From Kate’s Writing Crate…
If you
love Jane Austen’s novels, you will love A
Jane Austen Christmas: Celebrating the Season of Romance, Ribbons, and
Mistletoe by Carlo DeVito. In the six Christmases described in this book,
readers learn about Jane’s early writings, her first love, and Austen family
traditions.
Literary Background:
“Reading
aloud in the family circle—fiction and non-fiction—was a favorite amusement of
the time and practiced regularly by the Austens,”…Reverend Austen had a rich
library filled with books of all kinds. From the time that Jane and Cassy
[Jane’s sister] could read well enough, their father’s library was open to them
with little editing. (page 34)
It was
with this generosity of spirit and a love for his youngest daughter that George
Austen indulged Jane in her passion. He and she shared a love of books, but
Reverend Austen was much taken with his daughter’s desire to write. He intended
to encourage it. (page 51)
“For her
nineteenth birthday [December 16th], Mr. Austen bought Jane ‘a small mahogany writing desk with
1 long drawer and glass ink stand compleat’ which he purchased…for 12
[shillings],”. (page 51)…This desk was to have immense importance in her life,
and it marked a significant shift in her writing and attitude. Jane would begin
many of her great works writing on this very desk. (page 53)
Christmas Happenings:
Christmastide
of 1795 was a highlight for the twenty-year-old Jane Austen not only because it
heralded the start of the ball season, but because it was the meeting of the
first great love of her life. (page 67)
The
highlight of the Christmastide season for adults, especially young adults, was
a series of dances and balls…(page 69)
“Modern
readers are sometimes puzzled as to why dance scenes have so prominent a place
in Jane Austen’s novels; but in her lifetime the dance floor was the best, and
indeed the only place, where marriage partners could be identified and
courtship could flourish,”…(page 70)
Jane was
an enthusiastic participant. One December she wrote to Cassandra that she had
danced twenty dances “without any fatigue—I was glad to find myself capable of
being able to dance so much & with so much satisfaction as I did…” (page
73)
In the
Christmastide of 1795, Tom Lefroy went to the country to spend the holiday with
his aunt, Madame Lefroy. During the course of that season, and during four
balls given in that time, a romance took place that would mark Austen’s
writings for the rest of her life. And Lefroy himself would become a character
who would be recycled and reinvented several times over. (page 80) [All the heartbreaking
details follow on pp. 81-89.]
The text
is rounded out with many details about entertaining throughout the Christmas
season, recipes, and mores of the time. Jane’s letters as well as paintings and
illustrations of various people in her life are blended in to give this book
depth—a great gift for any fan of Jane Austen.
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