Jane Austen
Prepared by Skylar Hamilton Burris,
author of Conviction: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice

"I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me
the trouble of liking them a great deal."-- Jane Austen, Letters

[ Expanded Timeline | Papers | Books | P&P Sequels | Fanfiction | Trivia ]

Expanded Timeline:

1775--Born the seventh child of the rector of the Steventon parish in England. 

1795--Lady Susan, Elinor and Marianne (early version of Sense and Sensibility)

1796--First Impressions (early version of Pride and Prejudice)

1801--Family moves to Bath

1803--Susan (early version of Northanger Abbey)

1805--Father dies, Jane moves with mother and her sister Cassandra to Southampton

1809--Moves to her brother Edward's home in Chawton

1811--Sense and Sensibility

1813--Pride and Prejudice

1814--Mansfield Park

1816--Emma

1817--Dies.

1818--Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.  Her brother Henry formally announces her authorship.

Papers on this Site:

Anti-Romanticism in Sense and Sensibility

Books:

When I first read Northanger Abbey as a teenager, I thought it little more than a clever, entertaining parody on the gothic romance genre, and a rather captivating romance story itself. Upon my second reading, however, I now see it only secondarily as a parody, and primarily as a satire on the duplicitous nature of civilized man, including (but not limited to) an exposé of the games courting men and women play. Northanger Abbey is very well written, and though it lack the subtlety of Austen’s later novels, it is certainly her funniest. I began my second reading with the intention of highlighting all of the humorous sections, but after I had turned an entire page yellow, I desisted. Take, for example, the fabulous opening description of our heroine’s father, as only Jane Austen could phrase it: "Her father was a clergyman, without being neglected, or poor, and a very respectable man, though his name was Richard . . . and he was not in the least addicted to locking up his daughters."

Despite its general failure to receive the kind of critical acclaim that has been heaped on her other novels, I think Northanger Abbey is a real contender for Jane Austen’s best book. Henry Tilney is, at least, among her most appealing and interesting protagonists, described by the heroine herself as—and this is instantly intriguing—"strange." Many diverting scenes result from the contrast between Henry’s wry wit and our heroine’s innocence (for, as Henry says, Catherine’s "mind is warped by an innate principle of general integrity"). No one who enjoys a good laugh should ever overlook this book.

Quote: "Where people wish to attach, they should always be ignorant. To come with a well-informed mind, is to come with an inability of administering to the vanity of others, which a sensible person would always wish to avoid. A woman especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing any thing, should conceal it as well as she can."

Other Books by and about Jane Austen

Reviews of Pride and Prejudice Sequels:

Reviews below are arranged in alphabetical order and books are rated as highly recommended, recommended, or not recommended.  To have a review of your Pride and Prejudice sequel added to this page, send a complimentary copy to Skylar Burris at PO Box 7505 Fairfax Station, VA 22039.  All reviews will be linked to purchasing information on Amazon.com, if available.  Readers, please see also my own Pride and Prejudice sequel, Conviction.  

An Assembly Such as This (Highly Recommended)
by Pamela Aidan

Admittedly, this isn't a sequel.  It isn't a prequel either.  If a term has yet been invented for a book that occurs simultaneously with the events of another book, I don't know it.  But An Assembly Such As This begins with the Assembly at Mereton and ends.... The twist? The entire tale is told from Mr. Darcy's point of view.  We get to see the gaps in Jane Austen's narrative filled in, and we get to see one writer's take on Darcy's actions and motivations. 

The characters remain more or less true to their originals, although Mr. Darcy's motives and thoughts are different from what I, personally, would have imagined them to be.  (For instance, he is forever looking for an opportunity to apologize to Elizabeth for his "she is tolerable" remark and trying to overcome her ill opinion of him, whereas I imagined that he was ignorant of his need to apologize and that he simply assumed she was attracted to him.)  Because of the nature of the book, it is inevitable that large portions of Austen's dialogue are copied verbatim, although the author tries to summarize the dialogue in narrative where possible.  The easy and natural flow of Austen's dialogue is broken by narrative observations, so that we may have Darcy's perspective; and while it is good to have his perspective (that's the point of the novel, after all), it does sometimes make Austen's scenes appear choppy and lessen the impact of the characters' words.  A rare few of the added scenes seem nonessential to plot or character development, and appear more as filler, which can slow the pace of the novel occasionally.  Nevertheless, An Assembly Such As This is one of the best "sequels" I have read to date.  Pamela Aidan's prose is frequently well-crafted, and she clearly has knowledge of and respect for the original.   He research efforts pay off as well. 

Conviction (Highly Recommended)
by Skylar Hamilton Burris
Well, I can hardly review this novel, as it is my own.  But click on the title above for reader reviews and a free study guide.

Mr. Darcy's Daughters (Recommended)
by Elizabeth Aston

If you are looking for a sequel that once again brings to life Austen's characters, this book is not for you.  Mr. and Mrs. Darcy are (somewhat inexplicably) off in another country on a diplomatic mission, and the novel follows the lives of their daughters, inventions, of course, of the author.  However, if you just want a decently written Regency Romance with links to the original Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy's Daughters should satisfy.

Duty and Desire (Recommended)
by Pamela Aidan

This is the second volume in Aidan's three volume retelling of Pride and Prejudice, and it has met with a great deal of criticism, as well as praise.  Duty and Desire fleshes out the time period when Darcy is away from Elizabeth, prior to his visit to Rosings.  Austen tells us almost nothing about Darcy's life during this time.  Therefore, Aidan is not simply retelling Austen's tale from Darcy's point of view; instead, she must now invent an entire story of her own.

If you have come to Duty and Desire looking for deep insights into Darcy's psychological struggle to suppress his feelings for Elizabeth, you will likely suffer some disappointment.  While Aidan does explore these efforts from time to time, they are not the focus of the novel--at times, the subject hardly seems present at all.   Instead, Aidan breaks the novel into two halves with two primary focal points: Georgiana's religious conversion and Darcy's gothic adventures.

Austen purists complain that the author of Pride and Prejudice would never have included such plots.  And while they are quite right in there claims, I myself do not expect my Austen spin-offs to achieve the heights of Auten's style and subtlety or to discuss only those subjects she chose to discuss.  I only desire that (1) They are well written, (2) They stay true to the spirit of Austen's characters, and (3) They are engrossing.  Aidan's style of writing is unquestionably skilled, so I will cross that one off my list.  But how does she score with regard to the other two factors?

While I do not think it would be true to Darcy's character to portray him as an obvious and vocal evangelical--he is too reserved, too traditional for that--I do not think it preposterous that Georgiana should be drawn in such a direction. Certainly wealthy people did become evangelicals at this time, and Georgiana, wounded by Wickham's treatment of her, just might be susceptible to this brand of religious comfort.  Her quiet, shy humility might make her fitting for the kind of religious sentiment that emphasizes the less fortunate.  Austen certainly gives us no indication Georgiana has such feelings, but they are not wildly implausible.  And Mr. Darcy's embarrassment over his sister's "enthusiasm" is touchingly believable.  This part of the religious plot I think Aidan handles very well.

That said, how does the religious emphasis affect the overall story?  I regret that it is somewhat detracting. While I certainly have no problem with the inclusion of religious themes in novels (I had such themes in my own Pride and Prejudice sequel), here the religious subplot does seem somewhat "added-on" and it does occasionally draw us away from our concern for Darcy's point of view.  I never feel I get Darcy's full perspective on Elizabeth.  I am still a bit confused by his apparent understanding that Elizabeth does not like him; I rather thought he considered her to be flirting with him, and I would like to have seen Aidan develop why he thought her to be expecting his advances (perhaps I will be so gratified by the next book).  And while Darcy's conversations with Georgiana reveal some of his feelings to us, I would rather have seen them divulged in a different manner, because it seems a little out of character for him to have such intimate conversations with his baby sister.  Despite these minor criticisms, I believe Aidan draws his character well.  

As for the gothic subplot, I am not as appalled by it as other readers seem to be.   It is certainly unbelievable, and out of keeping with the tone of Austen's Pride and Prejudice (indeed, it is the sort of storyline she parodied in Northanger Abbey).  But Mr. Darcy himself is not unbelievable in the plot; were he to be plopped down into the midst of such a fantastical tale, I imagine we would find him behaving very much as Ms. Aidan has him behave.  That other newly invented characters should act as they do, however, strains credulity.  Nevertheless, I can only confess to finding this subplot quite entertaining.  I do not see how readers can imagine that an entire 240 page novel could be filled with nothing more than Darcy trotting from entertainment to entertainment, thinking about Elizabeth on the way.  Yes, more psychological development and more frequent mention of Elizabeth would have been welcome, but a plot is necessary too! I can see why some would desire a more credible plot than the one we find here, but I do not see how they can find the plot Aidan has crafted to be uninteresting.   In fact, I actually found this book to be  more interesting than the first, largely due to the mysterious subplot.  Unless one possesses the sheer mastery of Jane Austen, scenes of everyday life can grow a tad dull, as I felt just a few did in An Assembly Such As This.  But when I reached the gothic subplot of Duty and Desire, I did not feel the urge to skim.

Despite its occasional flaws, Duty and Desire is a cut above most other Austen spin-offs, and I recommend it. 

Pemberley Or Pride and Prejudice Continued (Not Recommended)
by Emma Tennant

At first, I thought the author’s style of writing somehow rigid, in that I had difficulty reading her words with ease; but in time, I grew used to the writing, and it flowed well enough to read. The plotline is interesting, but unbelievable, and not in keeping with the personalities of Austen's original characters.   Elizabeth is suddenly a figure utterly lacking in self-confidence, and Georgiana is intermittently pleasant and haughty, as though the author was not sure how to draw her. (In the original, I think she was only shy—any indication of her being proud was owing to rumor, not fact.) Darcy is something of a secretive, sullen jerk, though Tennant vaguely tries to give him motivations for his clandestine actions.  I also have some technical quibbles with the work:

1. Emma Tennant has Jane with a one year old child less than a year after the Darcys are married. Now, unless my math is rusty, this would mean she had conceived well before her own marriage, a highly unlikely possibility.
2. She has Lydia with four children "under four"—which, a year after the marriage of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, seems a bit much, as she was married only a few months before Elizabeth.
3. She makes Rowsley (rather than Lambton) the former home of Mrs. Gardiner.

Jane Austen Fanfiction

The Strange Marriage of Anne De Bourgh and Other Stories
This collection contains a novelette and two short stories based on Pride & Prejudice

Skylar's Fanfiction
This page contains two additional short stories centering on Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet.

www.pemberley.com
A community for fans of Jane Austen's works, this site include numerous lively discussion boards for each of the novels, as well as "Bits of Ivory," a board for Jane Austen fan fiction.  You may also find a number of resources on this site for general study of the author and the time period.

www.austen.com
Includes the Derbyshire Writer's Guild, with over 1,000 fanfiction stories inspired by Austen's novels.

Suggest a website. E-mail ssburris@msn.com

Trivia:

I have contributed a Jane Austen trivia quiz to FunTrivia.  It will open in a separate window.  Close the window to return to this site.  FunTrivia has devoted an entire category to Jane Austen, so you may play a variety of other quizzes there as well.

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