Hi everyone,

I've never written a blog post before, but it occurred to me that this could be a way to share with you some of the background scoop on my debut book THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY.

I often get asked through my website www.nataliejenner.com about the parallels between my book's characters and events and those in Austen's works.

Here are some of the parallels (readers often point out to me ones that I hadn't even picked up on yet ;)

JUST PLEASE BE ADVISED OF MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!:

• Dr. Gray and Adeline’s romance is largely based on that of Knightley and Emma in “Emma”
• The two scenes in which Dr. Gray confronts Adeline – first over firing him as her doctor, and secondly over the nature of her relationship with Adam Berwick – are an homage to the botched proposal scene between Darcy and Elizabeth in “Pride and Prejudice”
• The character of Frances Knight is inspired by both Fanny Price from “Mansfield Park” for her patience and pragmatic resignation, and Anne Eliot in “Persuasion” for her regretful bending to the will of her family as a young woman. Similarly, the love story of Frances and the family solicitor Andrew Harrison is directly based on that of Anne Eliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth in “Persuasion” (hence the letter scene at the very end)
• Andrew Harrison silently working behind the scenes as a member of the society, to try and protect Frances’s interest in the Knight estate, is a reflection of Darcy secretly trying to find Wickham and force his marriage to Lydia, in order to save the reputation of Elizabeth’s family
• Both Adeline and Adam’s mothers are reflections of the character of Mrs. Bennet in “Pride and Prejudice” and her desire to marry off her children
• Mr. Knight’s entailment of his estate away from Frances and his treatment of her in general are direct allusions to the entailment at the heart of “Pride and Prejudice,” as well as to Sir Bertram’s sending away of Fanny Price when she will not consent to marry Henry Crawford
• The character of Colin Knatchbull-Hugessen reflects that of Mr. Collins, the heir of Longbourn in “Pride and Prejudice” due to a similar entailment
• The proposal scene in Chapter Twenty-Four between Frances and Andrew is a direct homage to the wonderful scene at the end of Ang Lee’s film version of “Sense and Sensibility,” when Emma Thompson as Elinor collapses in the single biggest display of emotion she has ever made
• The comic character of Liberty Pascal is based on the Steele sisters in “Sense and Sensibility”
• Mimi Harrison and Jack Leonard’s relationship contains elements of both the siblings Mary and Henry Crawford from “Mansfield Park,” Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy in “Pride and Prejudice,” and Marianne and Willoughby in “Sense and Sensibility,” especially when it comes to themes of the power of physical attractiveness and seduction
• Adam Berwick’s last name is a play on Captain Benwick from “Persuasion,” the grief-stricken sailor who lost his fiancée presumably to illness while away at sea
• The references made to Dr. Gray’s wife falling down the stairs to her death – and several other mentions of his continuing fear of shaky banisters – are a very slight homage to the tumble Louisa Musgrove takes from the steps of the Cobb in “Persuasion”
• Adam and Yardley’s relationship is a direct homage to the secret relationship between Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill in “Emma” (including the gift of the dog, a la the gift of the piano from Frank to Jane, and the meaning behind the dog’s name of Dixon)
• Just like in the book, there are cats to this day wandering about Jane Austen’s House Museum
 
I hope you enjoyed reading & thank you all for your support,
Natalie