Jane Austen and Me by Jane K Cleland.

 

RHYS BOWEN: Now here's a subject dear to my heart. I'm another Jane Austen fan who gave birth to another Jane Austen fan. So it's my great pleasure to introduce an old friend who is now writing about my favorite author. Welcome Jane.

JANE CLELAND: 

 My Mother Introduced Me to Jane Austen before I Was Born I come by my affection for Jane Austen honestly. My mother, Ruth Chessman, an author in her own right, was a devoted fan. My mother wanted to share her greatest pleasures with the unborn me. She played classical music, ate a lot of fried chicken, ice cream, and tomatoes. (I know, I know. No surprise, these are three of my favorite foods.) My mother also believed that writing was the highest possible calling, so she read Pride and Prejudice, her favorite Jane Austen novel, aloud to me in the womb. 

 She wanted me to hear the words, the magnificent prose; to enjoy the wit; to appreciate the insights; to value exemplary work. Lest you think I’m exaggerating my mother’s devotion to Jane Austen, I will tell you that I am named for her. Researching Jane Austen’s Letters When I decided to write about Jane Austen’s letters, I embarked on a journey of research. 

 I researched Jane Austen’s publishing history, her business model, events that occurred during the relevant time (by relevant, I mean 1812 to 1814, which is the era I deal with in the letters in my book), her stationery choices, how to mix gall ink, her pens, her attitudes toward her nieces and nephews, and so on.

 I do a boatload of research for each book I write. 

In other words, I use facts to write fiction. 

 

Scholars agree that of the more than 3,000 letters Jane Austen probably wrote over the course of her life, only about 160 are extant. That we know of...more about that later. The reason there are only about 160 letters is because her sister Cassandra burned the rest when she, Cassandra, was 70, decades after Jane’s death. No one knows why. According to her niece, Cassandra thought Jane was too “open and confidential.” [Note: Jane died in 1817; Cassandra died in 1845.] But if that’s the case, why didn’t she destroy them all? Regardless, just as no one knows for sure how many letters escaped that fiery fate, no one knows how many are extant. Just because the world thinks 160 letters survived, what if there are one or two or a dozen more? This is not idle speculation: On February 17, 2019 the news broke that six lines that had been cut from one of Jane Austen’s letters had been found. Six lines discovered after 200 years. Hello! It doesn’t get much more exciting than that. Except the lines didn’t refer to anything titillating or unseemly, worthy of being exorcised—they referred to laundry! By the way, the day after the discovery, the headline in The Daily Telegraph read, “Lost letter airs Jane Austen’s dirty linen in public.” How funny is that?

 I still write letters or notes to my distant friends. Yes, I send emails, but I write letters, too. Handwritten letters with little drawings in the margins. (Although I confess I write notes and letters less frequently than I used to—so much to say, so little time to write it out by hand.) 

How about you? Do you send out handwritten notes? I’d love to offer a signed copy of Jane Austen’s Lost Letters (U.S. address only). Thanks! 

 Jane K. Cleland writes both fiction and nonfiction, including the long-running and multiple award-winning Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries [St. Martin’s & Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine] and the Agatha Award-winning bestsellers Mastering Suspense, Structure & Plot and Mastering Plot Twists [Writer’s Digest Books], recommended by Dan Brown, Louise Penny, David Baldacci, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and Neil Gaiman. Jane is a contributing editor for Writer’s Digest Magazine, and the chair of the Wolfe Pack’s Black Orchid Novella Award (BONA), in partnership with AHMM. She is a frequent workshop leader and guest author at writing conferences and MFA Residencies. Jane offers free monthly workshops on the craft of writing. Details can be found at www.janecleland.com 

 The newest entry in the Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery series, Jane Austen’s Lost Letters, tells the story of truth and perception, family lost and found, and love. I hope you enjoy it.