For Women’s History Month this year, I’ve been so excited to write lots for my blog and have been thinking of themes to go with – and then it hit me when I was reading a really interesting book by the Women’s Studies Group. Reading Women. I’ve been wanting to read more and more books…
Continue reading ➞ Spotlight on Literary Heroines: Nancy Drew
How is it the end of February already? I already feel like the year is hurtling by at an alarming pace! And I’m ready with lots of exciting new blog content, particularly as tomorrow marks the beginning of Women’s History Month. Posts have been a little slow, mainly because I have some news… I submitted…
Welcome to the first of my ‘month in review’ posts – I’m planning a lot of exciting new features for my blog this year, and just wanted to get the ball rolling with this. It’s a chance for me to share some of the historical things I’ve been reading, watching and listening to, and see…
This is such a treat of a review for me today – I’m so grateful to Grand Central Publishing for gifting me a copy of Sanditon to read and review to coincide with its release in the US on PBS. Did you catch the first episode on Sunday? I have a confession to make: although…
Continue reading ➞ Review: “Sanditon” by Jane Austen & Kate Riordan
I've been invited to do something a bit different today, which is incredibly exciting: I'm hosting Dr Gabrielle Malcolm's new book, There's Something About Darcy, on my blog for the day as part of her blog book tour! As soon as I heard about Malcolm's book, I knew it was for me - as someone who…
Continue reading ➞ Review & Book Tour: “There’s Something About Darcy”, by Gabrielle Malcolm
I’ve been lucky enough to start working with the lovely people at Pen and Sword books in reviewing history books – and could my first choice be anything but Jane Austen themed? Judith Stove’s “Jane Austen’s Inspiration: Beloved Friend Anne Lefroy” looks to Jane’s close friend (and aunt to the famous love interest of Jane’s,…
Continue reading ➞ Review: “Jane Austen’s Inspiration: Beloved Friend Anne Lefroy”, by Judith Stove
Even though I wax lyrical on every single platform about how much I love Jane Austen, I’ve never visited her house at Chawton or her grave in Winchester Cathedral – until this week. We went on a lovely trip to Hampshire and had a beautiful day (helped by the British sunshine) exploring Jane Austen’s House…
Continue reading ➞ Walking in the footsteps of Jane Austen in Hampshire
Today Agora Books are re-publishing Jane Aiken Hodge’s study of Jane Austen, and I was lucky enough to have been gifted an advance copy to review, so thank you Agora! As anyone who knows me might have guessed, I jumped at the chance to review a book about not only my favourite author but also…
Continue reading ➞ REVIEW: “Only A Novel: The Double Life of Jane Austen”, by Jane Aiken Hodge
I swear one of my favourite genres of books could be called “modern retellings of classics”. I am always on the lookout for them, in particular Jane Austen retellings, which is why I am hoping that eventually the Austen Project, which paired Austen’s six novels with six contemporary bestselling authors, will eventually resurface with modern…
Continue reading ➞ Updating the Classics: Five Modern Retellings of Classic Stories to Read and Love
A Man and a Woman seated by a Virginal, Gabriel Metsu, c.1665, oil on oak (National Gallery, London, NG839) My recent research has had me reading lots of histories of women written in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which has been a lot more amusing than it might sound. Of course, this is a really…
