Hmmm...Lost in Austen

Greetings to all

After stumbling upon a British mini-series, Lost in Austen, I decided to watch the four episodes. I read no reviews or watched any trailers before I settled in for episode one. Over two evenings I watched all four episodes. A quick synopsis is required for those who have never seen this funny, sometimes vexing take on Jane Austen's classic love story, Pride and Prejudice.

Amanda Price, a lover of P&P, is unhappy in her city girl life with an unromantic boyfriend who offers her the pull tab from his beer as substitution for a ring.  Noises from her bathroom draws her in to find Elizabeth Bennet standing in her bathtub.  Miss Bennet discovered a time portal that brought her from her Regency world into modern day London via a door.  Miss Price walks through to the other side and becomes a character in P&P.

 If you've never read Pride and Prejudice, you may find Lost in Austen an amusing lark, a period romp with fashion of the era, views of the English countryside and a peek into the life of Regency England. As a well-acquainted friend of Miss Austen's writings I found the juxtaposition of characters as seen in the movie versus the book a bit bothersome.  The one character that annoyed me the most was, without a doubt, Mr. Darcy.  The perfomance, by Elliot Cowan, seemed stilted to me, almost forced.  The same pained expression framed his face through most of the series.

Elizabeth Bennet is the central figure in the book and to remove her from the series, except for a few short quips, undoes the entire premises of the novel.  Had the series shown a parallel between Elizabeth Bennet and Amanda Price's experiences in each others' worlds the series may have been more pleasurable for me.

The ending, which I will not reveal, did not leave me satisfied.  Too many loose ends were left flapping in the breeze and the loose ends that were tied seemed unlikely and one disappointing.  Perhaps my suspension of disbelief was not turned on high enough as I watched or perhaps I'm a purist who will not find satisfaction with rewrites of Jane Austen.

Which leads me to my next venture...it's time to read some Jane Austen fan fiction.  Maybe...just maybe there is an author out there who can make me believe that Austen lives on through revamped characters in plausible situations.

If you want to watch Lost in Austen you can find all four episodes on hulu.com.   I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

Season 3 of Downton Abbey on PBS starts tonight!  

 I can hardly wait! 

Romancing the Research

It's been so long since I've been about.  Shameful, indeed!  Where have I been?  Cruising the information highway for answers to a thousand questions.  Like? Well, since you asked...

1.  How large is the typical country estate of a Regency noble?
2.  What did the homes look like inside?
3.  What grew in the garden?
4.  How long did it take to get from York to London by horse?  By carriage?
5.  How many servants did a typical household employ?
6.  What is the etymology of certain words like...buffoon, fop, dandy.
7.  What garden structures were likely to be in gardens/parks/lawns of the Regency nobility?
8.  What if no heirs were born to a noble?  Who inherited the title?
9.  Could the widow of a noble be left with nothing?
10. What were people naming their children in the late 1700s and early 1800s?

The list goes on and on.  I've found wonderful resources for some of the questions I must answer to make my story both accurate and worth reading.  One of the best resources I've found is Jane Austen's World, a blog that is chock full of tantalizing bits about the Regency Era.  I also found Candice Hern's website to be extremely helpful.  She offers more resources that I know will answer my questions. 

I must make a trip to the library, soon.  I'm hoping to find answers to the questions regarding the Regency time period that will enhance my book. 

Where do you go for answers to historical questions?  Do you have a go-to source?  I'd love to know!

Happy Writing!