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

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?

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.