane Austen?  I found out that she was looked down upon by “serious students of English Literature” when I was in graduate school and I announced to my class in Romantic Literature that I had chosen to write about Pride and Prejudice.  My fellow classmates dismissed the book, saying that it was just about "some silly girls wanting to get married."  I couldn’t help but be reminded of a letter that Jane Austen wrote to her sister, saying, “I must confess that I think [Elizabeth Bennet, the main character in the novel] as delightful a character as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those who do not like her …I do not know.”  I hope this essay will help the skeptics take another look at her novel and reconsider.

Marriage in Pride and Prejudice

By Louise Hathaway

eBook available for 99 cents at the following online bookstores:

Amazon Apple B & N Smashwords


Kobo Google

Nancy Drew Meets Jame Bond

What would happen if Nancy Drew met James Bond?  Find out in The Stolen Mask: A Nancy Keene Mystery, a humorous, PG-Rated tale written for nostalgic women baby-boomers who grew up loving Nancy Drew mysteries.  The teenage sleuth in this story goes to London and stays in the same hotel as Daniel Craig (AKA James Bond) when his BAFTA award is stolen from his room.  When Nancy is not on a Jane Austen pilgrimage or visiting Buckingham Palace, she channels Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, and Rumpole of the Bailey to help her solve the mystery of who took the award and why.

The Stolen Mask: A Nancy Keene Mystery
This eBook is available for $1.99





Amazon Apple B & N Smashwords


Kobo Google

Nancy Drew Meets James Bond

I've been busy writing my next Nancy Keene book, "The Case of the Stolen Mask".  This book, a humorous, PG-Rated tale written for nostalgic women baby-boomers like myself who grew up loving Nancy Drew mysteries, has my teenage sleuth going to London and staying in the same hotel as Daniel Craig (AKA James Bond) when his BAFTA award is stolen from his room.  When Nancy is not on a Jane Austen pilgrimage or visiting Buckingham Palace, she channels Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, and Rumpole of the Bailey to help her solve the mystery.

Check out my other Nancy Keene Mysteries at all your favorite online bookstores:

The Missing Bachelor Farmer

The Ghost in the Plantation

The Buried Treasure on Route 66

Traveling to England

What is your idea of a dream vacation?  Mine was going to England and seeing the birthplaces and environs of my favorite English writers: Dickens, the Brontes, Jane Austen, James Herriot, Shakespeare, and D. H. Lawrence. A few years ago, my dream came true and my husband and I went to England for three weeks. When we came back, I wrote this essay, then my husband and I looked at our pictures from the trip and chose the ones to go with it. I hope you like it as much as we did.

It's available at most of your favorite eBookstores and costs only 99 cents.

Amazon Apple B & N Smashwords

England in the Footsteps of its Literary Giants

Dear Readers:

My husband and I started collaborating on books five years ago.  It all started with the tragedy of my sister and brother's deaths that year.  I was deeply depressed and my husband tried to buck up my spirits by encouraging me to write.  What resulted was our first ebook called "England in the Footsteps of Literary Giants."  It is a travelogue about our pilgrimage to England to see the birthplaces and environments of England's famous authors such as Dickens, the Brontes, Jane Austen, James Herriot, Shakespeare, and D. H. Lawrence.  I wrote the essay, then my husband and I looked at our pictures from the trip and chose the ones to go with it.  It brought back so many great memories.  I have a Masters Degree in English Literature, so it was a dream come true for this English Major.  By writing about our travels, it brought me back to a happier place in my mind and helped me heal.  I'm eternally grateful to my husband for taking us on that trip to England, taking all of those wonderful pictures, and encouraging me to write again.

It's available at most of your favorite eBookstores and costs only 99 cents.





Amazon Apple B & N Smashwords