Adventures with Jane and her Legacy 01 Jane Austen Ruined My Life
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Authors: Beth Pattillo
Tags: #Jane Austen Fan Lit
P
RAISE FOR
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ETH
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ATTILLO'S
J
ANE
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USTEN
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Y
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IFE
"
Jane Austen Ruined My Life
will enchant Austen devotees with its clever plot ... and fascinating details, which reveal the depth of the author's research.... Pattillo achieves a pleasing balance of wry humor, poignancy and perception that will delight already established fans and attract new ones. A definite winner!"
--Nicole Byrd, award-winning author of
Enticing the Earl
"
Jane Austen Ruined My Life
made my day! Charming, entertaining and thought-provoking--I couldn't put it down."
--Celeste Bradley,
New York Times
best-selling author
of The Heiress Brides series
"Formidable! Beth Pattillo's jolly romp of a novel about all things Austen charmed its way into my heart on page one. Emma Grant is an utterly real character trying to find her storybook ending after all--you can't help but cheer for her along the way."
--May Vanderbilt, author of
The Book of Jane
"A light and lovely fictional journey. She manages to strike the delicate balance of examining the clever, imaginary what-ifs of Austen's life while still respecting (and clearly revering) Austen. Reading this book made me feel like I was back in England, following Austen's life through the countryside. Well done!"
-- Lori Smith, author of
A Walk with Jane Austen
,
editor, Jane Austen Quote of the Day blog
Jane Austen Ruined My Life
ISBN-13: 978-0-8249-4771-2
Published by Guideposts
16 East 34th Street
New York, New York 10016
www.guideposts.com
Copyright (c) 2009 by Beth Pattillo. All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
Distributed by Ideals Publications
2636 Elm Hill Pike, Suite 120
Nashville, Tennessee 37214
Guideposts
and
Ideals
are registered trademarks of Guideposts.
The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pattillo, Beth.
Jane Austen ruined my life / Beth Pattillo.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-8249-4771-2
1. Women college teachers--Fiction. 2. English teachers--Fiction.
3. Divorce--Fiction. 4. Austen, Jane, 1775-1817--Appreciation--Fiction.
5. Americans--England--Fiction. 6. Letters--Fiction. 7. First loves--
Fiction. I. Title.
PS3616.A925J36 2009
813'.6--dc22
2008043303
Cover design by the DesignWorks Group
Cover art by Corbis
Interior design by Lorie Pagnozzi
Map by Rose Lowry
Typeset by Nancy Tardi
Printed and bound in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FOR SAM AND MEG,
WITH ALL MY HEART
.
First, I have to thank my editor, Beth Adams, whose patience, insight, and good humor made all the difference in the writing of this book. Also a big thank-you to everyone at Guideposts for their enthusiasm and support.
My agent, Jenny Bent, continues to be an encouraging partner and advocate in the publishing process. I can't thank her enough for all her help and her general fabulousness.
My friend Judith Stanton was kind enough to read the manuscript and offer her invaluable expertise as both a writer and an academic. Her generosity certainly improved the book. Any mistakes are, of course, my own.
Phil Howe of Hidden Britain Tours brought Hampshire to life for me, and for that I owe him a great deal. If you're ever in his neck of the woods, sign up for a tour.
I can't offer enough thank-yous to my friend and guru Deb Dixon, who gives me wise counsel and courage in equal measure.
As always, my family makes it all worthwhile. My husband, Randy, and my children, Sam and Meg, were kind enough to grin and bear it when we combined our family vacation with my research trip. I think I can say that, in the end, a good time was had by all.
The fine folks at Panera Bread on West End Avenue in Nashville, Tennessee, provided the necessary coffee and chocolate-chip bagels to fuel the writing of this book. Many thanks to Mimi, Sundra, and company for the caffeine and the carbs.
My friends continue to help me keep the whole shebang between the ditches. To my partner in crime at Panera, Annie Solomon, the ever-helpful Cheryl Lewallen, the irrepressible Mary Strand, and my GNO buddies--Gwen Holder, Julie Shadburne, and Marcie Nash--an ocean of gratitude for your presence in my life.
And, finally, to Jane Austen herself, I offer my thanks. My life, and the lives of so many others, would be much less without the power of her pen.
"When a young lady is to be a heroine, the perverseness of forty surrounding families cannot prevent her. Something must and will happen to throw a hero in her way."
JANE AUSTEN
Jane Austen ruined my life. I blame her entirely. Well, I also blame my mother for filling my head with an unshakable belief in happy endings. And I blame my father, who's a preacher, for instilling in me a faith in the goodness of people and the staunch certainty that God has a plan for everyone's lives. Between the three of them--Austen and my parents--I never stood a chance. They made me the woman I am today. The woman sitting in seat 37B. The seat next to the guy snoring like a chain saw. And we only took off thirty minutes ago. It's another six and a half hours before we land in London.
So I'm going to England to get my revenge on Jane Austen. And my parents. Not to mention my cheating ex-husband. Most of all, I'm going to England to prove that there's no such thing as a happy ending. And that I was a fool to think I could ever have one.
