Dancing with Mr. Darcy: Stories Inspired by Jane Austen and Chawton House - Softcover

Lane Ashfeldt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061999067 ISBN 13: 9780061999062

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks, 2010

Synopsis

An anthology of the winning entries for the Jane Austen Short Story Award

Two hundred years ago, Jane Austen— traumatized by her parents’ decision to give up the rectory in Hampshire where she grew up, and unable to write for a decade—accepted her brother Edward’s offer of a permanent home in his Chawton House estate. It was there that she picked up her pen once again . . . and gave the world some of the most beloved and enduring novels ever written.

The Jane Austen Short Story Competition celebrates the immortal author and her works, and the blessed home that afforded her the peace and security to create them. Judged and chosen by Sarah Waters, bestselling author of Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith, Dancing with Mr. Darcy includes the winning selection and nineteen runners-up, as well as introductions from Waters and Rebecca Smith, the great-great-great-great-great niece of Jane Austen.

About this title

About the Author:

Sarah Waters has a Ph.D. in English literature and has been an associate lecturer withthe Open University. She has won a Betty Trask Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award, the South Bank Show Award for Literature, and her books have been short-listed for the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and the Man Booker and Orange prizes. In 2003, she was named Author of the Year three times andwas chosen as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists.

From Booklist:

Comprised of the three winners of the Chawton House Library short story competition as well as 17 runners up, this collection offers a wide variety of takes on Austen, her life, her literature, and her impact—with nary a zombie in sight. The winning entry, Victoria Owen’s “Jane Austen over the Styx” finds Jane on judgment day being called to task by five characters she skewered in her novels. Elsa A. Solender’s “Second Thoughts” draws from Austen’s biography to explore her decision to accept the proposal of Harris Bigg-Withers, only to recant the next day. Kirsty Mitchell’s “Jayne” gets inside the head of a soft-core model who is both well read and eminently practical. Elizabeth Hopkinson’s “The Delaford Ladies’ Detective Agency” sends up Alexander McCall Smith’s series, casting the now married Elinor and Marianne Dashwood as sleuths in a light-hearted mystery. Clair Humphies details an Austen-themed bachelorette weekend that goes awry until a dashing Mr. Darcy type shows up in “The Jane Austen Hen Weekend.” A lively and diverse collection. --Kristine Huntley

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0061999067
• ISBN 13: 9780061999062
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 244
• Editor: Waters Sarah