Jane Austen Award

Editorial Review:

In this sequel novel, an Elizabeth & Darcy Variation, we are presented with the master of Pemberley, his good wife, and two children, all venturing to Louisiana. Although Jane Austen’s original Pride & Prejudice was pure fiction, The Darcys of New Orleans requires an open mind to the essence of P&P Variations and Sequels. Hence, in the aftermath of a personal tragedy a family holiday and reunion with an old friend of Lizzie’s seems logical to Darcy. After all, that person was at one time a slave and became a true friend to Lizzie. Subsequently almost two decades have passed from the day Elizabeth agreed to marry Darcy, and with a daughter of marriageable age and much younger son, life on a southern plantation is whole new experience for the two English siblings. Friendships arise, romance blooms, and a dilemma arises for the young at heart in a world where mixed marriages are scorned upon. It is the 1800s, and how Elizabeth and Darcy face the great dilemma is testament to authorship and daring. Here it is wisest to say the book is well written, it stretches reader imagination, and touches on a more modern outlook to mixed marriages. Nonetheless a P&P prequel, variation, or sequel is simply that, and deviation from the original is par for the course. Hence Ms Mooha’s The Darcys’ of New Orleans is hereby granted a Jane Austen Award for originality above all else.

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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.