Natalie Jenner's Blog - Posts Tagged "jane-austen"
AUSTEN AT SEA - My New Book Coming in Spring 2025
I wrote my first book THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY from hope, my second BLOOMSBURY GIRLS from excitement, my new May 14, 2024 release EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE from gratitude, and this one — well, this one I wrote for Jane and me. The title AUSTEN AT SEA is what they call a working title — we’ll see!
Many of you know from my social media accounts that I am notoriously impatient to share my stories with the world. For now, I share below some background on AUSTEN AT SEA, as well as a list of the many characters who kept me company during its writing.
First, it is important to note that two real-life stories inspired this fictional work: an 1848 correspondence between Admiral Sir Francis Austen and two Boston sisters, whose Harvard President father had been introduced to the works of Jane Austen by members of the United States Supreme Court; and the life and work of Abraham and Philip Rosenbach, Philadelphia book collectors and founders of the present-day Rosenbach Museum & Library. Two books that aided me greatly in my research of these historical figures, and which I would press into your hands if I could, are JANE AUSTEN'S BEST FRIEND: THE LIFE AND INFLUENCE OF MARTHA LLOYD by Zoe Wheddon, and READING AUSTEN IN AMERICA by Professor Juliet Wells.
Otherwise, this book is entirely a work of fiction. The rest of the characters are sometimes inspired by real people (hello, Sir Cresswell Cresswell!); mostly they are not. And there are a LOT, as you will see below :)
________________________________
CHARACTERS
The Bostonians
WILLIAM STEVENSON, widower & Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice
THOMAS NASH, bachelor & Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice
CHARLOTTE STEVENSON, disaffected youngest daughter of Justice Stevenson
HENRIETTA STEVENSON, disaffected eldest daughter of Justice Stevenson
ANNA DICKINSON, known on stage as the Girl Orator
CONSTANCE DAVENISH, Boston bluestocking
FRANCIS CHILD, Ph.D., Harvard professor of rhetoric & oratory
SAMUEL CARTER, coachman to the Stevenson household
LOUISA MAY ALCOTT, writer & travel companion
PHILIP MACKENZIE, EZEKIEL PEABODY, ADAM FULBRIGHT, RODERICK NORTON & CONOR LANGSTAFF, justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
GRAYDON SAUNDERS, Southerner & Boston barrister
LITTLE BOBBIE ACHESON, street waif & newspaper boy
The Philadelphians
NICHOLAS NELSON, rare book dealer & Civil War soldier
HASLETT NELSON, rare book dealer & Civil War soldier
SARA-BETH GLEASON, state senator’s daughter & occasional gambler
The British
DENHAM SCOTT, correspondent for The Reynolds Weekly Newspaper
SIR FRANCIS AUSTEN, Admiral of the Fleet & brother to Jane Austen
GEORGE FLINT, manservant at Portsdown Lodge
FANNY-SOPHIA AUSTEN, daughter & caretaker of Admiral Austen
RICHARD FAWCETT ROBINSON, London theater impresario
MRS. BERWICK, housekeeper at Chawton House
PETER WRIGHT, tenant at Chawton Cottage
SIR CRESSWELL CRESSWELL, judge & Privy Councillor
DR. RICHARD PANKHURST, barrister at Lincoln’s Inn
I hope that if you do get the chance to read AUSTEN AT SEA one day, you will find yourself wanting to tread the boards of an 1860s transatlantic steamship and act out A TALE OF TWO CITIES alongside my characters, play vingt-et-un with the four heroines (including Louisa May Alcott) in the ship's Ladies' Saloon, spend a day in Chawton, Hampshire, walking in Jane Austen's footsteps, listen to the entire bench of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court debate each of her works at their literary circle, and many other adventures.
Thank you, everyone, for your continuing interest and generous readership. My stories only exist because of you xo
Many of you know from my social media accounts that I am notoriously impatient to share my stories with the world. For now, I share below some background on AUSTEN AT SEA, as well as a list of the many characters who kept me company during its writing.
First, it is important to note that two real-life stories inspired this fictional work: an 1848 correspondence between Admiral Sir Francis Austen and two Boston sisters, whose Harvard President father had been introduced to the works of Jane Austen by members of the United States Supreme Court; and the life and work of Abraham and Philip Rosenbach, Philadelphia book collectors and founders of the present-day Rosenbach Museum & Library. Two books that aided me greatly in my research of these historical figures, and which I would press into your hands if I could, are JANE AUSTEN'S BEST FRIEND: THE LIFE AND INFLUENCE OF MARTHA LLOYD by Zoe Wheddon, and READING AUSTEN IN AMERICA by Professor Juliet Wells.
Otherwise, this book is entirely a work of fiction. The rest of the characters are sometimes inspired by real people (hello, Sir Cresswell Cresswell!); mostly they are not. And there are a LOT, as you will see below :)
________________________________
CHARACTERS
The Bostonians
WILLIAM STEVENSON, widower & Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice
THOMAS NASH, bachelor & Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice
CHARLOTTE STEVENSON, disaffected youngest daughter of Justice Stevenson
HENRIETTA STEVENSON, disaffected eldest daughter of Justice Stevenson
ANNA DICKINSON, known on stage as the Girl Orator
CONSTANCE DAVENISH, Boston bluestocking
FRANCIS CHILD, Ph.D., Harvard professor of rhetoric & oratory
SAMUEL CARTER, coachman to the Stevenson household
LOUISA MAY ALCOTT, writer & travel companion
PHILIP MACKENZIE, EZEKIEL PEABODY, ADAM FULBRIGHT, RODERICK NORTON & CONOR LANGSTAFF, justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
GRAYDON SAUNDERS, Southerner & Boston barrister
LITTLE BOBBIE ACHESON, street waif & newspaper boy
The Philadelphians
NICHOLAS NELSON, rare book dealer & Civil War soldier
HASLETT NELSON, rare book dealer & Civil War soldier
SARA-BETH GLEASON, state senator’s daughter & occasional gambler
The British
DENHAM SCOTT, correspondent for The Reynolds Weekly Newspaper
SIR FRANCIS AUSTEN, Admiral of the Fleet & brother to Jane Austen
GEORGE FLINT, manservant at Portsdown Lodge
FANNY-SOPHIA AUSTEN, daughter & caretaker of Admiral Austen
RICHARD FAWCETT ROBINSON, London theater impresario
MRS. BERWICK, housekeeper at Chawton House
PETER WRIGHT, tenant at Chawton Cottage
SIR CRESSWELL CRESSWELL, judge & Privy Councillor
DR. RICHARD PANKHURST, barrister at Lincoln’s Inn
I hope that if you do get the chance to read AUSTEN AT SEA one day, you will find yourself wanting to tread the boards of an 1860s transatlantic steamship and act out A TALE OF TWO CITIES alongside my characters, play vingt-et-un with the four heroines (including Louisa May Alcott) in the ship's Ladies' Saloon, spend a day in Chawton, Hampshire, walking in Jane Austen's footsteps, listen to the entire bench of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court debate each of her works at their literary circle, and many other adventures.
Thank you, everyone, for your continuing interest and generous readership. My stories only exist because of you xo
