I stumbled across Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice when I was twelve years old and fell in love with her humorous, witty writing and quirky characters. I saved my allowance and bought an omnibus of her complete works, but it wasn’t enough: I was hooked and wanted to read more books like hers. A decade later, I started to write books like hers, and my first Regency-set romantic comedy was published in 2001. The movie Mr. Malcolm’s List, based on my novel, was released in theaters in 2022, and I had the pleasure of hearing people laughing as they watched it, as I had so often laughed while reading Austen’s work.
The woman who never made a match of her own is making matches for everyone else in this Austen-inspired comedy of manners.
Sophronia Lattimore had her romantic dreams destroyed years ago and is resigned to her role as a chaperone. Still, she cannot sit idly by when she becomes aware that a gentleman is about to propose to the wrong woman. Sophie sends him a letter that is soon the talk of the town, and she becomes sought after for her “expert” matchmaking skills. But how can she help other people sort out their romantic lives when her own is such a disaster?
P.G. Wodehouse is a comic genius best known for his series of books featuring Wooster and Jeeves, but this book differs from his usual fare in that it has a female protagonist and a sweet little romance.
I loved Jill, who is the type of heroine Jane Austen might have invented: loyal, spunky, and highly principled. Jill’s adventures take us from London to 1920s New York, but this isn’t historical fiction. Like Austen’s books, this is a contemporary novel written in the era in which the author lived.
I love Austen because of her wry humor and her feisty female characters, two things that are also present in this very fun book.
P.G. Wodehouse's classic tale (originally published under the title "The Little Warrior") of Jill Mariner, a wealthy young woman engaged to Sir Derek Underhill. Following financial disaster, Jill's life takes several adventurous turns with schemes, relatives, chorus girls, and the search for love.
Georgette Heyer was the first author to pay homage to Austen by writing comedic love stories set in the Georgian/Regency era. Since Heyer wrote them a century after Austen, she’s considered one of the earliest writers of historical romance.
In this book, a dashing gentleman doesn’t turn out to be all he was cracked up to be, and a naïve young woman learns what qualities are truly desirable in a husband. It’s an absolute blast and very sweet.
If you love Bridgerton, you'll love Georgette Heyer!
'The greatest writer who ever lived' Antonia Fraser 'One of my perennial comfort authors. Heyer's books are as incisively witty and quietly subversive as any of Jane Austen's' Joanne Harris 'Georgette Heyer is second to none' Sunday Times _________________
Kitty Charing's life-changing inheritance comes with a catch.
Her eccentric and childless guardian, Mr. Penicuik, is leaving Kitty all of his vast fortune - but with one condition. She must marry one of his five grand-nephews.
However, Kitty's clear favourite - the rakish Jack Westruther - doesn't appear at all interested in the…
Clare Darcy’s books were published in the 1970s, and she was billed as the “best Regency novelist since Georgette Heyer,” which was probably an accurate statement at the time–and might still be. I do enjoy her funny, witty Regency novels, and this one, with its ensemble cast of unique characters, is a particular favorite.
This was the first book I read by Joan Aiken, and I found after reading some of her backlist that this was the only one I liked. Some of the other historical fiction she wrote is much darker, but this book, while it does have a mystery subplot, is lighthearted and fun with a sweet romance.
It is a delightfully convoluted tale that will keep you guessing up until the very end when its downtrodden, capable heroine saves the day and gets her man.
Desperate to help her ailing mother, Delphie Carteret agrees to a sham wedding ceremony to her cousin, Gareth. Her mother will be guaranteed annuity for life, and Gareth's obligation to marry before his sick uncle passes is fulfilled. The plan is perfect.
But perfect plans usually go awry. Not only is the marriage ceremony valid, but Gareth's dying uncle makes a miraculous recovery. An imposter is threatening Delphie's identity and her life, and the whole family is on the brink of scandal.
This book was the other 19th-century classic novel that I loved as a girl, and I re-read it almost as much as I do Pride and Prejudice. It’s a lot more angsty, but it does contain that essential happily-ever-after (with a few tragedies thrown in). And I think Mr. Rochester’s speeches to Jane might be even swoonier than Mr. Darcy’s to Elizabeth.
Introduction and Notes by Dr Sally Minogue, Canterbury Christ Church University College.
Jane Eyre ranks as one of the greatest and most perennially popular works of English fiction. Although the poor but plucky heroine is outwardly of plain appearance, she possesses an indomitable spirit, a sharp wit and great courage.
She is forced to battle against the exigencies of a cruel guardian, a harsh employer and a rigid social order. All of which circumscribe her life and position when she becomes governess to the daughter of the mysterious, sardonic and attractive Mr Rochester.
On the expertise I claim only a deep interest in history, leadership, and social history. After some thirty-six years in the fire and emergency services I can, I think, claim to have seen the best and the worst of human behaviour and condition. History, particularly naval history, has always been one of my interests and the Battle of Jutland is a truly fascinating study in the importance of communication between the leader and every level between him/her and the people performing whatever task is required. In my own career, on a very much smaller scale, this is a lesson every officer learns very quickly.
Captain Heron finds himself embroiled in a conflict that threatens to bring down the world order he is sworn to defend when a secretive Consortium seeks to undermine the World Treaty Organisation and the democracies it represents as he oversees the building and commissioning of a new starship.
When the Consortium employs an assassin from the Pantheon, it becomes personal.
Captain James Heron First Into the Fray: Prequel to Harry Heron Into the Unknown of the Harry Heron Series
The year is 2202, and the recently widowed Captain James Heron is appointed to stand by his next command, the starship NECS Vanguard, while she is being built. He and his team soon discover that they are battling the Consortium, a shadowy corporate group that seeks to steal the specs for the ship’s new super weapon. The Consortium hires the Pantheon, a mysterious espionage agency, to do their dirty work as they lay plans to take down the Fleet and gain supreme power on an intergalactic scale. When Pantheon Agent Bast and her team kidnap Felicity Rowanberg, a Fleet agent…
Interested in
Jane Austen,
mental disorders,
and
Regency?
10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them.
Browse their picks for the best books about
Jane Austen,
mental disorders,
and
Regency.
