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Young Lady Catherine
Juliet Mercer’s Young Lady Catherine takes one of Jane Austen’s most intimidating characters and gives her a passionate, painful history of her own. Beginning twenty-two years before Pride and Prejudice, the novel introduces Catherine Fitzwilliam as a sharp, ambitious young woman who has learned that perfection, status, and self-control are forms of protection. After her expected marriage to her cousin Phillip disappears in a humiliating public announcement, Catherine becomes entangled with Charles, the troubled heir to the Duke of Hilliard. What starts as a false betrothal develops into genuine love, but family pressure, blackmail, violence, and a devastating misunderstanding separate them. When the story returns to Catherine decades later, she’s the commanding Lady Catherine de Bourgh readers recognize, yet Mercer has made that severity feel like the accumulated weight of everything she’s survived.
The novel’s strongest achievement is Catherine herself. She can be calculating, proud, funny, frightened, affectionate, and infuriating, sometimes within the same conversation. Her obsession with appearances grows naturally from a childhood in which male displeasure carries real danger and social mistakes can permanently alter a woman’s future. Charles is a compelling match for her because he recognizes both her performance and the vulnerable person beneath it. Their romance is intense, but the book is equally interested in trust, agency, and the ways love can become tangled with fear. Even Catherine’s worst decisions make emotional sense, particularly when she chooses security over uncertainty and spends years protecting her daughter Anne from truths she believes would destroy them both.
In its approach to a famously difficult woman, Young Lady Catherine reminded me of Madeline Miller’s Circe. Both novels take a woman remembered largely for her severity and allow her to narrate the experiences that shaped it. Mercer’s style is closer to a traditional Regency romance, with crowded ballrooms, family maneuvering, whispered scandals, and emotionally charged misunderstandings, while Miller’s writing is more mythic and solitary. Still, both authors understand that explaining a woman’s hardness doesn’t require making her harmless. Mercer preserves Catherine’s pride and formidable presence. She simply lets us see the frightened young woman, devoted sister, passionate lover, and fiercely protective mother living inside the character Austen created.
Catherine and Charles are both exceptionally talented at turning silence into catastrophe. The later chapters, which reconnect Catherine’s private history to Darcy, Elizabeth, Anne, Georgiana, and Pemberley, give the novel an especially satisfying emotional payoff. Young Lady Catherine is a generous and absorbing reimagining that transforms Lady Catherine without softening her into someone unrecognizable. By the end, her famous confidence feels less like vanity and more like armor, and watching her finally decide she no longer needs to live entirely inside it is the book’s most rewarding triumph.
Pages: 363 | ASIN : B0H3WK55LN
Always Stay True to the Characters
My Dearest Miss Fairfax follows a young woman who is forced to hide her engagement to the man she loves as she navigates the lies the two have created. What was the idea, or spark, that first set off the need to write this story?
MDMF is my third Jane Austen-inspired book. Jane Austen Lied to Me is a modern romantic comedy, and A Woman’s Persuasion is a modern LGBTQ translation (I went through Persuasion chapter by chapter and rewrote it to prove that Persuasion is ABSOLUTELY relevant to modern audiences… when you have the stakes right!). In order to work on marketing my other novels, I was learning about how to join groups – including Reddit. I found subreddits for historical fiction for other books I’ve written, and historical costuming subreddits – and the Jane Austen subreddit. You don’t just jump on there and sell your book – you go take part in conversations. It’s so much fun!
So I got into this involved conversation, that somehow or other turned to Emma. The girl everyone loves to hate. I must be a very cantankerous person, I have a fondness for the characters that everyone loves to hate. Mrs. Bennet. Emma. (And after writing this book, Frank Churchill.) The thread that ended up in me writing this novel started with me writing a defense of Emma. We need to look at her without the modern lens. Women at this time have only ONE opportunity in her life to improve her situation – by marrying well. Is it terrible that Emma is focusing on helping Harriet marry well? Or is it selfless?
It was a very long and interesting conversation! And like a good conversation, it wandered over many interesting points and topics. Somehow, it came to the point that there isn’t much written in Jane Austen Fan Fiction on Jane Fairfax. Someone said there is a book out there, but it’s actually really bad. So now, I’m intrigued. I re-read Emma, watching for the bits of Jane and Frank’s story. I went and bought a used copy of Emma, and took a pink highlighter to it while I re-read it again.
The hints to Frank and Jane’s story are all over Emma!
Now I needed to write this story.
What were some of the emotional and moral guidelines you followed when developing your characters?
The biggest guideline that I follow for all my stories is to always stay true to the character. In this particular case, my characters are not mine – they are Jane Austen’s. I cannot violate that guideline! I have to, have to, have to stay true to Austen’s characters. The first thing I did was to take all the hints in Emma that we have about Jane’s romance with Frank, and put them in chronological order. And then start asking questions, and look for the most logical answers whenever there is a gap in the information.
What was your favorite scene in this story?
Probably the proposal. The scariest thing to write.
Scenes that aren’t part of Emma are the most terrifying part – when there is NO information to go on, and I have to rely on the Weymouth Historical Society, and Jane Austen reddit fans and JASNA members. To me, it’s absolutely imperative that the story rings true. It needs to feel like the truth. It needs to be what Jane Austen would have written had she chosen to tell us that part.
What Mrs. Dixon’s first name is, that was concerning. Sophia Dixon nee Campbell gets her first name from one of King George and Queen Charlotte’s children. Why are there so many Janes and Elizabeths in England? Names of queens. How did Frank and Jane meet? That was the second most frightening thing to write. So, “write what you know;” it’s based on a visit to a restaurant in Madison when I’d gone back for a visit. When it came time to write the proposal, I was terrified. It needed to be romantic. It needed to be unique. It needed to ring true with Janeites (even though JA never gives details on proposals in her books). And it needed to be memorable.
To this day, I can’t tell you where it came from. The muses paid me a visit one day, I started writing, and suddenly the scene was done, and I sighed with satisfaction. It felt right.
What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?
Sadly, right now my personal life is going through some chaos, so it is going to be a little while until I get back to the research and writing. But for those who expand beyond reading regency era books, I am working on a third book to finish out the Scions of Pittsburgh books. Wealth and Privilege and Brains and Beauty are set in Pittsburgh between 1875 and 1889. I get to write about bustle dresses instead of bonnets and spencers. The third book will be called Deceptions and Desires.
As for Jane Austen inspired books? I’ve had a few ideas, but nothing that has driven me yet to go buy a used copy of the book and get out my pink highlighter. Historical fiction is my first love, and after My Dearest Miss Fairfax, I don’t think I want to go back to modern interpretations.
I’m working on making Audiobooks of all my novels. But that’s EXPENSIVE. But for a reason. Talented people have to put in a lot of hours recording and editing an audiobook. The only way to avoid that expense is AI – which I can’t condone using instead of an actual talented person… so I have a GoFundMe to raise the money to pay for a narrator! Please check out my GoFundMe HERE.
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Miss Jane Fairfax has spent her life—though poor and expecting the eventuality of a governess position—by the side of a Colonel’s daughter, living beyond the means she was born into. When she meets the enigmatic and handsome Frank Churchill in Weymouth, she can’t help but fall for him. It’s love at first sight.
Mr Frank Churchill, the heir to his aunt’s fortune and dependent on her goodwill, knows that he cannot marry without Mrs Churchill’s permission. Desperate to marry Jane, he proposes not only marriage but a plan to hide their engagement until his aunt approves of the match. The couple travel separately to their same small hometown of Highbury, where Jane’s ridiculous aunt and the notorious Emma Woodhouse threaten the understanding between them, and as the months pass by, Jane worries that they will be secretly engaged forever, with no happy ending in sight.
As their lies and deceits pile up, can their love survive the social pressures that threaten to tear them apart?
My Dearest Miss Fairfax
Immerse yourself in the captivating world of My Dearest Miss Fairfax, a novel that breathes new life into Jane Fairfax, a memorable character from Jane Austen’s Emma. In this inspired retelling, Jeanette Watts masterfully unfolds the hidden layers of Jane’s life, exploring her secret engagement with Mr. Frank Churchill. As Jane navigates the aftermath of her parents’ demise, she bravely faces a future as a governess, despite her refined upbringing. Her journey takes her from Weymouth alongside the newlywed Sophie Campbell to the quaint town of Highbury, the residence of her grandmother and Aunt Bates.
This novel is not just a story; it’s a vibrant tapestry woven with the intricate threads of character-driven narrative and eloquent dialogue. Readers are invited to delve deep into Jane’s inner world, experiencing her struggles and resilience amid a society obsessed with the lives of others. The blossoming, yet covert, romance between Jane and Frank is both touching and fraught with challenges, making their journey a heart-rending experience. While the climactic resolution of their love story and Jane’s final reckoning with the meddlesome townsfolk may leave one yearning for a more gratifying closure, the overall experience is a delightful foray into Austen’s world.
Watts’ narrative prowess shines through every page, seamlessly introducing a rich array of characters and their motivations. The story’s brisk pace and engaging dialogue bring each character to life, offering a fresh perspective on both beloved and lesser-known individuals from Emma. Whether you’re a devout Jane Austen fan or a newcomer to her works, My Dearest Miss Fairfax promises a journey filled with intrigue, romance, and a nuanced exploration of societal norms. Step into Jane’s shoes and embark on a journey that will leave you contemplating the intricate dynamics of love, society, and personal fortitude.
Pages: 322 | ASIN : B09TG5XMWX
