Back to the Bonnet by Jennifer Duke - Review

Earlier this week I posted about a fund raising appeal that author Jennifer Duke is running in order to have her Pride & Prejudice-inspired time travel book Back to the Bonnet converted to audio format. 

Back to the Bonnet is written from Mary Bennet’s point of view because she is the time traveller (most of the time). Mary uses a bonnet with mysterious powers to go back in time and is therefore able to undo some unfortunate events. You can read the previous post here and I’d recommend that you do, as it has an alternate take on the Netherfield ball which Mary has to undo.

I’ve been meaning to read the book since it came out and Jennifer’s fund raising appeal gave me a nudge to read it. Let’s look at the blurb and then I’ll share my review with you. 

Book Description

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.

Back to the Bonnet by Jennifer Duke - Fund Raising for Audio Book Appeal

Some time ago I featured a time travel book about Mary Bennet called Back to the Bonnet, written by Jennifer Duke. It’s a book where Mary can time travel. 

Jennifer is currently fund raising to create an audio version of Back to the Bonnet which I wanted to post about, and I thought it’d be a good time to read the book. I’ll bring you my review of that later in the week.

Now I’ll hand over to Jennifer for her to tell you about her fund raising.

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Calling all Janeites! Can you help make this author’s audiobook dream a reality?

Back in 2020, author Jennifer Duke self-published her first novel, Back to the Bonnet, a reimagining of Pride and Prejudice in which Mary Bennet orchestrates events with the help of a time-travelling bonnet. Now she’s hoping to turn her novel into an audiobook read by Lucy Briers who played Mary Bennet in the BBC’s 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice.

Jennifer: Back to the Bonnet had been some time in the making and, as most writers have to do when starting out, I invested a lot of time and money into creating the final book and I did this whilst working in childcare and housekeeping jobs, as well as navigating lockdown like most of the rest of the world. Being new to the publishing and marketing side of things, about which I still have much to learn, and being self-published rather than having the backing of a traditional publisher, sales have been on the slow side, though I’m grateful for some lovely reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.

I felt particularly encouraged after actress Lucy Briers got in touch with me via Twitter, having enjoyed Back to the Bonnet, to say that if it were to be made into an audiobook some day, she’d love to narrate it. This was so lovely to hear, though it wasn’t until more recently that I seriously thought I could make this happen. Now I have a team of women who are enthusiastic about creating the audiobook - Lucy Briers as narrator (which is so fitting as the novel is written in first person, it’s Mary Bennet’s narrative), Tamsin Collison as audiobook director (she directed a fairly recent version of Mansfield Park for Audible) and talented sound editor Tshari King.

All I have to do now is raise the funds for the production costs including the fees for these amazingly talented women, then it will get the green light. To do this, I’ve set up a Go Fund Me page in hopes of gaining financial help from people who wish to support the project. If you’re reading this and thinking that you like the idea behind this audiobook and that you might be able to make a donation, however small, to contribute to its manifestation, please know that I would be so grateful for your help. I’m not in a position to do this on my own and so I would be hugely appreciative of having my fellow Austen fans in my corner! 

If I happen to raise more than the required amount for this project, I will be donating additional funds to TreeSisters, a UK registered charity that plants trees in the tropics. I’m hoping to fund the planing of 1000 trees. Together I believe we can create beautiful things.

You can find out more about donating to this crowdfunding project here:

• Go Fund Me page • Jennifer Duke’s website • Email: contact@jennifer-duke.com

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How exciting that Lucy Briars might narrate this book if it makes the move to audio! As the book is written from Mary's point of view it would really bring the book to life to have it in a voice we can connect to Mary. I wish Jennifer all the best with her fund raising. 

Please come back later this week to find out what I thought of Back to the Bonnet.

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Maria Bertram’s Daughter by Lucy Knight - Blog Tour, Character Interview and Ebook Giveaway

Today I am happy to be welcoming a new visitor to Babblings of a Bookworm, Lucy Knight. Lucy has written a book called Maria Bertram’s Daughter, which you will probably realise from the title is Mansfield Park sequel. In Mansfield Park’s Bicentennial year I read quite a few MP-inspired books and found that there were relatively few to choose from, so I am really pleased to bring you news of this new one.

Lucy has joined us with a guest post, and publishers Meryton Press are offering an ebook giveaway to accompany the blog tour. Let’s look at the blurb and then I’ll hand over to Lucy for her guest post, which is an interview with the title character, Maria Bertram’s Daughter, Dorothea Rose.

Book Description

She could be mistress of Mansfield Park. But is that what she wants?

An unwanted child—conceived in circumstances her mother would rather forget—Dorothea Henrietta Rose grows up solitary and neglected with her dissatisfied mother and unpleasant great-aunt Norris. Raised without the knowledge that her mother is her mother or that their occasional visitor, Sir Thomas Bertram, is her grandfather, she is forbidden ever to set foot in Mansfield Park.

Dorothea hopes for a happier life when sent away to school, but her difficulties are not over. She is obliged to make her way in the world as a governess and, thus, encounters human frailty, hypocrisy, good, and evil in her travels throughout England.

She meets the Crawfords—Henry and Mary (now Lady Drumroth)—and inevitably does the one thing she must not do: unwillingly makes herself known to the inhabitants of Mansfield Park.

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An Affectionate Heart by Heather Moll - Excerpt and US Giveaway

Today I’m happy to be welcoming Heather Moll back to the blog with her latest book, An Affectionate Heart. The premise of this book is something I’m really excited about, as this book is based on Pride & Prejudice with flavours of one of my favourite books by another author, The Blue Castle by L M Montgomery.

If you are not familiar with that charming book, by the author of the Anne of Green Gables books, I’d definitely recommend reading it. It’s about a young woman, Valancy, who gets a diagnosis of a heart complaint and is told that she probably only has a short time to live. Valancy is nearing 30 and has never actually lived. She has always been well-behaved, always did what her family wanted rather than what she wanted and still never managed to please them. Now she is dying and, spurred on by compassion for an ailing former friend, Valancy decides the time to worry about what her family will think is gone. Valancy may not have much time left, but she is going to live while she can. It’s really a lovely story.

Now, how this meshes in with Pride & Prejudice in An Affectionate Heart, I am not quite sure, but I am assuming from the blurb that Elizabeth has a similar health worry and makes a similar decision to Valancy, to seize the day while she still can. Let’s look at the blurb and then I’ll hand over to Heather for an excerpt. There’s also an amazing giveaway, open to US readers.

Book Description - An Affectionate Heart

ARE LOVE AND AFFECTION ENOUGH TO OVERCOME THE PAIN OF GRIEF AND ANGER?

In the spring of 1812, Elizabeth and Lydia are the only Bennet daughters still unmarried after the death of their father. Elizabeth’s health and spirits worsen as she moves among relations as an unwanted, dependent sister. She returns to Mary and Mr Collins at Longbourn to learn that the neighbourhood gossip centres on the reclusive Mr Darcy.

Darcy and his sister live an isolated life in a small rented lodge near Netherfield after the events at Ramsgate. As Georgiana’s health is failing, Darcy has his own regrets to bear. He tries to keep them secluded, but a young woman arrives who is determined to befriend his lonely, ill sister.

When Elizabeth receives disastrous news, she makes a daring plan to find happiness for herself while she still can. Misunderstandings and secrets abound for them both but in the end, Darcy and Elizabeth will find greater strength together than they ever had apart.

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