I had just about given up on reading advance copies of Jane Austen sequels, prequels, and mash-ups, when A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen, edited by Susannah Carson and published by Random House, arrived in my mailbox. A sigh of relief swept over me as I opened the mailer and saw that I had received a serious book about Jane Austen’s body of work. I would not be subjected to reading another mash-up of vampires and zombies, or a sequel with Mr... Read Full Story

Q. Which six actors from the 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility directed by Ang Lee have been featured in the Harry Potter movies? If you can list them, you are indeed a true Austen/Potter movie buff. Answer to be posted tomorrow.This pop quiz is brought to you by Jane Austen Film Adaptations Locations page at Sara Eastle Locations: the good folks who represent thousands of historic homes in England available for the next movie or television show that you are producing.Visit the locatio... Read Full Story

Everything we now use is made [in] imitation of those models lately discovered in Italy. – Observation by an Englishman Diana Sackville, 1777 In the late 18th century, hairstyles for women took a dramatic turn from the pouffed-up and constructed hairdos of the earlier Georgian age to the simple hair styles inspired by the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. Curls now framed the face and chignons replaced the complicated, almost architectural concoctions that took hairdressers hours to create... Read Full Story

Pretty Cassandra Austen, Jane Austen’s elder sister by two years, lived until the ripe age of 72 . This brief visual guide demonstrates how fashion changed during her lifetime. Wherever possible, I tried to represent Cassandra’s age and the clothes she would have worn during that period. I also used the paired women combination to evoke Cassandra and Jane, even in the years after Jane’s death. The last image shows the changes in the silhouettes of the gowns regarding waists,... Read Full Story

Dear readers: In celebration of the publication of Willoughby's Return, Jane Odiwe and I have decided to resurrect our posts as Jane Austen characters. Recently, Lucy Ferrars (aka Vic) wrote Elinor Ferrars (aka Jane). The letter set in motion a host of conflicting feelings within Elinor, who was forced to make a decision ...My Dear Mrs. Ferrars, (or may I call you Elinor now that we have been SISTERS for more years than I care to admit!)I write seemingly out of the blue, for I have been the p... Read Full Story

Another book review so soon on this blog? Well, yes. This book from Shire Publications, Victorian and Edwardian Horse Cabs by Trevor May, is short, just 32 pages long, but it  is filled with many facts and rare images of interest to lovers of history. In Jane Austen’s day most people walked to work, town, church, and market square, or to their neighbors. Six miles was not considered an undue distance to travel by foot one way. The gentry were another breed. They either owned their own c... Read Full Story

As this week's throwdown attests, Jennifer Ehle's characterization of Elizabeth Bennet is as popular as ever. The exciting news is that shooting on the new film, The King's Speech, will reunite Jennifer with Colin Firth. Yes they are to star in the same film, but will be married to different partners. Jennifer has just finished production on A Game of Thrones, and has signed to appear in Mr. & Mrs. Fitch, will will begin shooting in January. Between her appearances onstage and becoming a ... Read Full Story

I read these words on the book flab of the excellent new compilation, A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen, edited by Susannah Carson, foreword by Harold Bloom, “For so many of us a Jane Austen novel is much more than the epitome of a great read. It is a delight and a solace, a challenge and a reward, and perhaps even an obsession.” How true. Susannah Carson has culled essays from the last one hundred years of criticism and juxtaposed a few... Read Full Story

We've offered many polls about Jane Austen movie adaptations, but none centered around costumes. Instead of a blanket question, I will hone in on specific costumes. This week we return to that most reliable of JA staples, Pride and Prejudice, more specifically, Elizabeth Bennet. In your estimation,whose day gowns were the best?Elizabeth Garvie in Pride and Prejudice 1980Jennifer Ehle in Pride and Prejudice 1995Keira Knightley in Pride and Prejudice 2005Gemma Arterton, Lost in Austen Read Full Story

Douglas Henshall and Kate Ashfield as the investigative officers “Oh,” I thought, when I began to watch Collision, the new film offering on PBS’s Masterpiece Contemporary, “This looks like a TV version of Crash or Intersection.” But as the story unfolded in flashbacks and real time, I could not wait to see how the rest of this mystery about a six-car crash on the A-12 highway outside of London would develop.  I watched nearly four hours of the screener in one sit... Read Full Story