Jane Austen-Regency Award

Editorial Review

Elizabeth in the New World seems an unlikely scenario, but JAFF readers will assuredly excuse a unique variation on Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. In grief over Darcy’s presumed death Elizabeth seeks to bury the past beneath a new life on the Island of Grenada. Soon the island is under threat from internal rebellion, and Elizabeth discovers her would-be husband is all that she abhors. The raw side of man’s desires and rebellion is unkind to Elizabeth. Her life and chastity hangs by a thread in a tale woven seamlessly with historical facts. All the while a knight minus his shining armour has sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and finally rides to the rescue. All this is revealed within a secondary heroic adventure story running parallel to Elizabeth’s story. The setting for Jane Austen’s P&P was 1812, while the backdrop for *No Greater Love* is Fedon’s 1790’s Revolution. Therefore, poetic licence, and a proportion of fairy tale is permissible for alternative variations of Jane Austen’s novels. Well-written, well researched, the novel is a gritty realistic epic tome depicting life on Grenada for plantation owners and that of their slaves.

Editorial Review

Letty Grey with considerable candour and wit assumes the role of companion to a dying woman. Lilias too is a delightful character who resides in Paris. Sadly but surely Lilias fades. In death she is no less a heroine and pawn for good in a time of great need for Letty. Her good friend Viscount Leomar Byesby is a spy extraordinaire. Leo treads the streets of Paris at the point of Napoleon’s escape from Elba and his triumphal return to Paris. One word, one little mistake can spell disaster, and Letty’s mistake sets prescendence for urgent retreat. Their escape route duly enlightens readers unfamiliar with Paris and what lay below in times past before the building of an extensive metro network. The author has a distinct literary flair, the prose is confident, and the plot itself touchingly sentimental. Sensible Letty is no simpering miss. Byesby is a modest gentleman gallant. The two together reveal historical facts seamlessly amidst chatter, and all the while a gentle theatre of budding romance unfolds.