Today
I’m happy to be welcoming a new visitor to the blog,
Jennifer Duke. Jennifer
has written a
Pride & Prejudice-inspired book, called
Back to the Bonnet.
This
book is a Mary Bennet-focussed book which gives her a secret life, including time
travel. Sounds pretty wild! Let’s take a look at the blurb and then I’ll hand
over to Jennifer for an excerpt from Back to the Bonnet. Jennifer is also offering a UK ebook giveaway.
Book
Description
“Oh
really, Miss Mary!” He lowered his voice and leant closer. “Does convention
hold you back? You who deny all conventions of time, twisting it from its
proper course?”
Matrimony
is not a destiny that attracts plain but clever Miss Mary Bennet.
With
her family’s fortunes threatened by their own foolish mistakes, deceptive
rogues and the inconvenience of male heirs to her family home, the future looks
unstable, even bleak. But Mary possesses a secret weapon . . . a bonnet that
allows her to travel in time.
In
orchestrating events according to her own inclinations, Mary takes an
unconventional route to protect her family from ruin. However, she is
unprepared for the dark path down which duty and power will lead her.
Excerpt
from Volume One, Chapter Twelve - ‘Sermons & Scandals’
Mr Chamberlayne bowed.
“Will you do me the
honour?”
“Thank
you,” I whispered, placing my hand in his. “It is most kind of you to ask me when
there are so many other women to chuse from.”
“But,
my dear, there is no other Miss Mary Bennet.”
As he led me down the dance, I made a small
squeak, unable to hide my surprise.
“What
is it? Did I tread on your toe?” he asked, before taking the hands of the lady
next to me and turning about with her.
“My
sister Lizzy,” I said, when he was opposite me once more. “She’s
dancing with Mr Darcy.”
He squinted over at them. “What of it?”
To me, the look shared by Lizzy and Mr
Darcy might either betray a mutual desire to partake in a duel or to make
straight for Gretna Green. “She
always said she would never dance with him.”
“Women
are always changing their minds about one thing or another,” he said, rolling
his eyes. “Not
at all like men.”
I glared at him. “Lack of obstinacy is hardly a flaw.
However, you won’t find me being so
changeable.”
“Of
course not,” he said, smile lines creasing at his eyes. “You never change anything, do you?”
I continued in conversation
with him at supper and Charlotte came to sit opposite us.
“You
surprise me, Miss Mary,” said Chamberlayne. He made to pour me wine but I
placed my hand over the glass. “I
thought you would be an advocate of Mary Wollstonecraft’s ideas.”
“What I mean is that
there are certain roles we adopt in society and certain boundaries within which
we navigate that have been established for our own good and to ensure
stability.”
“You
just want to be careful that a boundary does not become a noose,” he said.
“Whatever
do you . . .” my words trailed off as my attention was drawn to Mama who was
toasting Jane’s good fortune with
anyone who would clink glasses with her. Her boasts rang out across the room
that Jane would soon be engaged to Mr Bingley and that this piece of good
fortune would throw the rest of us into the way of other men of wealth. I
clutched my cutlery, feeling the heat rise in my cheeks.
Chamberlayne glanced at her. “Can I serve you some
chicken, Miss Mary?” he said, spearing a slice from the dish in front of him.
I ventured to look at Mr Bingley who,
thankfully, appeared not to have heard Mama. Mr Darcy, on the other hand, was
regarding her with an expression of unconcealed alarm. Lizzy, too, had gone
quite red and even whispered to Mama in an attempt to prevent further
inappropriate speeches of unfortunate volume.
I assumed that Lydia’s
cheeks were merely rosy from the amount she had had to drink, rather than from
any kind of embarrassment, for she chattered away merrily, holding out her
glass to be refilled by an obliging officer.
“It
is a most elegant room,” said Charlotte, taking in the high ceilings and fine
windows. “Mr
Bingley has found himself a most charming residence, do not you think?”
“Indeed,” said Chamberlayne, grasping
the subject with enthusiasm. “Though
I admire older buildings. Your house is Elizabethan, is it not, Mary?”
As I looked up from my plate, I realised
that my friends were trying to draw me out of my mortification. “It is.”
“A
manor built in the traditional E shape, for the queen,” said Charlotte.
“Indeed,” I said, “though I like to think
of it as an M. It could be an M you know, if seen from another perspective.”
“How
whimsical! Is that because of your own name?” asked Chamberlayne.
“No.
You see, at the age of six, when a historical book taught me that Queen
Elizabeth had had her cousin Mary executed, I considered that, from another
angle, the E shape might look like an M. So, in my mind, our house has been M shaped
from that time, in solidarity with the unfortunate queen who lost her liberty
and her birthright, followed by her head, of course.”
Chamberlayne laughed. “She did try to have Elizabeth
assassinated, though.”
I shrugged.
When supper was cleared away and people
began to get up from their seats and mingle about the room, Mr Bingley tapped
his glass with a spoon.
“I
should just like to thank you all, once again, for joining me at Netherfield
this evening. I for one am having a most agreeable time.” A grin stretched
across his face. “All
there is left for me to wish for is a song. The pianoforte awaits! Whom can we
persuade to sing for us?”
The gathering had quietened to listen to Mr
Bingley and the muteness continued in the general tentativeness that is
generally felt when no one wishes to push themselves forward as the focus of
attention. In the lull, a twittering of laughter could be heard. I looked
towards a door which must have led to the small room with the paintings. There
was another burst of giggling but louder this time.
“Surely
we can prevail upon somebody?” said Mr Bingley.
Miss Morris, a girl I did not know well,
looked frantically about the room, then rushed over to open the door. The
doorway framed the room inside like a theatre curtain drawn back to reveal a
scene from a licentious play. Mr Denny sat in a too relaxed posture on the
chaise longue and Lydia threw her arms about him and kissed him on the lips.
Catching sight of their scandalised audience, Mr Denny moved Lydia aside.
“Miss
Morris, allow me to explain. I did not know that Miss Lydia was about to—”
“We’re meant to be
engaged!” wailed Miss Morris as she fled the room to the accompaniment of
shocked gasps, piteous comments and accusations.
Mama had been struck into silence, which
was quite something. Papa went white. Lizzy was crying with humiliation and
Jane looked close to fainting when Miss Bingley swooped upon her saying, “You will get your
family out of this house at once. At once,
Miss Bennet.”
Through the doorway I could see the
painting of the woman holding the bonnet and the other standing behind. It
seemed almost as though they were looking at me, willing me to do something.
“We’re going.” Lizzy
gripped my arm, frowning at me. “Mary,
I do not see how you can be smiling at a time like this. We need to leave. Now.”
Tearing my gaze from the portrait, I looked
at Lizzy. “I’ll get my bonnet.”
* * *
Author
Bio
Jennifer Duke grew up in Basingstoke - a town
in Hampshire, England, which Jane Austen visited for shopping and balls when
her family lived in the nearby village of Steventon. Loving stories from a very
early age and being the second of four sisters, Jennifer delighted in reading
stories to her younger siblings.
She went to Bath Spa University to study English
Literature with Creative Writing and gained a 2:1, later going on to achieve a
distinction for her MA in English Literature at Oxford Brookes University.
She has had many jobs - including coffee
barista, trainee English teacher, nursery nurse, nanny, housekeeper and dog
walker - but kept returning to writing fiction.
A longstanding love of Jane Austen's novels led
to her first published novel Back to the
Bonnet.
As well as writing, she is interested in
mindfulness, environmental issues and painting. She loves animals, history,
art, travel and being out in nature. Currently, she is working on a fantasy
novel inspired by ancient art at Chauvet-Pont d'Arc cave in the south of
France, a story set 35,000 years ago - a slight change from Regency England!
She also has plans to write a post World War Two romance inspired by Jane Eyre.
Back to
the Bonnet is available now on Amazon in paperback and Kindle eBook
formats.
You are cordially invited to sign up to
Jennifer Duke’s newsletter via her website homepage or contact page.
Website: jennifer-duke.com / Goodreads
page / Twitter:
@JenniferEDuke / Facebook:
@inkwellies / Youtube: Jennifer Duke - author
Buy Links
Back
to the Bonnet is
available to buy now in Paperback, Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.
Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon Canada /
Amazon Australia
/ Add to Goodreads
shelf
Giveaway
Time!
Jennifer
is running an eBook giveaway for UK residents only (or those who buy their ebooks
from Amazon UK, due to gifting restrictions): To enter, visit Jennifer’s author website and sign up to the newsletter, which you can do on the homepage or
contact page. Include ‘UK’ in the ‘last name’ box; if you are a UK resident,
and you will be automatically entered into the giveaway.
A
winner will be selected at random on 12th December and contacted shortly
afterwards to arrange the receiving of their free eBook.
Even
if you are not based in the UK Jennifer would love for you to sign up for the
newsletter, so she can keep in touch with you about future giveaways and offers!
Note about comments: If you
have any problems adding your comment please contact me and I will add your comment for you :)
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