SEARCHING FOR PEMBERLEY / Blog Tour, Guest Post, & Giveaway
Guest Post by
Mary Lydon Simonsen
Author of:
Mary Lydon Simonsen
Author of:
Searching for Pemberley
I’m tickled pink to be hosting Mary Lydon Simonsen today!
Take it away Mary…
Thank you, Libby, for inviting me to write a guest post about my research on your blog. My novel spans three time periods: the Georgian/Regency Era, World War I, and post World War II England. That is a lot of ground to cover, but as someone who discovered a love of history in the fourth grade, I have actually been preparing to write historical fiction for decades. More specifically, I have been plotting a story with a Pride and Prejudice story line since I first read Austen’s masterpiece in my high school English class in 1969. My story has to be good if I’ve been mulling it over for 40 years. Right?
In Searching for Pemberley, Maggie Joyce, a 22-year old American, is living in London in 1947. When she learns that the main characters in her favorite novel, Pride and Prejudice, may have been based on a real couple, William and Elizabeth Lacey, she travels to Derbyshire to visit Montclair Manor, which is possibly the storied Pemberley. My first task was to find out what it was like to live in England in the years immediately after the end of World War II. I knew that the British had suffered greatly from 1940 through 1945, but I was surprised to learn that the austerity program that had been imposed on the United Kingdom had remained in place for several years after the Germans and Japanese had surrendered. Bread, sugar, coffee, tea, and petrol all continued to be rationed, and people queued up for items that were in short supply, such as oranges and potatoes. I was able to contrast the American wartime experience to that of the British because my parents had worked in Washington during the war, and their brothers and cousins all served in the military. I was that annoying kid mentioned by W. C. Fields in one of his most famous lines: “Get away kid. You bother me,” because I was always asking questions.
Because Maggie works for the Army Exchange Service, she has access to commodities that are rationed, and she shares them with a couple, Jack and Beth Crowell, who have befriended her and who know if the stories regarding the Darcys/Laceys are true. As Maggie gets to know the Crowells, she is drawn into their own love story which was set against the background of World War I. I had done a tremendous amount of research on The Great War because Minooka, Pennsylvania, Maggie’s hometown, and one of the settings for Searching for Pemberley, had sent more men off to that war than any other town of its size. Thirteen trees around the only school in town were dedicated as a living memorial to the 13 men who did not return, and once I heard that story, I was like a duck on a June bug, asking dozens of questions of the children and grandchildren of these veterans.
But the thread that holds the story together is Maggie’s interest in Pride and Prejudice. Because the film and television adaptations of Pride and Prejudice are set in the Regency Era, many people do not know that Jane Austen lived most of her life in the earlier Georgian Era. I needed to know everything about that period because, included in my novel, are letters and diary entries written by Elizabeth Lacey, whose courtship takes place at a time when George III was sane and firmly in control of his nation, and French émigrés were fleeing France (and the guillotine) for England, and revolutionary armies roamed the French countryside.
Weaving together story lines from three very different time periods was a challenge, but it certainly kept me on my toes (and my office a cluttered mess). I hope by the time the readers of my novel reach the last page of Searching for Pemberley, they will have learned something from Maggie Joyce, a young American from the mid 20th Century, who stepped out of her modern world into an era that will be forever associated with Jane Austen.
SEARCHING FOR PEMBERLEY—IN STORES DECEMBER 2009
Set against Regency England, World Wars I and II, and postwar England, three love stories intertwine in surprising and fateful ways
American Maggie Joyce, touring Derbyshire in 1947, visits, Montclair, an 18th century Georgian country house, that she is told was the model for Jane Austen’s Pemberley. More amazingly, the former residents of the mansion, William Lacey and Elizabeth Garrison, were the inspiration for the characters of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice.
Through letters, diary entries, and oral history, Beth and Jack Crowell, a couple who lives in the nearby village of Crofton, share stories of the people they say inspired Jane Austen. They also tell their own love story, made difficult by their vastly different backgrounds—she was one of the social elite while he was the son of a servant. When their son, Michael, travels home from his RAF station in Malta, Maggie may have just found her very own Mr. Darcy.
About the Author:
Mary Simonsen grew up in North Jersey with the exciting venues of New York City easily accessible. She is especially interested in American and European history and 19th Century novels. In Searching for Pemberley she was able to combine her love of history (World War II and postwar England) with Austen’s characters, Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, and being a romantic, the novel includes three love stories from three different time periods, all thanks to Jane Austen. She lives in Peoria, Arizona. For more information, please visit http://searchingforpemberley.weebly.com/
Mary, thank you so much for being here today.
I don’t know all about ya’ll, but I can’t get enough of Jane Austen “sequels”!
So who would like to win a copy of Searching for Pemberley?
Danielle, at Sourcebooks has provided me with 2 copies to give away.
Here are the RULES:
Giveaway open to residents of the US and Canada only.
Must leave a valid email address in comment.
To enter – Tell me what you favorite Jane Austen book is.
That’s it!
Giveaway ends at Noon Central Time
12/28
Good Luck & Good Reading
I would pick Pride and Prejudice.
pbclark(at)netins(dot)net
My favorite Jane Austen book is definitely Pride & Prejudice! I love Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy's story! The other top contender would have to be Sense & Sensibility. Thanks for the chance to win this!
donnyandshelly at yahoo dot com
Thank you, Libby, for having me as a guest blogger. I am looking forward to finding out the favorite Jane Austen novel of your readers. You've probably guessed that mine is Pride & Prejudice, but Persuasion is a close second.
Believe it or not, I haven't read any Jane Austen's books. One of these days…….
nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net
yay for Mary! i've been following her blog tour and searching for pemberley. thanks for your giveaway. please count me in. my fave austen is Pride and Prejudice ;-D
here's my email.
vvb32 at yahoo.com
My favorite is Sense and Sensibility
thank you
kaiminani at gmail dot com
my favourite book is 'pride and prejudice.'
karenk
kmkuka(at)yahoo(dot)Com
My favourite is Pride and Prejudice.
:o)
pippirose59 at gmail dot com
I love Jane Eyre.
ellybean at connected2christ dot come
Ooh! I would love to read this. My favorite Jane Austen book is Pride and Prejudice.
cherierj(at)yahoo(dot)com
My favorite is Pride and Prejudice. And I love reading sequels to Jane Austen too. I loved The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen. Please count me in.
laura(at)laurafabiani(dot)com
What a great post by Mary Simonson! She has such dedication to her research. It sounds like a great book that I'd love to win! My favorite Jane Austen novel is Persuasion. Followed, of course, by P and P!
Thanks.
JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks to all who read my post. I think Pride and Prejudice is the clear winner, but you know Miss Austen considered it to be her finest work as well.
I like Emma!
delilah0180(at)yahoo(dot)com
My favorite Jane Austen book is
Emma!Please enter me in the giveaway.augustlily06(at)aim(dot)com.Thankyou.
Like alot of people, Pride and Prejudice is my favorite.
Thanks for the chance to enter!
Laura Hartness
[email protected]
Guess what? I won a copy of Searching for Pemberley from the "Enchanted by Josephine" blog. So you may remove me from this contest. Thanks for hosting the giveaway!
Laura Hartness
The Calico Critic
Pride & Prejudice, though it has been a while since I've read it. Thanks for the great giveaway!
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