I recently attended the annual Christmas celebration of my local chapter of the Jane Austen Society (JASNA), where our speaker, author Maria Grace, shared a fascinating talk about Regency Christmas Traditions, based on her book, A Jane Austen Christmas. I won’t attempt to describe all of the many traditions observed over the twelve days of Christmases Past, but since I’m hosting Christmas … [Read more...]

For those of you who weren't able to join me last week for the release party for my 10th novel, The Painter’s Daughter, I thought I’d share a few highlights here. I began by showing a photo from my very first book signing back in 2007. My older son is in red and the little guy bent sideways is my youngest. This year my older son had a basketball game and couldn’t attend the signing, but my … [Read more...]

He paced across the room once more. “It should be Wesley offering to marry you. But he is not likely to come back for several months, if not longer. I haven’t time to wait that long, and neither have you. I cannot offer love, of course, as we are barely acquainted. However, I can offer you marriage in name only…” She stared at him blankly, then her face curdled in incredulity or repugnance. “You … [Read more...]

Did you know that tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world (besides water)? Nope—I didn’t either. Even though I write novels set in tea-centric England, I confess I am a tea novice and drink more coffee than tea (shhh! :)). But I do enjoy drinking tea in comfortable solitude now and then, or at social gatherings. And lately I’ve been learning more about this quintessentially British … [Read more...]

Recently I attended the Jane Austen Society of North America’s  Annual General Meeting (JASNA AGM), held this year in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. The 4+ day event is a literary conference and celebration of author Jane Austen, attended by hundreds of men and women. (Ok, mostly women.) Because I write novels set in the Regency time period when Austen’s novels were published, I see the conference … [Read more...]