The Austen Intelligencer (Winter 2007) Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict – Reading and Repast
On an early evening in mid-August, a group from JASNA-NY, including Regional Co-Coordinators Nili Olay and Jerry Vetowich, were joined by friends of the author, and others who love Austen, for a tea and reading celebrating Laurie Viera Rigler’s new book, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. Laurie, a JASNA member, is a book editor currently residing in California. She is, however, a born and bred New Yorker.
The reading was held at Alice’s Tea Cup on East 64th Street in NYC, which I highly recommend if you are ever in that neighborhood, perhaps after an exhausting shopping expedition at Bloomingdale’s. We enjoyed wonderful scones with clotted cream and jam, along with several kinds of tea.
Laurie’s novel tells the tale of Courtney Stone, a 21st century Californian, who, after a night of drinking to forget a failed romance, travels back in time to Regency England. Laurie read us the opening of her novel, in which Courtney wakes up in a strange bedroom, surrounded by (odiferous)servants. The servants address her as “Miss Mansfield.” At first Courtney thinks she is dreaming, but she comes to the realization that she is indeed inhabiting the body of Miss Jane Mansfield (pun intended), a young woman of Jane Austen’s time.
Laurie also read us two more excerpts. One was a dance scene between Jane and her suitor, Edgeworth, which, although the characters merely touch hands and exchange glances, is erotically charged. The other was a comic scene between Jane and a fortuneteller. The fortuneteller seems to be the only person who realizes that Jane is really Courtney.
Laurie told us that it took her six years to write this novel, and she described the exquisite care she took to make sure that all the period details were correct. Then she graciously signed copies of her book for everyone, often adding personal inscriptions. I look forward to reading what promises to be both a funny and touching novel.
--Joyce Melito << Back
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