Jane Austen, Dalrymples and Elliots

Persuasion: Lady Dalrymple.

Was there a connection between Jane Austen's Lady Dalrymple and the Elliot family in Persuasion, and famous courtesan Grace Dalrymple Elliott? You can find out more on Joanne Major and Sarah Murden's guest blog post on my Sue Wilkes history blog.

Coming Soon!

My forthcoming book A Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England is now available for pre-order from Amazon UK (release date 30 October) and Amazon US.
Update 14 August: you can now also pre-order the book direct from Pen and Sword Books.

Darcy spurns Elizabeth at the ball, Pride and Prejudice.

Immerse yourself in the vanished world inhabited by Austen’s contemporaries. Packed with anecdotes, the book is an intimate exploration of how the middle and upper classes lived from 1775, the year of Austen’s birth, to the coronation of George IV in 1820.  My book 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!