Jane Austen Made Me Do It

Stories by: Lauren Willig - Adriana Trigiani - Jo Beverley - Alexandra Potter - Laurie Viera Rigler - Frank Delaney & Diane Meier - Syrie James - Stephanie Barron - Amanda Grange - Pamela Aidan - Elizabeth Aston - Carrie Bebris - Diana Birchall - Monica Fairview - Janet Mullany - Jane Odiwe - Beth Pattillo - Myretta Robens - Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway - Maya Slater - Margaret C. Sullivan - and Brenna Aubrey, the winner of a story contest hosted by the Republic of Pemberley



"My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." If you just heaved a contented sigh at Mr. Darcy's heartfelt words, then you, dear reader, are in good company. Here is a delightful collection of never-before-published stories inspired by Jane Austen--her novels, her life, her wit, her world. In Lauren Willig's "A Night at Northanger," a young woman who doesn't believe in ghosts meets a familiar specter at the infamous abbey; Jane Odiwe's "Waiting" captures the exquisite uncertainty of Persuasion's Wentworth and Anne as they await her family's approval of their betrothal; Adriana Trigiani's "Love and Best Wishes, Aunt Jane" imagines a modern-day Austen giving her niece advice upon her engagement; in Diana Birchall's "Jane Austen's Cat," our beloved Jane tells her nieces "cat tales" based on her novels; Laurie Viera Rigler's "Intolerable Stupidity" finds Mr. Darcy bringing charges against all the writers of Pride and Prejudice sequels, spin-offs, and retellings; in Janet Mullany's "Jane Austen, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah " a teacher at an all-girls school invokes the Beatles to help her students understand Sense and Sensibility; and in Jo Beverley's "Jane and the Mistletoe Kiss," a widow doesn't believe she'll have a second chance at love . . . until a Miss Austen suggests otherwise. Regency or contemporary, romantic or fantastical, each of these marvelous stories reaffirms the incomparable influence of one of history's most cherished authors.