Jane Austen & Regency Christmas Traditions

Regency Christmas Pudding

  It is fascinating to look back at Christmas during Jane Austen’s lifetime. Some of the customs we associate with the holiday, such as Christmas trees, Christmas cards, and Santa Claus, didn’t exist until many years later. But Jane Austen’s Christmas was equally as merry as the one we celebrate today. Read on for a…

Read More

Gothic Giveaway: Two Page-Turning Novels

Gothic Giveaway

  Looking for a thrilling read to celebrate the autumn season? Here are not one, but two Gothic Giveaways! Enter for a chance to win a signed paperback copy of my novel The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë and Kris Waldherr’s new release Unnatural Creatures: A Novel of the Frankenstein Women. Read on for contest…

Read More

Unnatural Creatures: A Novel of the Frankenstein Women by Kris Waldherr — Book Review

Unnatural Creatures Book Review Header

  From the desk of Syrie James Unnatural Creatures by Kris Waldherr brings to life the stories of three women in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein: Victor Frankenstein’s mother Caroline; his fiancé Elizabeth Lavenza; and the Frankenstein’s servant Justine Moreau, a character who Waldherr gives a fascinating background and a whole new lease on life. Mary…

Read More

8 Ways to Live Like Jane Austen

Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen

  Are you a Jane Austen fan? Have you ever been faced by a difficult decision — when you had to make a choice and desperately wanted to do the right thing, but weren’t sure which alternative was best? The next time that happens, make it easy on yourself. Just ask: What Would Jane Do? One…

Read More

The Curse of Morton Abbey by Clarissa Harwood — Book Review

The Curse of Morton Abbey Book Review Header

  From the desk of Syrie James I was intrigued by the premise of The Curse of Morton Abbey, a novel which is described as “Jane Eyre meets The Secret Garden in a gothic novel of romantic suspense set in 1890s Yorkshire.” As a huge fan of both of those classic novels and All Things English and 19th…

Read More

Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner — Book Review

Bloomsbury Girls - Book Review

  From the desk of Syrie James I enjoyed Natalie Jenner’s debut novel The Jane Austen Society and was excited to dive into Bloomsbury Girls, the tale of three shop girls working at a male-run century-old bookstore in 1950 London. Evie Stone (one of my favorite characters from The Jane Austen Society) is a studious…

Read More

The London House by Katherine Reay — Book Review

From the desk of Syrie James I love historical fiction, women’s fiction, and novels with multiple timelines. It’s a challenging structure for an author, however, since it requires the creation of two or more protagonists who live in different eras, and separate stories that are not only equally weighted, well-structured, and compelling, but must be…

Read More

Down a Dark River by Karen Odden — Book Review

From the desk of Syrie James I’m always up for a good Victorian murder mystery, and I was excited to dive into Karen Odden’s Down a Dark River, the first book in her new Inspector Corravan Mystery series. It’s 1878 in London, when a small boat bearing a young woman’s corpse drifts down the Thames.…

Read More