Ask the Author: Natalie Jenner
Answered Questions (20)
Natalie Jenner
Hi Beth, thanks so much - I am thrilled you enjoyed it and are looking forward to more! The next book takes place exactly five years later and the setting chose me, in a way. I was watching a Truffaut movie, which led me to look up something film-related on Wikipedia, which (eventually!) led me to discover that the famous movie studio Cinecitta had an incredibly interesting and little-known wartime past as a refugee camp. This bizarre mix of fantasy and awful reality immediately lit a creative spark in me. And -- as often happens with the magic of writing -- I immediately knew that I would next be writing about Vivien and her addressing of her own wartime losses. I hope that answers your question and if you haven't found it yet, the book is uploaded here on Goodreads with a cast of characters and excerpt in my "review" of it. Keep well and thank you so much for your readership!
Natalie Jenner
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Natalie Jenner
Hi Maria,
My agents have sold The Jane Austen Society for translation in countries including Portugal, France, Romania, Italy, Brazil, Greece, Czechoslovakia, Croatia, South Korea, Serbia, Estonia, Slovenia, Russia, Poland, Germany, Finland and Lithuania - but sadly, not yet in Spain! That could certainly happen at any point, but as of today a Spanish publisher has yet to acquire it. We're really trying, though, as there has been wonderful interest from Spanish readers around the world!
I put all translation sale updates on the home page of my website www.nataliejenner.com in case you want to check again in 2021!
Thank you so much for inquiring, and please keep safe and well,
Natalie
My agents have sold The Jane Austen Society for translation in countries including Portugal, France, Romania, Italy, Brazil, Greece, Czechoslovakia, Croatia, South Korea, Serbia, Estonia, Slovenia, Russia, Poland, Germany, Finland and Lithuania - but sadly, not yet in Spain! That could certainly happen at any point, but as of today a Spanish publisher has yet to acquire it. We're really trying, though, as there has been wonderful interest from Spanish readers around the world!
I put all translation sale updates on the home page of my website www.nataliejenner.com in case you want to check again in 2021!
Thank you so much for inquiring, and please keep safe and well,
Natalie
Natalie Jenner
Hi there, I am going to be lazy this blustery Sunday morning and copy parts of a response I've made here before (which does not mean I get tired of this question, as I really don't, only that I am tired!!)
After "Pride and Prejudice," I always recommend "Persuasion," especially during the fall. So elegiac and full of possibility. And if you are enjoying "Sense and Sensibility," I suspect you will also enjoy "Persuasion" because the two books are very similar in terms of tone and theme, and provide a lot of similar "feels." And if you haven't done so yet, after you finish "Sense and Sensibility," you must promise me that you will watch the 1995 Ang Lee film - it is one of my all-time favourite films! I've also had a lot of former non-Austen readers recently tell me that they decided to try "Northanger Abbey" first, and were pleasantly surprised by how fresh the humour was. "Emma" and "Mansfield Park" are, I think, her masterpieces, but many people don't warm up to them right away, so it may work well to keep building up to them with the other works. Finally, I am currently working on a project involving "Lady Susan," and it is such a hilarious tale done in letters - with an excellent film adaption too, called "Love & Friendship" and starring Kate Beckinsale. I hope that all helps!
Thanks so much for reaching out, and keep safe and well, Natalie
After "Pride and Prejudice," I always recommend "Persuasion," especially during the fall. So elegiac and full of possibility. And if you are enjoying "Sense and Sensibility," I suspect you will also enjoy "Persuasion" because the two books are very similar in terms of tone and theme, and provide a lot of similar "feels." And if you haven't done so yet, after you finish "Sense and Sensibility," you must promise me that you will watch the 1995 Ang Lee film - it is one of my all-time favourite films! I've also had a lot of former non-Austen readers recently tell me that they decided to try "Northanger Abbey" first, and were pleasantly surprised by how fresh the humour was. "Emma" and "Mansfield Park" are, I think, her masterpieces, but many people don't warm up to them right away, so it may work well to keep building up to them with the other works. Finally, I am currently working on a project involving "Lady Susan," and it is such a hilarious tale done in letters - with an excellent film adaption too, called "Love & Friendship" and starring Kate Beckinsale. I hope that all helps!
Thanks so much for reaching out, and keep safe and well, Natalie
Natalie Jenner
Hi Steve, sorry I somehow missed this question until now! Although you don't ask, I will share that myhusband has IPF, which is an incurable and progressive disease which gradually stiffens the lungs. Athough most patients pass away within 2-3 years of diagnosis, my husband is in a "plateau" period of the disease progression due to some recent drug treatments which can sometimes slow down the fibrosis in the lungs. So we have outlived the statistics so far and are doing our best to live in the moment. The book has certainly been an incredible blessing in that regard! I have read Pride and Predjuce close to 20 times in my life, probably every few years since I first read it at age 9 or 10. I definitely turn to it during challenging times, but I also turn to Persusasion and Emma a lot, too. Those three Austen books in particular give me tremendous hope, joy, stimulation and solace. Stay safe, Natalie
Natalie Jenner
Hi Michele, this is a really important question, so forgive the length of my response below!
Although the main settings of Chawton, the Austen cottage, and the Knight family home are all very real, my book is an entirely fictional tale in terms of the characters and events involved. That said, there were a few key historical facts that were a catalyst to my imagination, including the founding of the real-life Jane Austen Society, which is actually a wonderful, poignant story in itself. In 1940s Chawton, a local woman, Dorothy Darnell, saw an old piece of fire grate lying as rubbish by the side of the main Chawton road and decided that Austen’s legacy and home needed to be saved and preserved somehow. She gathered together a handful of other similarly inclined souls, and they met in her front parlour in May 1940 (exactly 80 years ago) to form the first Jane Austen Society in the world. But because WWII was raging, funds were scarce and they were unable to raise enough money through newspaper advertisements and the like to purchase the cottage and turn it into a museum. Then in 1948, a grieving father and Austen fan, T. E. Carpenter, who had lost his son in battle during the war, purchased the cottage outright and donated it to the nation. A trust was formed, and the Jane Austen Society worked with the trust to open the real-life museum in 1949.
With regard to the Knight family, I have also completely fictionalized the family in my book. Jane Austen’s brother Edward Austen Knight did inherit the Chawton Great House and estate, which passed down through the eldest heirs, but that is where any factual connection with my book ends. In real life, a 120-year lease to the Great House was not sold until the early 1990s by Richard Knight, Jane Austen’s fourth great nephew. The lease was acquired at auction by an American philanthropist and cofounder of Cisco Systems, Sandy Lerner. There is a great chapter on Ms. Lerner's acquisition of the Great House in the book "Among the Janeites" by Deborah Yaffe which I encourage you to check out as it is wonderful account of Austen fandom today.
People sometimes ask me why I fictionalized everyone in my book. From the very start, I wanted my book to be a work of fiction that explored themes of grief and community, and how a shared passion can bring different people together. Most of all, given where I was myself in life at the time, I wanted my characters to emerge from past loss and trauma with a sense of newfound hope and purpose. Because I was not trying to document the real historical founding and purpose of the Society, I decided to fictionalize everyone involved, so that I would not be constrained by the real-life events and arcs of the original founders’ lives, or disrespect them in any way. And because I don’t plot or outline before I write, this approach also liberated me to follow my characters in whatever directions they chose to go.
I hope that helps answer your very important question, and kind regards, Natalie
Although the main settings of Chawton, the Austen cottage, and the Knight family home are all very real, my book is an entirely fictional tale in terms of the characters and events involved. That said, there were a few key historical facts that were a catalyst to my imagination, including the founding of the real-life Jane Austen Society, which is actually a wonderful, poignant story in itself. In 1940s Chawton, a local woman, Dorothy Darnell, saw an old piece of fire grate lying as rubbish by the side of the main Chawton road and decided that Austen’s legacy and home needed to be saved and preserved somehow. She gathered together a handful of other similarly inclined souls, and they met in her front parlour in May 1940 (exactly 80 years ago) to form the first Jane Austen Society in the world. But because WWII was raging, funds were scarce and they were unable to raise enough money through newspaper advertisements and the like to purchase the cottage and turn it into a museum. Then in 1948, a grieving father and Austen fan, T. E. Carpenter, who had lost his son in battle during the war, purchased the cottage outright and donated it to the nation. A trust was formed, and the Jane Austen Society worked with the trust to open the real-life museum in 1949.
With regard to the Knight family, I have also completely fictionalized the family in my book. Jane Austen’s brother Edward Austen Knight did inherit the Chawton Great House and estate, which passed down through the eldest heirs, but that is where any factual connection with my book ends. In real life, a 120-year lease to the Great House was not sold until the early 1990s by Richard Knight, Jane Austen’s fourth great nephew. The lease was acquired at auction by an American philanthropist and cofounder of Cisco Systems, Sandy Lerner. There is a great chapter on Ms. Lerner's acquisition of the Great House in the book "Among the Janeites" by Deborah Yaffe which I encourage you to check out as it is wonderful account of Austen fandom today.
People sometimes ask me why I fictionalized everyone in my book. From the very start, I wanted my book to be a work of fiction that explored themes of grief and community, and how a shared passion can bring different people together. Most of all, given where I was myself in life at the time, I wanted my characters to emerge from past loss and trauma with a sense of newfound hope and purpose. Because I was not trying to document the real historical founding and purpose of the Society, I decided to fictionalize everyone involved, so that I would not be constrained by the real-life events and arcs of the original founders’ lives, or disrespect them in any way. And because I don’t plot or outline before I write, this approach also liberated me to follow my characters in whatever directions they chose to go.
I hope that helps answer your very important question, and kind regards, Natalie
Natalie Jenner
I always say, I'd like to be Elizabeth Bennet, identify most with Elinor Dashwood, and fear I am an EMMA ;)
I did watch Sanditon - the first time through, I held it to too high a standard in my desperation for more of REAL Austen writing - on a second watch, I relaxed into it as a product of Andrew Davies's own talents and imagination and enjoyed it much more that way. I pretty much devoured the last three episodes.
As for chocolate, I love all forms, but will always have a weak spot as a British-Canadian for Cadbury's Fruit & Nut ;)
Stay well!
I did watch Sanditon - the first time through, I held it to too high a standard in my desperation for more of REAL Austen writing - on a second watch, I relaxed into it as a product of Andrew Davies's own talents and imagination and enjoyed it much more that way. I pretty much devoured the last three episodes.
As for chocolate, I love all forms, but will always have a weak spot as a British-Canadian for Cadbury's Fruit & Nut ;)
Stay well!
Natalie Jenner
Asolutely - and if you check out my website www.nataliejenner.com, you can also sign up for my newsletter which I use for any major announcements! Thank you for all the kind words - they really are most gratifying to hear - and do stay well!
Natalie Jenner
Thanks so much, Jean, for reaching out! I'm so glad that you enjoyed my debut book, and funny that you ask, but I am actually currently working on Book 2,. It is set in a bookshop in 1950s London! And here's a little scoop: it will have some "connective tissue" with TJAS (but don't tell anyone ;) I am having a total blast writing it and fingers crossed it all goes well!
Natalie Jenner
So glad you too loved "Persuasion," and it's a perfect book to read heading into or during the fall. So elegiac and full of possibility. For your next pick, I am going to lean on the recommendation of a recent book club meeting I attended, where a group of non-Austen readers tried "Northanger Abbey" for the first time and were pleasantly surprised by how fresh the humour was. I'd try "Sense and Sensibility" after that, because I find it the most similar to "Persuasion" in terms of tone and theme and that's a lot of "feels" for two back-to-back reads. Thank you for embracing Austen's works like this in such a short period of time. She is the perfect author for solace during all our current challenges. Keep safe and well, Natalie
Natalie Jenner
PERSUASION. No and, ifs or buts on that one. Its heroine is possibly the kindest person in literature, but full of room to grow. The family dynamics are rich with pain, pathos and humour, the storylines involving the sailors give a wonderful social and historical context to the book, the themes are often incredibly modern (who gets to tell the story, who writes history, how to live with grief), and the letter at the end is, simply put, the greatest love letter in all of literature.
I am so glad you enjoyed EMMA! Thanks for letting me know and please keep safe and well.
Best always,
Natalie
I am so glad you enjoyed EMMA! Thanks for letting me know and please keep safe and well.
Best always,
Natalie
Natalie Jenner
Hi Katherine, there was to be a large print edition but timing is so uncertain and could be many months away due to the current pandemic’s impact on the industry. I am sorry I cannot provide more definite information at this time. There is an audiobook narrated by actor Richard Armitage that is being extremely well-received and is available through Audible and Libro FM as well as other sites. I so appreciate you and your mother’s interest in my book and please give her my kindest regards. Best always, Natalie
Natalie Jenner
Absolutely - I will put it in the mail on Monday! Many thanks for this kind support of both my book and The Poisoned Pen, and I do hope you are staying safe and well. All best, Natalie
Natalie Jenner
Hi Karen, so nice to hear from you! Once travel from Canada is more feasible (currently our border is closed to non-essential travel and, as essential as my book is to me, I take their point!), I would love to visit AZ and the Poisoned Pen. For now, I am thrilled you are doing a giveaway - I have asked an artist to design a bookplate for me based on the map they earlier did for my book (which is on my Instagram account @authornataliejenner) and I would love to send that through. Feel free to contact me through my website www.nataliejenner.com when the timing makes the most sense to you and we will arrange! Thanks so much for asking and please stay safe and well, Natalie
Natalie Jenner
Dear Maria, I so understand - this is such an awful time. I am truly honoured that in the middle of it all, you took the time to pick up and read my book - and I am so glad if my story helped you in any way. You might find it interesting and weirdly ironic that I wrote this story in part to work through and cope with my husband's life-altering diagnosis of lung disease - and then I suddenly found myself a debut author at age 52 - and now my book is launching at a time when the entire world is in such similar despair. I thought I wrote my book to help me - that it might be able to help anyone else makes me the most privileged and gratified person in the world. xo
Natalie Jenner
Thank you, Steven, for your kind words about my husband. He has managed to significantly slow down his lung decline through the few treatments available for his disease (IPF), and at present remains as healthy on the outside as most. As for my all-time favourite book "Pride and Prejudice," I am not sure how often I have read it, but I suspect it is somewhere between five and ten times. It actually feels like even more times than that to me, because of how often I have also watched the film and tv adaptations. My life is just one big murky Austen soup at this point!
Natalie Jenner
Thanks for asking, Vera! My book is available now to pre-order at any bookshop in North America or through online sellers like Amazon - on May 26th, 2020, it will physically be stocked on many bookshop shelves or available for order through them. On May 28th, the UK edition will also become available in the UK, ANZ and several other countries through my UK publisher Orion. You can learn more on my website at www.nataliejenner.com. Appreciate your interest!
Natalie Jenner
EMMA.
This is considered by many scholars to be the first detective novel ever written. You can get lost for decades trying to discern all the clues, Easter eggs, and red herrings that Austen stuffed into the text. Everything from a slightly sweaty brow during a strawberry-picking excursion, to a most unsentimental grown man holding onto someone's aspirational TBR list. Every time I read EMMA, I pick up on something new. One famous fan stated that he reread all of Austen's books in order because, if he didn't, he would just read EMMA over and over again. Enjoy!
This is considered by many scholars to be the first detective novel ever written. You can get lost for decades trying to discern all the clues, Easter eggs, and red herrings that Austen stuffed into the text. Everything from a slightly sweaty brow during a strawberry-picking excursion, to a most unsentimental grown man holding onto someone's aspirational TBR list. Every time I read EMMA, I pick up on something new. One famous fan stated that he reread all of Austen's books in order because, if he didn't, he would just read EMMA over and over again. Enjoy!
Natalie Jenner
Oh I love this question! As a Canadian who went to an all-girls’ school, I have always been enamoured with the Seven Sisters colleges in the northeast States. The character of Mary Anne is also partly an homage to Hollywood trailblazers like Katharine Hepburn, who went to Bryn Mawr. So it’s all based on very fictional and distant wish-fulfillment - but lucky you ;)
Natalie Jenner
When my husband was diagnosed in 2016 with a serious hereditary and incurable disease, I returned to reading books by my favourite authors, chief among whom is Jane Austen. In the fall of 2017 I was fortunate to indulge in a solo bucket list trip to the International Jane Austen Festival in Bath, UK, as well as the village of Chawton, where Austen revised or wrote all her books (and which would become the primary setting of my own future novel). Following these travels, I immersed myself in research on Jane Austen and the important houses in her life, and over time developed the idea for my own book about a group of villagers at the end of WWII coming together to save places so critical to her legacy.
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