Sarah Emsley's Blog

First, a couple of notes about upcoming events:

[image error][image error] The book launch for my novel The Austens is on Tuesday! [image error][image error]

October 21st. Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Regency Ballroom in the Lord Nelson Hotel. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. See you there! (Facebook event page: Book Launch for The Austens.)

And before that, on Saturday, October 18th, please join the Nova Scotia Reading Circle for Project Bookmark Canada to celebrate the unveiling of the Budge Wilson Bookmark on the Dalhousie University campus. The ceremony begins at 3:00 p.m. on the path to the east of Shirreff Hall and will be followed by a reception in the Dal Student Union Building at 3:30. (Facebook event page: Budge Wilson Bookmark unveiling.)

I’ve been working on both the novel and the Budge Wilson Bookmark for many (many!) years and am delighted to be celebrating these two events so close together. The timing for these celebrations is a happy coincidence. (And then, yes, soon after that, I will probably need to catch up on my sleep.)

Okay, now on to the 2025 Jane Austen Society of North America AGM! What a fabulous celebration we had last weekend in Baltimore. Thank you to the Maryland Region and all the organizers and volunteers. It was such a pleasure to connect with old friends, some of whom I’ve known for more than twenty-five years, and to meet new friends and celebrate Jane Austen’s 250th birthday. (Next year’s JASNA AGM in Tucson, Arizona, will focus on Austen’s Bath novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.) It was a delight to visit with friends I’ve known online for a long time but met in person for the first time at the AGM, including my dear friend Emily Midorikawa. The weekend was busy, and I don’t have many photos, but here are a few.

The view from my hotel room

I’m about halfway through and am loving Devoney Looser’s new book, Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive and Untamed Jane

With Emily Midorikawa, co-author (with Emma Claire Sweeney) of A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf

Participating in the book signing on the last day of the AGM was fun, and I loved chatting with readers and seeing so many of my books on display at Jane Austen Books.

(Mine are off to the left)

You can order my new novel The Austens from them, of course, as I’ve mentioned here before, and they also have Jane Austen’s Philosophy of the Virtues, St. Paul’s in the Grand Parade (the church in Halifax, Nova Scotia where Jane’s niece Cassy Austen was baptized in 1809), Jane Austen and the North Atlantic (which I edited for the Jane Austen Society), and my critical edition of Edith Wharton’s 1913 novel The Custom of the Country. They accept international orders.

With Liz Philosophos Cooper, my co-editor for “Unexpectedly Austen,” and Brad Abernethy, a new member of JASNA Nova Scotia (whom I met for the first time in Baltimore)

One of the many highlights was hearing Susannah Harker interviewed by Gabrielle Malcolm about her experience of playing Jane Bennet in the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. I also enjoyed listening to fellow L.M. Montgomery fan Nili Olay talk about Montgomery’s novels in relation to Austen’s. I had fun wearing my Regency gown at the ball on Saturday evening—the first time I’ve worn period dress for an AGM ball since I became a member of JASNA in 1998. This 250th birthday year seemed like the right time for a Regency ball gown. I loved watching Sarah Rose Kearns’s beautiful adaptation of Persuasion at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and enjoyed chatting with Rose afterwards.

With Deborah Barnum (of Jane Austen in Vermont) and Syrie James (whose most recent novel is Danger at Darkmoor Park) at the Regency ball

With Sarah Rose Kearns

And I gave a talk on “Books as Children” and signed many, many copies of The Austens. Sharing the book with JASNA friends over the weekend was a wonderful experience.

With friends old and new after my talk

Oh, and I brought home some lovely trinkets, treasures, and jewellery from Puddings & Biscakes and Alison Woo Designs, along with my own creation from an AGM workshop—a hand-stamped neckerchief. And an Austen at 250 tea towel, a gift to all AGM attendees from a fellow JASNA member.

On a different topic, I’d like to share with you a couple of pieces I read this week and found both moving and inspiring.

First, from Austen scholar and JASNA member Alicia Kerfoot, whom I met in person for the first time at the ball on Saturday, an essay entitled “Reframing the Pregnancy Story: On Literature, Stitching, and Lost Narratives.” As young readers, Alicia and I were both (like many others) inspired to become writers after we discovered L.M. Montgomery’s books. In this essay, Alicia writes,

“I think that in Anne’s House of Dreams, Montgomery aligned Anne’s lost infant with the lost voices of woman writers. That her first child is a girl who dies at birth, and her second is a healthy boy of ‘ten pounds’ seems to parallel the way that Anne hands over the writing of the ‘great Canadian novel’ to Owen Ford, a male journalist from Toronto.”

And from Shawna Lemay, whose work I have quoted here many times over the years, a post entitled “Fall is for Poetry.” Shawna wasn’t at the AGM, but she too has been celebrating Jane Austen’s 250th birthday this year, and she wrote a wonderful tribute for “Unexpectedly Austen.”

This week on her blog, Transactions with Beauty, Shawna writes that “April may be poetry month, but fall is the season for walking down the street reading a book of poetry, sitting on a park bench, doing same. And let’s not forget the classic sitting under a tree and watching the leaves fall and memorizing a poem. I suppose in reality these things don’t happen quite so often any more, but they could!” She says, “I recently saw someone walking down a street reading a paperback, and it delighted me beyond delight. It was not a performance, and no one was trailing them filming them walking down the street with an iPhone.”

Like Anne Shirley in Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, I am glad we “live in a world where there are Octobers.” And I agree with Shawna that “October is a good time to read a poem, write a poem, go to a library. Read anything. You know. Walk down your street reading a book. :)”

Beautiful trees near Shirreff Hall on the Dalhousie campus (I took this photo on Wednesday when I went to visit the spot where the Budge Wilson Bookmark was about to be installed)

I’ll end with a picture I took at Bookmark in Halifax yesterday. It’s wonderful to see The Austens in such good company. With all those Austen-related books on display, I sort of felt as if I were still at the JASNA AGM, even though I’m back home in Nova Scotia.

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An invitation to the unveiling of the Budge Wilson Bookmark

Join me on the Haunted Wood Trail…

My debut novel, The Austens, is now available from Pottersfield Press!

Copyright Sarah Emsley 2025 ~ All rights reserved. No AI training: material on http://www.sarahemsley.com may not be used to “train” generative AI technologies.

At last we can share the exciting news that the Budge Wilson Bookmark plaque will be unveiled in Halifax, Nova Scotia on the Dalhousie University campus on Saturday, October 18th!

Please join us next to Shirreff Hall (6385 South Street) for the ceremony at 3:00 p.m. and then the reception at 3:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at the Dalhousie Student Union Building (6136 University Avenue).

Here’s the link to the Facebook event page.

Read more about Project Bookmark Canada and the Budge Wilson Bookmark plaque here:

A Bookmark Plaque in Halifax for Budge Wilson’s Story “The Leaving”

Many thanks to everyone who has supported the Budge Bookmark! I’m looking forward to the celebrations.

(But first—the JASNA AGM in Baltimore…. Must get back to packing my suitcase.)

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Here are the links to the last two posts, in case you missed them:

Join me on the Haunted Wood Trail…

Jane Austen’s Memorable Characters

My debut novel, The Austens, is now available from Pottersfield Press!

Copyright Sarah Emsley 2025 ~ All rights reserved. No AI training: material on http://www.sarahemsley.com may not be used to “train” generative AI technologies.

… before it gets dark. Last week, when I arrived in Prince Edward Island for the Cavendish Literary Festival, I went for a walk on the Haunted Wood Trail at Green Gables just before sunset.

(Just have to cross the golf course before we can continue on the trail…)

“A haunted wood is so very romantic, Marilla. We chose the spruce grove because it’s so gloomy. Oh, we have imagined the most harrowing things. There’s a white lady walks along the brook just about this time of the night and wrings her hands and utters wailing cries. She appears when there is to be a death in the family. And the ghost of a little murdered child haunts the corner up by Idlewild; it creeps up behind you and lays its cold fingers on your hand—so. Oh, Marilla, it gives me a shudder to think of it. And there’s a headless man stalks up and down the path and skeletons glower at you between the boughs. Oh, Marilla, I wouldn’t go through the Haunted Wood after dark now for anything. I’d be sure that white things would reach out from behind the trees and grab me.”

“Did ever anyone hear the like!” ejaculated Marilla, who had listened in dumb amazement. “Anne Shirley, do you mean to tell me you believe all that wicked nonsense of your own imagination?”

“Not believe exactly,” faltered Anne. “At least, I don’t believe it in daylight. But after dark, Marilla, it’s different. That is when ghosts walk.”

– L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, Chapter 20

Safely back at Green Gables before dark

The Cavendish Literary Festival was splendid, with many wonderful and memorable events. I enjoyed spending time with friends old and new, and of course I always enjoy visiting this beautiful part of the Island, which L.M. Montgomery loved so well.

Left to right: Lori Gard, Sarah Emsley, Sheree Fitch, Donna Jones Alward

Kate Scarth and me, on a chilly and very windy day at Cavendish Beach

With Naomi MacKinnon, who will soon be opening a bookstore in Truro, Nova Scotia called The Happy Duck Bookshop & Readery. Can’t wait to visit! Some of you will remember that Naomi and I have co-hosted readalongs for several of Montgomery’s novels.

A highlight of the Festival was Sheree Fitch’s session—one of the most magical literary events I have ever attended.

“Creating brings joy; it brings hope,” Sheree reminded us. “No matter what.”

Gardens of Hope, New Glasgow, PEI

Next week, I’ll be heading to the Jane Austen Society of North America AGM in Baltimore, and I’m excited to see some of you there! My talk is called “Books as Children.”

The book launch for my novel The Austens is coming up soon, and I’m excited about that, too. Here’s the Facebook event page. Please join me at the Regency Ballroom at the Lord Nelson Hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Tuesday, October 21st. [image error] Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

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Jane Austen’s Memorable Characters

Publication week for The Austens

My debut novel, The Austens, is now available from Pottersfield Press!

Copyright Sarah Emsley 2025 ~ All rights reserved. No AI training: material on http://www.sarahemsley.com may not be used to “train” generative AI technologies.

“Austen is a master of character,” says Charlene Carr, “and the longevity and popularity of her writing illustrate the importance of women’s stories.” Carr is the author of eleven novels, including Hold My Girl and We Rip the World Apart, which won the Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction earlier this year. In the tribute she composed for “Unexpectedly Austen,” the series Liz Philosophos Cooper and I are co-editing this year as part of Austen’s 250th birthday celebrations, Carr writes that “As a writer of domestic fiction myself, I know I’ll always hold a place in my heart for her words and for the path she paved.” She says that Pride and Prejudice is the Austen novel she “kept coming back to, each time new and yet so comforting in its familiarity.”

You can find the full text of her tribute on the Jane Austen Society of North America website. This month’s installment also includes quotations from three other novelists: Emma Straub praises Austen’s “magnificent secondary characters, … the ones who make you giggle and cringe”; Katherine Rundell praises Austen’s heroine Emma Woodhouse as “vividly human to us, which is far better than perfection”; and Marlon James says that “nobody has ever been slyer with characters than Austen.”

Photo by Brenda Barry

I was delighted to see my novel The Austens included in a recent list by Shawna Lemay of things she loves. She photographed the book with the last bouquet of the season and her card catalogue, and she writes, “I felt that I knew Jane Austen in all new ways after reading The Austens.”

Over the past few week, I’ve signed copies of The Austens at Indigo in Dartmouth, Bookmark in both Charlottetown and Halifax, and Coles in the Halifax Shopping Centre.

I’m back in Prince Edward Island for the Cavendish Literary Festival this weekend, looking forward to speaking about Jane Austen and L.M. Montgomery this afternoon on a panel with Kate Scarth and Laura Robinson and to reading from The Austens tomorrow morning. I’m also excited to hear from other writers, including Sheree Fitch, Sandra McIntyre, Donna Jones Alward, Keir Lowther, and Linden MacIntyre.

Speaking of PEI and L.M. Montgomery, some of you may be interested in the Green Gables October read-along hosted by Jana at Reviews from the Stacks. This year’s focus is Anne of the Island. She invites readers to “read the book and either join the conversation on my posts or share your own posts wherever you would like. Be it a blog, social media account, or otherwise, all are welcome!” (#GreenGablesOctober25 and #ReadingAnneoftheIsland)

Sunset on the north shore of PEI

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Publication week for The Austens

Amanda Root on playing Anne Elliot: “her discernment and constancy never cease to inspire”

My debut novel, The Austens, is now available from Pottersfield Press!

Copyright Sarah Emsley 2025 ~ All rights reserved. No AI training: material on http://www.sarahemsley.com may not be used to “train” generative AI technologies.

This week, I’ve been celebrating the publication of my debut novel The Austens on the north shore of Prince Edward Island, on a holiday with my husband—booked long before we knew the pub date (September 15th) or the early release date (August 13th). Print copies have been available for a few weeks now—and in fact the first print run has already sold out! Pottersfield Press ordered a second print run, which started arriving in stores last week. And as of September 15th, the e-book is now available!

Lover’s Lane, Cavendish, PEI

Thanks very much to all who have bought copies and/or recommended The Austens for purchase at your local libraries and/or recommended the novel in person, on social media, and on Goodreads, etc. I’m grateful for your support!

Ask for The Austens at your favourite bookstore or order a signed copy through Bookmark (for shipping within Canada) or Woozles (for shipping within North America).

If you plan to attend the JASNA AGM in October, pre-order a copy from Jane Austen Books for pickup in Baltimore, and then come and find me at the Sunday morning book signing. They accept international orders.

Additional ordering information is available on the page I created for The Austens on my website.

Details about the book launch (October 21st) and other upcoming events are available here.

Next up: a book signing at Indigo in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, on Sunday, September 21st from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. If you’re in the area, come and chat with me about Jane Austen and The Austens!

I’ve received several wonderful endorsements for The Austens, and it’s a pleasure to share them with you.

“With a keen eye and ear for historical detail, Austen scholar Sarah Emsley draws on her deep knowledge of her subject to tell a richly imagined story about the great author. Emsley’s novel asks important questions about the decisions we all make in matters of love and personal ambition, family and friendship. Austen fans will be charmed.”

– Emily Midorikawa, author of A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf (cowritten with Emma Claire Sweeney, and with a foreword by Margaret Atwood)

“As long as I was immersed in The Austens, it seemed the world had altered its frantic pace and I was somewhere else where time moves more slowly. An impressive plunge into the Austen period.”

– Isabel Huggan, author of Belonging: Home Away from Home

Spending a few days in Prince Edward Island feels like a good way to celebrate the publication of my novel, because it was visiting Green Gables as a child and reading the novels of L.M. Montgomery that inspired me to become a writer—long before I discovered Jane Austen. Like Emily of New Moon and many other writers, “I have to write—I can’t help it by times—I’ve just got to” (Chapter 31).

On Monday the 15th, the official pub date for The Austens, we went to Green Gables and walked the paths Montgomery loved so well, including Lover’s Lane:

And I visited the house itself (while my husband went for a walk with our dog):

Last Sunday’s reading at Prescott House was a very happy occasion. I was delighted to talk about The Austens and read from the novel for the first time. The sunroom was full, and I was grateful for a warm welcome from the staff and a very engaged audience who asked lots of excellent questions. Thank you to my friend and fellow historical novelist Carol Bruneau for taking this photo:

I took this picture of the gardens and Prescott House just before the event began:

I’m excited to return to Prince Edward Island next weekend for the Cavendish Literary Festival. Next Friday, September 26th, Kate Scarth, Laura Robinson, and I will be talking about L.M. Montgomery and Jane Austen. The following day, I’ll do a reading from The Austens. You can find out more about the Festival here. Individual tickets are available.

Kate Scarth had a similar experience of visiting Green Gables as a child and feeling inspired by L.M. Montgomery and Anne, and she spoke about literary pilgrimages in a recent CBC interview. I’m really looking forward to our conversation about Montgomery and Austen and to reading from The Austens.

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Here are the links to the last two posts, in case you missed them:

Amanda Root on playing Anne Elliot: “her discernment and constancy never cease to inspire”

“I am not born to tread in the beaten track” (Mary Wollstonecraft)

My debut novel, The Austens, is now available from Pottersfield Press!

Copyright Sarah Emsley 2025 ~ All rights reserved. No AI training: material on http://www.sarahemsley.com may not be used to “train” generative AI technologies.

I’m sure many of you will agree with me that Amanda Root’s performance as Anne Elliot in the 1995 film adaptation of Persuasion was extraordinary. My co-editor Liz Philosophos Cooper and I were delighted that she accepted our invitation to contribute to “Unexpectedly Austen,” a series celebrating Jane Austen’s 250th birthday. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, all the contributions to the series can be found on the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) website: “Unexpectedly Austen.”

Root’s tribute appeared in the August installment, along with quotations from Emmanuel Macron, President of France, and Sir John Major, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The latter praised Austen’s novels as “pure quality” in a letter now on display at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath. In a speech at a state banquet at Windsor Castle in July 2025, Macron drew on Pride and Prejudice to illustrate the “ties that bind” the people of the United Kingdom and France:

Deep down, it’s as if we were living in a great Jane Austen novel, where the greatest hostilities reveal paradoxical attractions. Miss Elizabeth Bennet spends hundreds of pages complaining of Mr Darcy’s arrogance, and you know how that story ends. As for our two peoples, in history we were such loyal, devoted enemies that it was impossible for us not to become friends.

In her reflection on Austen’s heroine, Root speaks of “Anne’s sweetness of nature, her wisdom and stoicism,” which “earn our admiration as she navigates a frivolous world, and the machinations of others. She writes that

It was a great privilege to play Anne Elliot, and to feel touched by this remarkable author. Each time I return to the novel I discover something new, but Anne’s strength of character, her discernment and constancy never cease to inspire, and certainly make her most worthy of the tender conclusion.

Now that we’ve caught up on the August installment of “Unexpectedly Austen,” I’ll look forward to sharing quotations from the September installment in a future post in the next week or two.

I’m excited that this coming Monday, September 15th, is the official publication date for my novel The Austens, and I’m really looking forward to reading from the book at Prescott House in Starr’s Point, Nova Scotia on Sunday the 14th. Come and join me at this beautiful Georgian house in the Annapolis Valley! Free admission. The event begins at 2:00 p.m., and light refreshments will be served. RSVP (if you like) on the Facebook event page.

I took this photo of two JASNA friends at the Prescott House Jane Austen Garden Party last month:

On a different topic, I was very sad to hear the news recently that Margaret C. Sullivan, founder of Austenblog and author of Austen-inspired short stories and books, died last month. It was always a pleasure to read Maggie’s work and to meet up with her at JASNA events, and I know that she will be deeply missed by many. It was an honour to include guest posts from her in the celebrations I hosted for Mansfield Park in 2014, Emma in 2016, and Northanger Abbey in 2017:

The Manipulations of Henry and Mary Crawford

Miss Bates in Fairy-land

Bless Me, Henry Tilney for I Have Sinned

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Here are the links to the last two posts, in case you missed them:

“I am not born to tread in the beaten track” (Mary Wollstonecraft)

Jane Austen in the Public Gardens: A 250th Birthday Celebration

My debut novel, The Austens, is now available from Pottersfield Press!

Copyright Sarah Emsley 2025 ~ All rights reserved. No AI training: material on http://www.sarahemsley.com may not be used to “train” generative AI technologies.

Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) died 228 years ago today, on September 10, 1797.

When I was in London in March, I visited her grave at St. Pancras Old Church, “London’s ancient parish church.”

When she outlined her plan to be a professional writer, Wollstonecraft declared, “I am then going to be the first of a new genus. … You know I am not born to tread in the beaten track—the peculiar bent of my nature pushes me on” (from a 1787 letter to her sister Everina).

Mary Wollstonecraft

Godwin

Author of

A Vindication

of the Rights of Woman

Born 27th April 1759

Died 10th September 1797

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Here are the links to the last two posts, in case you missed them:

Jane Austen in the Public Gardens: A 250th Birthday Celebration

The Austens: Book Launch and Upcoming Events

My debut novel, The Austens, is now available from Pottersfield Press!

Copyright Sarah Emsley 2025 ~ All rights reserved. No AI training: material on http://www.sarahemsley.com may not be used to “train” generative AI technologies.

Last month, on a sunny Sunday, August 17th, The Friends of the Public Gardens and the Jane Austen Society of North America’s Nova Scotia Region co-hosted a celebration of Austen’s 250th birthday, held in the historic Halifax Public Gardens. We were happy that more than 400 people joined us for this lovely and memorable summer afternoon.

Photo by Brian Gidman

His Honour, the Honourable Mike Savage, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia and Patron of The Friends of the Public Gardens, wasn’t able to attend the event but shared a letter praising Austen’s legacy, writing that “As we celebrate Jane Austen’s life and literary achievements, we recognize the enduring power of literature to transcend time and place. Her novels remain as relevant as ever, offering insight into human nature, social customs, and the strength of character.” The full text of the letter is available here.

We were delighted to welcome Her Honour, Ms. Darlene Savage, to the celebration.

Her Honour, Ms. Darlene Savage, and Sarah Emsley (photo by Brian Gidman)

I had the privilege of introducing readings from Jane Austen’s work by Stephens Gerard Malone, Darcy Johns, Carole Thompson, Anne Thompson, Jan Parker, The Rev’d Canon Dr. Paul Friesen, Janet Brush, Charlene Carr, and Hugh Kindred; a musical performance by Adria Jackson, harpist; and an overview of the Austen family’s connections with Nova Scotia given by Sheila Johnson Kindred, author of Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister: The Life and Letters of Fanny Palmer Austen.

Sheila has posted an illustrated version of her remarks on her website:

“Jane Austen at 250: Celebrating the Austen Family Connections to Halifax, Nova Scotia”

Sheree Fitch, who had planned to read some of Austen’s poems, was unfortunately unable to attend, and she sent us a poem along with her regrets:

I waited all summer.

I bought a new dress.

Sadly, my friends,

I’m not at my best.

The doctor advised me:

It’s time for more rest.

It rhymes with begonia.

Perhaps you can guess?

Thank you to Suzanne Rent for sharing her photos of the event with me and for including them in this lovely write-up in the Halifax Examiner.

Sheila Johnson Kindred speaks about the Austen family’s Nova Scotia connections (photo by Brian Gidman)

Stephens Gerard Malone reads from Sense and Sensibility (photo by Brian Gidman)

Darcy Johns reads from Pride and Prejudice (photo by Suzanne Rent)

Carole Thompson reads from Pride and Prejudice (photo by Brian Gidman)

Anne Thompson, President of JASNA Canada, reads from Emma (photo by Brian Gidman)

Adria Jackson performs “Robin Adair,” which is mentioned in Emma (photo by Suzanne Rent)

Jan Parker reads from Mansfield Park (photo by Brian Gidman)

The Rev’d Canon Dr. Paul Friesen, Rector of St. Paul’s Church, where Jane Austen’s niece Cassy was baptized in 1809 and her nephew Charles John Austen, Jr. was married in 1848, reads from Austen’s prayers (photo by Brian Gidman)

I regret that we don’t have a photo of Janet Brush reading from Austen’s comic “Winchester Races” poem. (Sorry, Janet!)

Charlene Carr reads the “only a novel” passage from Northanger Abbey (photo by Brian Gidman)

Hugh Kindred reads The Letter from Persuasion (photo by Brian Gidman)

It was fun to see several people in Regency dress. As I mentioned at the event, for more than twenty-five years I have been a member of the Jane Austen Society of North America who does not dress in period costume, but this year, in honour of the 250th birthday, I have become a member who sometimes does. I bought my beautiful silk gown at the JASNA AGM last fall in Cleveland, Ohio, from The Bohemian Belle. (I’m still trying to figure out how to describe the colour: dark orange, rust, copper? Any suggestions? It isn’t a colour I’ve ever worn before.)

Adria Jackson and I were both in Regency costume (photo by Susan Kerslake)

My friend Susan Kerslake took this photo of me listening to one of the readings:

Happy 250th to Jane Austen! I’m looking forward to additional celebrations over the coming months, leading up to December 16th.

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Here are the links to the last two posts, in case you missed them:

The Austens: Book Launch and Upcoming Events

My novel The Austens is now available for pre-order from Jane Austen Books!

My debut novel, The Austens, is now available from Pottersfield Press!

Copyright Sarah Emsley 2025 ~ All rights reserved. No AI training: material on http://www.sarahemsley.com may not be used to “train” generative AI technologies.

Hello and happy September!

I’m excited about the launch of my debut novel, The Austens, and delighted that the book is being published this year during the celebrations of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday.

If you’re in Halifax—or feel inclined to travel here!—in late October, I hope you’ll join me to celebrate my book launch (and the 250th) on Tuesday, October 21st at 7:00 p.m. in the Regency Ballroom of the Lord Nelson Hotel.

RSVP on the Facebook event page (and/or you could comment on this post).

“Come, meet The Austens! Jane and Fanny, Fanny and Jane. They’re sisters-in-law, two sides of the same coin, and though their letters span the globe and reach out to us from centuries ago, you already know all about what’s in this correspondence. Sarah Emsley’s epistolary novel blends meticulous research with a deeply felt understanding for the struggles her characters face. If you care about literature or love or longing or loss, if you have any experience with the negotiations of marriage or motherhood or money, if you’ve ever wondered where great art comes from, then you will find something familiar, and of immense value, waiting in the pages of this precise, passionate, brilliantly realized book.”

– Alexander MacLeod, author of Light Lifting and Animal Person

Alexander MacLeod will introduce me at the launch. Harpist Isabelle Gagnon will perform music from Jane Austen’s time. I think it will be a fun evening! The Regency Ballroom is beautiful, and I chose the Lord Nelson in part because it was the location of the two wonderful Jane Austen Society (UK) Halifax conferences, in 2005 and 2017, which focused on the story of the Austen family’s connections with Nova Scotia.

The official pub date is September 15th, but the book was released early—a lovely surprise!—and started arriving in local bookstores a couple of weeks ago. Here it is in the window at Bookmark in Halifax:

And on display inside the bookstore. (Such a thrill to see it on the same shelf as Middlemarch and Silas Marner!!)

And here’s a picture of me with Mike Hamm, manager of Bookmark, when I went in to sign pre-ordered copies:

I also signed books at Woozles, which specializes in books for children but has a small section of adult books.

I’ve spent countless hours (and $$) in both of these wonderful stores over the years that I’ve been working on this novel, and it is a delight to see the book on the shelves at last. Many thanks to the staff at both stores for their enthusiasm and support.

Order a signed copy of The Austens from Bookmark here or from Woozles here. As I mentioned in my last post, you can also order from Jane Austen Books and, if you like, they’ll set aside a copy for you to pick up at the JASNA AGM in Baltimore.

Links to additional bookstores in Canada, the United States, and beyond are included on the page for The Austens on my website. The e-book will be available from September 15th.

Here’s what the window at Bookmark looked like this past Friday (thank you to my friend Kathy for the photo):

More copies are on the way. The book is selling well, and I am tremendously grateful to all of you who pre-ordered or have bought copies over the past couple of weeks! [image error] [image error] [image error]

And a huge thank you to those of you who’ve requested the book for purchase from your local library and to those who’ve posted about the book on social media, including Goodreads.

I’m looking forward to a busy schedule of events this fall and hope to see some of you in person! Copies of The Austens will be available for sale at all of these events.

Photo by Brenda Barry

Upcoming events (see the Events page on my website for more details; I’ll continue to update it with other events and book signings as they’re confirmed):

Sept. 14: Prescott House, Starr’s Point, NS

Sept. 26–28: Cavendish Literary Festival, Cavendish, PEI

Oct. 10–12: JASNA AGM, Baltimore, MD

Oct. 21: Book Launch for The Austens, Halifax, NS

Nov. 16: LaHave River Books, LaHave, NS

Nov. 22: Halifax Central Library, Halifax, NS

Dec. 16 (Jane Austen’s 250th birthday): Naval Museum, Halifax, NS (also known as Admiralty House, where Jane Austen’s brother Francis and his family lived when they were in Halifax between 1845 and 1848)

If you enjoyed this post, I hope you’ll consider recommending it to a friend. If you aren’t yet a subscriber, please sign up.

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Here are the links to the last two posts, in case you missed them:

My novel The Austens is now available for pre-order from Jane Austen Books!

Jane Austen, L.M. Montgomery, and the Cavendish Literary Festival

My debut novel, The Austens, is now available from Pottersfield Press!

Copyright Sarah Emsley 2025 ~ All rights reserved. No AI training: material on http://www.sarahemsley.com may not be used to “train” generative AI technologies.

If you like, you can pre-order The Austens for pickup at the JASNA AGM (in Baltimore in October) from Jane Austen Books, one of my favourite bookstores. Or you can order it shipped directly to you.

Pre-order from Jane Austen Books. (They accept international orders.)

I’ll be speaking at the AGM—my talk is called “Books as Children”—and I’ll be there for the book signing on Sunday, October 12th. Looking forward to seeing some of you there!

Susan Allen Ford, author of What Jane Austen’s Characters Read (And Why) and editor of Persuasions and Persuasions On-Line writes that

“The novel both captures Austen’s voice and brings the people around her to life. It’s carefully built on historical research but is so skillful that it doesn’t call attention to the scholarship. The characters and story and settings—England, Bermuda, Halifax, and the high seas—captivate. I sat down to read The Austens one morning, and I couldn’t do anything else until I finished it that evening. This is a book all kinds of readers (and especially those interested in Jane Austen) will love.”

Additional sources:

Newly available for pre-order from Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, or Amazon.de.

Pre-order signed copies from two of my other favourite stores, Bookmark and Woozles! (Both are based here in Nova Scotia but will ship anywhere in North America.)

I don’t think I can even begin to count how many books by, about, and inspired by Jane Austen I’ve bought from Jane Austen Books, Bookmark, and Woozles over the years. Many thanks to all my friends at all three places. It’s really quite lovely to see my own Austen-inspired novel on their websites.

You can also pre-order from Indigo, McNally Robinson, King’s Co-Op Bookstore, Block Shop Books, LaHave River Books (where I’ll be doing a reading in November), and many other sources in Canada. On the 49th Shelf website you can search for an independent Canadian bookseller near you.

I also want to share the exciting news that copies of “my own darling” book have arrived from the publisher, earlier than expected. A few days ago, I received a “birthday” card for the book from a friend in the morning, and then the books arrived on my doorstep that afternoon. Perfect timing. Both the card and the box of books were a lovely surprise. (And the friend had no way of knowing the books would be delivered that day.)

I did not do an unboxing video or anything fancy. I didn’t even take pictures of the books until later. I just wanted some quiet moments with my daughter and this novel I’ve been working on for such a long time.

The printed book is even more beautiful than I thought it would be, with a smooth, matte texture on the cover, a pretty interior design, and the gorgeous watercolour painting of Government House in Halifax by J.E. Woolford. I’m very happy with the way it looks, and I hope you’ll feel the same!

My daughter did snap this one Polaroid not long after I had opened the box. (It looks like an ancient photo, but I swear it’s new. Not sure why it’s so dark—it was taken on a sunny afternoon.)

As I mentioned last week, I had been planning to take a break from writing these posts for the rest of the month—but this news (as I expect you’ll agree!) was just too good to save until September.

I can share details about the book launch for The Austens, too: it will be on Tuesday, October 21st at 7:00 p.m. in the Regency Ballroom at the Lord Nelson Hotel, 1515 South Park Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia. All are welcome!

If you enjoyed this post, I hope you’ll consider recommending it to a friend. If you aren’t yet a subscriber, please sign up.

Subscribe

Here are the links to the last two posts, in case you missed them:

Jane Austen, L.M. Montgomery, and the Cavendish Literary Festival

New and Wonderful Books (Solo Camino: An Empowering Guide for Women, by Renée Hartleib; The Secrets of Thorndale Manor, by Syrie James; and The Arrows of Fealty by Jill MacLean)

P.S. If you’re interested in the celebration of “Jane Austen in the Public Gardens” in Halifax on August 17th (this Sunday!), rsvp on our Facebook event page.

My debut novel, The Austens, will be published by Pottersfield Press on September 15th. Now available for pre-order!

Copyright Sarah Emsley 2025 ~ All rights reserved. No AI training: material on http://www.sarahemsley.com may not be used to “train” generative AI technologies.