On this picture perfect snowy winter day here in Montreal, I am delighted to announce my tropically sunny Floridian winner of Searching for Pemberley...
Thank you, Lucy, for inviting me to post on your blog! Today I’ll talk a little bit about why I chose post-World War II England for the setting of my latest book, Searching for Pemberley, and why I decided to write my novel from an American point of view.
“Write what you know” is a basic rule for many authors. Because I am a baby boomer, I grew up hearing stories from my parents and aunts and uncles about their wartime and postwar experiences. My mother and father had lived in Washington, D.C. throughout the war, and like everyone else in the District of Columbia, they worked for the government. My uncles fought in the Pacific and European theater of operations, and one aunt worked for a government agency in a bombed out Berlin in 1945. I wanted to know everything about their experiences, and when I began to write Searching for Pemberley, I drew on many of their stories for my novel, including that of my main character, Maggie Joyce, who worked for the State Department in Washington during the war.
I have often thought that I was born one generation too late because I love everything about the 1930s (except for the Great Depression) and the 1940s (excluding a war being fought across the breadth of Asia and Europe). The clothes, music, dances, and movies of those decades have great appeal for me. Like my parents, Maggie grew up in Minooka, a dirty coal-mining town in the Pocono Mountains of Eastern Pennsylvania, during the Depression era. In order to escape the ugliness outside her window, she would read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and be transported to a simpler time.
Ever since I first read Austen’s novel decades ago in my high school English class, I have been reading about the Regency Era. It was a time of balls staged in candlelit ballrooms, where women, attired in Empire dresses, performed complicated dance steps with their partners, men who would be dressed in a dark coat, waistcoat, elaborate neckcloth, breeches, and high leather boots, and where “polite” society was truly polite and followed an unwritten set of rules about how a man and woman would interact.
After the war, Maggie goes to work for the Army Exchange Service in London where she learns that the characters of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, the main characters in Pride and Prejudice, may have been based on real people, William Lacey and Elizabeth Garrison. She travels to Montclair Manor in Derbyshire, which may be the storied Pemberley, to find out. While there, she is befriended by Jack and Beth Crowell, who live in a nearby village, and who know if the legend is true. They have their own love story, which is set against the background of the First World War.
In Searching for Pemberley, the epic events of World War I and World War II are contrasted with the elegance of the Regency Era, so I had the three time periods that I was most interested in in one book and where decades of reading and research were put to good use.
The experience of growing up during the Depression and being swept up in the great political and military events of the Second World War shaped the people of my parents’ generation. I admired their perseverance in overcoming the poverty of their youth as well as how they answered the call of their nation to go fight in a war in places so far from home and so different from their own experiences, which is why I chose to write Searching for Pemberley from an American point of view. I wanted to tell their stories. One of those young people affected by these great events is Maggie Joyce, who wanted to get beyond the Pocono Mountains into the wider world, and went to live in England, a country still reeling from the devastation caused by German bombs. While living in London, she meets two men: Rob, an American and former bomber pilot, who saw too much combat, and Michael, a possible descendant of the Lacey/Darcy line. Maggie must choose between the two and, hopefully, will find her own Mr. Darcy.
Set against Regency England, World Wars I and II, and postwar England, three love stories intertwine in surprising and fateful ways
American Maggie Joyce, touring Derbyshire in 1947, visits, Montclair, an 18th century Georgian country house, that she is told was the model for Jane Austen's Pemberley. More amazingly, the former residents of the mansion, William Lacey and Elizabeth Garrison, were the inspiration for the characters of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice.
Through letters, diary entries, and oral history, Beth and Jack Crowell, a couple who lives in the nearby village of Crofton, share stories of the people they say inspired Jane Austen. They also tell their own love story, made difficult by their vastly different backgrounds—she was one of the social elite while he was the son of a servant. When their son, Michael, travels home from his RAF station in Malta, Maggie may have just found her very own Mr. Darcy.
About the Author
Mary Simonsen grew up in North Jersey with the exciting venues of New York City easily accessible. She is largely self-educated and is especially interested in American and European history and 19th Century novels. In Searching for Pemberley she was able to combine her love of history (World War II and postwar England) with Austen's characters, Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, and being a romantic, the novel includes three love stories from three different time periods, all thanks to Jane Austen. She lives in Peoria, Arizona. For more information, please visit http://searchingforpemberley.weebly.com/
GIVEAWAY TIME!!!
Sourcebooks is graciously giving away 2 copies of this wondeful book. Thank you Danielle!
Open to Canada and US.
RULES:
1 chance: Leave a comment telling me what you found most interesting in this guestpost.
5 chances: Become a follower (if you're already a follower, you automatically get this)
5 extra chances for: every time you Tweet or blog about this
10 bonus for putting this on your sidebar
***Make sure you leave me all links in your comment;)
I loved reading about the gossip and truths in this wonderfully illustrated history book. I read it together with my youngest daughter, Sophia. She also helped write the review for it. You can read that here.
Beccia kept us entertained throughout by doing a fantastic job at retelling history in a unique and creative way. She also helped set a lot of the facts straight. This was the most enjoyable history –geared-to-children book I’ve ever read. The reason behind this is that The Raucous Royals is an interactive book that motivates the reader to keep on reading just to satisfy the curiosity. The gossip is simply irresistible- the images captivating and the history completely accurate. It’s become a family favourite.
Do you remember back in September when a few blogger friends and I got together for The Historical Fiction Blogger Round Table Event? It was an idea that originated from Marie of The Burton Review. She let the bug out and it soon spread into this phenomenal creative energy that had us posting giveaways, reviews, creative posts, author guest posts and interviews..and so much more.
Well...Since that wonderful event was such a huge success, all eight of us historically-crazed- ladies decided to get together and make it an official site!
The Historical Fiction Blogger Round Table site will be the hub place for new historical fiction releases involvingauthor announcements, giveaways and all other release events scheduled on a monthly basis- and linked to our own individual blogs. I could go on and on- but to get a picture of what I'm talking about, please visit our new site and feel free to leave a comment:)
We love our readers- so please come follow as well! 2010 will be an exciting year for readers of Historical Fiction with fantastic authors ready to delight us with stories of the past screaming to be told.
My motto is: Since I'm already reading... I may as well Challenge myself;)
So, I've added the ABC Challenge that is hosted by Historical Tapestry. It's a fun one because you get to post about books that you have both, read in the past, or are presently reading, according to the letter assigned. This works for first letter of titles, character names, author. It's do-able!
Of course I love this one because it requires I read what I read best- historical fiction!
'There are four levels:
-- Curious – Read 3 Historical Fiction novels.
-- Fascinated – Read 6 Historical Fiction novels.
-- Addicted – Read 12 Historical Fiction novels.
-- Obsessed – Read 20 Historical Fiction novels.'
For now, I'm aiming for the Obsessed level. I think I can manage 20 HF novels in a year (especially since that's pretty much all I read)...hmmm, let's see!
Brilliant! What happens when the lost memoirs of the adored author, Jane Austen, are found in a long-lost and forgotten trunk? Syrie James rewrites the author’s secret memoirs to reveal a poignant tale of dreams, love and the surrendering of hope. Bliss and sadness meshed into a story that could end in no other way…
In The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen, her soul mate, Mr. Ashford, is the great, yet impossible love of her life. Taking us through her father’s death and relocation of her family (sister Cassandra and her mother)from one brother’s house to another, Jane retells how through various acquaintances she meets her Mr. Right. The story, resembling many of her own writings, does not take the smooth road to bliss. Mr. Ashford was betrothed to the young Isabella since birth- a commitment he cannot reverse…or can he? The turn of fate that is presented leads Jane and Frederick (Mr. Ashton) back into eachother’s arms..but for how long?
Brilliantly written, James blends historical facts with fiction to bring us a credible memoir that may ultimately lead to wishing it were so…
Like waking from a dream that you wish were reality, the disappointment quickly fades and you’ll be delighted to have been indulged in a purely splendid tale that would have made Jane Austen very proud.
I absolutely LOVED this Austen spin-off and highly recommend it. It’s an easy read that keeps you entertained from beginning to end. ..How I wish it were so!
I'm pleased to say that this completes my six reads for The Everything Austen Challenge! I thoroughly enjoyed reading these books- giving me good reason to finally get them off my TBR list:)
In the spirit of this excellent read and to further the enjoyment of Austen books, I’ve decided to do a GIVEAWAY in honour of this exceptional author…
I’m giving away one gently used copy of: JANE AUSTEN NORTHANGER ABBEY-Lady Susan-The Watsons-Sandition.
This book contains 4 of the 6 books I read for this challenge. I hope the lucky winner will enjoy this as much as I have. (Please note that the cover on the one I'm giving away is red- not blue as the one shown in image.)
Open to Canada and US
To Enter: 1 Chance: Leave a comment telling me what you love most about Jane Austen’s books 2 Chances: for every time youTwitter or Blog about this Giveaway(send me the thread) 3 Chances: Post this Giveaway on your sidebar 5 Chances: Become a Follower of my blog (If you’re already a follower, you get this automatically)
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