More On The Way!

A Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England has now sold out! But the good news is that it will be re-released at the end of November. You can pre-order here from Pen and Sword, or in the meantime, order one of the last few print copies here at Amazon, or order a Kindle copy.

A Georgian Spy!

My fellow Pen & Sword authors Joanne Major and Sarah Murden have a fascinating new book out, which you can order here! There's more information here on my other history blog.

Fashionable Fabrics

I'm a guest on the lovely Catherine Curzon's eighteenth-century blog this week. You can read my post on fashionable fabrics in Jane Austen's day here.
This lace collar on display on the Jane Austen's House Museum at Chawton was worked by the novelist herself. The Museum is trying to raise funds to buy a rare letter written by Jane Austen's sister Cassandra - there's more details on its website.
Image © Sue Wilkes.

Book Launch Day!

Exciting news! My new book A Visitor's Guide To Jane Austen's England has just been published by Pen & Sword; it's available as a paperback, and in Kindle and epub editions. I hope you enjoy exploring the world of Jane Austen, Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet!

Book Launch Date

Exciting news! I've just heard that the launch date for my new book A Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England is planned by Pen & Sword History for the end of October 2014! I'll update this blog if there's any change. You can also follow me on Twitter @SueWilkesauthor or @austensengland for more news and updates - or visit the Pen & Sword History blog here.

A Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England

Hello to all Jane Austen fans!  This blog will be dedicated to daily life in late Georgian and Regency England, and news about Jane Austen, her works, life and times.

My new book, A Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England, will be published by Pen & Sword's new History imprint in October 2014.

Nearer publication date, I'll be posting news about the book, but in the meantime, here's a taster of the proposed blurb:

'Immerse yourself in the vanished world inhabited by Austen’s contemporaries. Packed with detail, and anecdotes, this is an intimate exploration of how the middle and upper classes lived from 1775, the year of Austen’s birth, to Jane’s death in 1817. Sue Wilkes skilfully conjures up all aspects of daily life within the period, drawing on contemporary diaries, illustrations, letters, novels, travel literature and archives'. 

Were all unmarried affluent men really 'in want of a wife'?

Where would a young lady seek adventures?

Would ‘taking the waters’ at Bath and other spas kill or cure you?

Was Lizzy Bennet bitten by bed-bugs while travelling?

What would you wear to a country ball, or a dance at Almack’s?

Would Mr Darcy have worn a corset?

What hidden horrors lurked in elegant Regency houses?

Put on your dancing gloves and embrace a lost era of corsets and courtship! 

     Note for Readers: The book isn’t a modern-day tourist guide to places associated with Jane Austen in England – instead you will be ‘visiting’ Austen’s world as she knew it. 

    If you'd like to find out more about my other work, do visit my blog on social history and family history at Sue Wilkes.