Serialized Novels on Blogs

Good Intentions is the name of Catherine Spencer's novel, which is set in the Regency period as an homage to Jane Austen. In it she tries to duplicate the tone and sensibility of the nineteenth century novel, including a healthy dose of humour and romance.

Catherine intends to post weekly (Sunday) excerpts from the first part of her novel, and she would like to hear what you think of it. Please leave comments on her blog.

Mrs Darcy vs. The Aliens is a slightly demented sequel to Pride and Prejudice. Written by Jonathan Pinnock, you can expect an update twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The sites already offers five episodes, with a new one promised tomorrow! "THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE (although, sadly, it is not yet universally acknowledged)."

Posted by Vic, Jane Austen's World

Fanny Price a Tart?

Well, I don’t think so … not in the wildest stretch of the imagination could Jane Austen’s most prim and proprietous heroine be considered a woman of loose morals, yet Billie Piper the actress who portrayed Fanny in the 2007 adaptation of Mansfield Park is being tagged a tart by her elderly country neighbors in Midhurst, West Sussex where she lives with her husband, actor Laurence Fox (Mr. Wisley in Becoming Jane) and their young son Winston.

Mail Online is reporting that in an interview for the February issue of Marie Claire magazine, the 27-year old actress revealed that "A few of the older locals actually believe I'm a whore," because of her role in ITV’s and Showtime’s Secret Diary of a Call Girl based on the exploits of a real-life call girl Belle de Jour.

"They love Laurence because he's in Lewis (Inspector Lewis in the US), and his fan club are basically in their mid-sixties and upwards. (Ouch – that made his fans who are not senior citizens feel rather ancient). They love him. It's sickening. They follow him around, they want to mother him. I mean, there are places he can't go - like Mecca Bingo or the bowling green - but he loves it. Then they look at me and are like, "That slag! How could you dirty yourself with her? She's corrupted you.""

I guess Billie needs to send her neighbors the DVD of Mansfield Park to redeem her reputation. Fanny Price has been accused of being a prig, but never a tart!

Cheers, Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Jane Austen Movie Throwdown

When she saw a portrait of Mrs. Harriet Quinton (who was mistress to the Prince Regent), Jane Austen wrote in a letter dated May, 1813 of how much Mrs. Q resembled her vision of Jane Bennet: "Mrs Bingley is exactly herself, size, shaped face, features & sweetness; there never was a greater likeness. She is dressed in a white gown, with green ornaments, which convinces me of what I had always supposed, that green was a favourite colour with her." Two actresses who portrayed Jane Bennet come close to resembling this portrait: Sabina Franklyn (1980 Jane) and Maureen O'Sullivan (1940 Jane). Susannah Harker of P&P 1995 and Rosamund Pike of P&P 2005 are both tall, slender, and blond, and thus they were eliminated. In your opinion, which actress came the closest to matching Jane Austen's vision of Jane Bennet?

This actress most resembles Jane Austen's vision of Jane Bennet

Maureen O'Sullivan, 1940 Pride and Prejudice

Sabina Franklyn, 1980 Pride and Prejudice

Information and quote from the Morgan Library website. Image of Sabina Franklyn from Kaye Dacus' blog.