Our connections with Jane Austen probably have more to do with geography than literature. What are your personal connections with Jane Austen? Tell your publicist your American fans are clamouring for a stateside tour.ġ. Thank you Roy and Lesley (I think the credit goes largely to Lesley) for taking time from your busy season of appearances and book talks to answer my questions.

Jack Tar Life in Nelson’s Navy, and, The War for All the Oceans: From Nelson at the Nile to Napoleon at Waterloo, are particular favorites of mine. The Adkins are authors of numerous books, mostly popular history, and many of them written together as a team. I’m a fan of Team Adkins and I was delighted to read an advance copy, which I reviewed on HistoricNavalFiction and Amazon.Co.UK. earlier this summer as Eavesdropping on Jane Austen’s England. Jane Austen’s England will be released in the U.S. Roy and Lesley Adkins have written a terrific book every Austen lover should read: A sweeping survey that sheds light on the wider world Jane Austen and her characters inhabited - the same world my ancestors, the servants, merchants, farmers and artisans, inhabited. My English ancestors left the mother country for America in the 18th century, so they probably weren’t landed gentry - or else why would they have have left? Darn the luck! I’m pretty sure I would have been a servant. I wouldn’t be dancing or sipping or strolling in the garden with the proper guests. But of course as a servant I would be slaving away in the kitchen, the garret, or the stable.

I’d love to attend one of these celebratory functions where I imagine the other ladies dance the quadrille wearing custom made, empire waist gowns, and adorable bonnets, sip tea and quote J.A. This is the summer for Jane Austen festivals this, the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice.

Jane Austen's England by Roy A. Adkins