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

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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

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

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