Series: Warleigh Hall Press Jane Austen
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Susan, A Jane Austen Prequel by Alice McVeigh
Susan: A Jane Austen Prequel (Warleigh Hall Press Jane Austen Series) by Alice McVeigh.
Susan is a Jane Austen Prequel (or Pride and Prejudice Variation) brilliantly capturing Austen’s own Lady Susan as a young girl.
As the BookLife review put it for Publishers Weekly: “McVeigh’s prose and plotting are pitch-perfect. Emma mingles with Pride and Prejudice in a delightful confrontation between the two books’ worlds… This Austen-inspired novel echoes the master herself.”
Familiar characters abound – Frank Churchill, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Darcy himself – but Susan – mischievous and manipulative – is the star. This is Austen that even Austen might have loved, with a touch of Georgette Heyer in the romantic sections. Fans of Bridgerton will also relish this classic regency romance, the first in a six-book series.
Sixteen-year-old Susan Smithson – pretty but poor, clever but capricious – has just been expelled from a school for young ladies in London.
At the mansion of the formidable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, she attracts a raffish young nobleman. But, at the first hint of scandal, her guardian dispatches her to her uncle Collins’ rectory in Kent, where her sensible cousin Alicia lives and “where nothing ever happens.”
Here Susan mischievously inspires the local squire to put on a play, with consequences no one could possibly have foreseen. What with the unexpected arrival of Frank Churchill, Alicia’s falling in love and a tumultuous elopement, rural Kent will surely never seem safe again…
Chick Lit Café book review:
Utterly charming, Susan, A Jane Austen Prequel by Alice McVeigh is sure to be a winner for all fans of Jane Austen and Regency Romance. Simply delightful, it is filled with period ambiance, humor and wit.
What a character Susan is! One might tend towards leniency when you consider her plight, for the poor girl was orphaned and left to be raised by her uncle George, a most respectable attorney and her aunt Emily, a woman with a disposition for overtly sighing. However, if you care to look beneath the demure glances and the hasty agreements you might just see another side to Susan that would give you pause to reassess your former appraisal. For under the batting eyelashes is a young woman of only sixteen years with a mind so sharp and a wit so quick as to make you think she just might be acceptable into society despite her lack of a dowry. Obviously, her beauty and charm might be her downfall, let us hope her wit may steer her clear of trouble!
Susan, much like any sixteen year old, would much rather be rich than poor. But after a chance encounter with the Lady Catherine de Bourgh – that woman with the nose of an eagle and the conceit of an empress, results in her introduction into society, she enters into a world she maybe is not quite ready for. She is drawn to the cheerful Frank Churchill and half imagines herself to be in love, yet whenever she encounters Mr. Oliver, she finds herself quite breathless.
Alice McVeigh writes with flair and finesse. So well does she set the mood and characters that you could believe you were reading an unpublished Jane Austen novel! Alice McVeigh is truly our contemporary Regency author. The pitch between description and speech is perfect, as is the pace. But taking the lime-light is definitely her characters, they are engaging and memorable and you will definitely want to read more. This book has everything to make it a classic Regency romance, and I sincerely hope this is the start to a series.
Susan, A Jane Austen Prequel by Alice McVeigh comes to you highly recommended by Chick Lit Café. Book reviewed by TN Traynor for Chick Lit Café Book Reviews.
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