Sarah Emsley's Blog

“I am not born to tread in the beaten track”

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.

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

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.

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:

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.

The Austens: Book Launch and Upcoming Events

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.

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

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.

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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.

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

I was thrilled to be invited to speak at the inaugural Cavendish Literary Festival, as I mentioned in a post last week. If you’d like to know more about the Festival and hear when tickets launch, you can sign up for their newsletter here.

I’ll be participating in a panel discussion on Jane Austen and L.M. Montgomery on Friday, September 26th, with Kate Scarth and Laura Robinson, and on Saturday, September 27th, I’ll do a reading from my debut novel The Austens and talk about the connections between Jane Austen and Nova Scotia that inspired me to write the book.

I’m looking forward to speaking alongside Kate, Laura, Donna Jones Alward, Linden MacIntyre, Sheree Fitch, Keir Lowther, Sandra McIntyre, and many others. In addition to author talks, the Festival offers workshops and wellness retreats. More details are available on the Cavendish Literary Festival website. The landscape of Cavendish was a source of tremendous inspiration to Montgomery, and it’s a beautiful setting for this new and exciting Festival.

In Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery describes a September evening in Avonlea, which was based on Cavendish:

… all the gaps and clearings in the woods were brimmed up with ruby sunset light. Here and there the lane was splashed with it, but for the most part it was already quite shadowy beneath the maples, and the spaces under the firs were filled with a clear violet dusk like airy wine. The winds were out in their tops, and there is no sweeter music on earth than that which the wind makes in the fir trees at evening. (Chapter 29)

Come and join us in Cavendish this fall!

I’m going to take a break from writing these posts for the remainder of this month. Happy summer and see you in September.

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:

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)

“Its enchantment has never faded” (L.M. Montgomery Birthplace Museum)

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

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.

New and Wonderful Books

Today I want to recommend three excellent—and very different!—new books by friends of mine: 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.

Before I get into the details, I want to add a reminder about the upcoming event “Jane Austen in the Public Gardens: A 250th Birthday Celebration” here in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Sunday, August 17th at 4:30 p.m.

Readers include Janet Brush, Charlene Carr, Sheree Fitch, Darcy Johns, Sheila Johnson Kindred, Hugh Kindred, Stephens Gerard Malone, Jan Parker, Anne Thompson, Carole Thompson, and the Rev’d Canon Dr. Paul Friesen, Rector of St. Paul’s Church. I’m the MC, and Adria Jackson, harpist, will provide music from Austen’s time.

RSVP on our Facebook event page.

Now to the book recommendations!

The first one I want to recommend is Solo Camino: An Empowering Guide for Women, which was published in May. Renée’s new book is beautiful, thoughtful, and inspiring. I read it in one sitting, enthralled by the stunning colour photos and the story of her experience of walking the Camino, dealing with challenges large and small along the way, and adjusting to ordinary life after the journey.

If you don’t already get her fabulous monthly newsletter, I encourage you to subscribe.

I don’t typically read historical mysteries but am delighted to have discovered Syrie’s Audacious Sisterhood of Smoke & Fire series. I admire her heroines, the three Taylor sisters (Diana, Athena, and Selena), and their passion for justice. Book 2, The Secrets of Thorndale Manor, which was published in June, is a powerful and memorable love letter to books and reading as well as a deeply satisfying novel of mystery and romance.

It was an honour to be asked to write an endorsement for Jill MacLean’s new novel, The Arrows of Fealty, which is coming out next month. Here’s what I said:

In this stunning sequel to her equally powerful novel The Arrows of Mercy, Jill MacLean asks us to consider questions about where we pledge our loyalties and why, and whether the efforts of one person can ever make a difference in the fight against injustice and tyranny—issues as pressing in our own time as they were in 14th century England. Her vivid portrait of Haukyn and his experiences of the horrors and resounding effects of war is deeply affecting and thoroughly convincing.

The launch for The Arrows of Fealty is on Sunday, September 21st at 3:30 p.m. at the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia in Halifax. Hope to see you there!

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:

“Its enchantment has never faded” (L.M. Montgomery Birthplace Museum)

“It blooms as if it meant it” (quotations from L.M. Montgomery and Jane Austen, with photos from a lavender farm in Prince Edward Island)

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.

“Its enchantment has never faded”

L.M. Montgomery wrote in her journal that over the years, the house she was born in became “shabbier than before,” but that “its enchantment has never faded in my eyes. I always look for it with the same eager interest when I turn the corner,” she said (December 31, 1898).

Last week, my family and I visited the L.M. Montgomery Birthplace Museum in New London, Prince Edward Island. I’ve visited several times over the past thirty years and always find it moving to read of Montgomery’s mother’s death from tuberculosis before her first and only child had turned two.

I was glad to see some of my favourite books by and about LMM in the museum shop, including Anne of Green Gables: The Original Manuscript, edited by Carolyn Strom Collins (and proofread by Marianne Ward), the beautiful Tundra editions of Montgomery’s novels featuring cover art by Elly MacKay, Mary Henley Rubio’s excellent biography Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings, and two wonderful novels inspired by Montgomery’s life: After Anne, by Logan Steiner, and Maud, by Melanie J. Fishbane.

Marianne, Logan, and Melanie have all contributed guest posts for my blog:

“L.M. Montgomery and Emily Carr, Worshippers of the Woods,” by Marianne Ward

“People Who Love Our Places,” by Logan Steiner

“Searching for Maud in the ‘Emily’ Series,” by Melanie J. Fishbane

The view from Village Pottery in New London, another of my family’s favourite places in PEI

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:

“It blooms as if it meant it” (quotations from L.M. Montgomery and Jane Austen, with photos from a lavender farm in Prince Edward Island)

“And—there was the sea” (quotations from the letters of L.M. Montgomery and photos of beaches in Prince Edward Island)

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

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.

“It blooms as if it meant it”

The title of today’s post comes from Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery: Anne is talking with Marilla, describing the huge cherry tree outside her bedroom window, which is “radiantly lovely—it blooms as if it meant it,” but she’s also admiring “the garden and the orchard and the brook and the woods, the whole big dear world” (Chapter 4).

On a visit to a lavender farm on Prince Edward Island last week (the Island Lavender Distillery), I spotted a single purple lupine, still blooming long after most of the lupines on the Island had gone to seed. Don’t you think it looks as if this last lupine at the lavender farm is “blooming as if it meant it”?

As my mother and I cut sprigs of lavender at the u-pick, I had the words of Mrs. Elton from Jane Austen’s Emma running through my mind. “I shall wear a large bonnet, and bring one of my little baskets hanging on my arm. Here,—probably this basket with pink ribbon. Nothing can be more simple, you see” (Volume 3, Chapter 6).

If only I had thought to bring a pink ribbon! Glad I remembered to bring a large hat. (And my Beethoven t-shirt, with its “Ludwig Lives!” slogan.)

“We are to walk about your gardens,” says Mrs. Elton to Mr. Knightley, “and gather the [lavender] ourselves, and sit under trees…. Every thing as natural and simple as possible.”

I also have a few links to share with you today. I was thrilled to see my debut novel, The Austens, featured on three lists recently:

From 49th Shelf: Most Anticipated: Our 2025 Fall Fiction Preview

(If you, too, are keen to read The Austens, and haven’t already pre-ordered, you can do so here! Thank you to everyone who ordered after I posted about this last week.)

From Halifax Public Libraries: Jane Austen at 250: The Halifax Connection

This post on the Library’s website also features my friend Sheila Johnson Kindred’s book Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister: The Life and Letters of Fanny Palmer Austen and includes a link to the “Austens in Halifax” walking tour Sheila and I created, along with other books to explore in this 250th anniversary year.

From Book Jotter: Reviews, News, Features, and All Things Books for Passionate Readers: Winding Up the Week #433

If you aren’t yet a subscriber to Book Jotter, sign up here! It’s always a treat to discover new books and essays through Paula Bardell-Hedley’s weekly posts.

One more piece of news: I’m thrilled to have been invited to speak at the inaugural Cavendish Literary Festival, September 26th to 28th—more on that soon, once details have been finalized. I’m always glad to have a reason to make the trip to PEI and visit places L.M. Montgomery knew and loved. Maybe some of you would like to come to the Island for this Festival? If you’re interested, you can sign up for the Cavendish Literary Festival Newsletter to find out when tickets launch.

I’ll be back on Friday with photos from my visit to the L.M. Montgomery Birthplace Museum.

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:

“And—there was the sea” (quotations from the letters of L.M. Montgomery and photos of beaches in Prince Edward Island)

My novel The Austens is now available for pre-order!

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

Read more about my books, including The Austens, St. Paul’s in the Grand Parade, Jane Austen’s Philosophy of the Virtues, and Jane Austen and the North Atlantic, here.

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.

“And—there was the sea”

L.M. Montgomery wrote about her love of the sea in letters to her friend G.B. MacMillan: “And—there was the sea,” she says in a letter of September 13, 1913. “I was not prepared for the flood of emotion which swept over me when I saw it. I was stirred to the very depths of my being—tears filled my eyes—I trembled! For a moment it seemed passionately to me that I could never leave it again.”

Lakeside Beach, Prince Edward Island, on a windy day

My family and I spent a few days in Prince Edward Island earlier this week, walking along beaches on the North and Eastern Shores and visiting bookstores in Charlottetown. (We also visited L.M. Montgomery’s Birthplace Museum—more about that in a future post.) In a second-hand bookstore, I found a copy of Spirit of Place: Lucy Maud Montgomery and Prince Edward Island, a collection of quotations from Montgomery’s writing edited by Francis W.P. Bolger with photography by Wayne Barrett and Anne MacKay, a book my grandmother had given me for my twelfth birthday. After we came home, I took my own copy off the shelf and started rereading it. The book includes several quotations from Montgomery’s letters to MacMillan. I read it many times when I was younger, and the beautiful quotations and photos continue to inspire me.

Lakeside Beach on a rainy evening

Panmure Island Provincial Park

Lakeside Beach at sunset

In a letter to MacMillan written on May 21, 1909, Montgomery speaks of her childhood wish to know what lay beyond the New London Cape: she says she felt sure it was “a very realm of enchantment … the land of lost sunsets.”

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:

My novel The Austens is now available for pre-order!

Shawna Lemay’s tribute to Jane Austen: on learning to “view the world at a comedic distance”

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

Read more about my books, including The Austens, St. Paul’s in the Grand Parade, Jane Austen’s Philosophy of the Virtues, and Jane Austen and the North Atlantic, here.

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.

My novel The Austens is now available for pre-order!

I’m delighted to share the news that my debut novel, The Austens, is available for pre-order. The book will be published by Pottersfield Press on September 15th.

If you’d like a signed copy, you can order from Bookmark, one of my favourite independent bookstores! (They ship internationally.)

You can also pre-order from Indigo, McNally Robinson, Woozles, Block Shop Books, LaHave River Books, Audreys Books, and many other sources. I’ll add more pre-order links on The Austens page of my website as they become available.

It’s a pleasure to share the beautiful cover with you:

The cover features a detail from an early nineteenth-century watercolour of Government House, Halifax, by J.E. Woolford (reproduced courtesy of the Nova Scotia Museum). I love that the image also includes a glimpse of Halifax harbour, just down the hill from this elegant Georgian mansion where one of the heroines of my novel, Fanny Austen, dances with her naval captain husband, Captain Charles Austen.

I’ve received wonderful endorsements for The Austens from several writers I admire, including Karen Joy Fowler, Devoney Looser, and Janet Todd, and I am tremendously grateful for their kind words.

“Deeply researched and lovingly imagined.” – Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club

“Emsley breathes wondrous new life into those magical years when Jane was blossoming into one of the world’s greatest novelists, while Fanny’s life unfurled with marriage, children, and travel.”
– Devoney Looser, author of Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane

“In this powerful reimagining of the stories of Fanny Palmer and Jane Austen, Sarah Emsley creates a rich and poignant context for the six novels – a context that lets us see what Austen reveals of women’s lives – and how much she omits.” – Janet Todd, author of Living with Jane Austen and Jane Austen and Shelley in the Garden

My aunt was the first person to pre-order my first novel—in fact, she ordered it decades before I dreamt of writing this novel about Jane Austen and her family. When I was in high school, I used to invite friends and family to sign their names on the ceiling of my bedroom (thanks, Mom and Dad, for letting me do that…), and here’s what my aunt wrote:

If you’d like to help more readers discover The Austens (or any other book you want to support!), here are some suggestions:

Buy a copy for yourself and/or as a gift! Pre-ordering is especially helpful as it gives the publisher an idea of the level of interest in the book. (Here’s the link to pre-order a signed copy from Bookmark.)

Tell friends in person or online. Write a short—or long!—review. Posting reviews on Goodreads and Amazon (among other places) can be very helpful. Adding the novel to your “Want to Read” list on Goodreads can also help more readers discover it.

Request the book from your local library! If they don’t have a copy, suggest that they consider purchasing it.

I’ll share more details about upcoming events and readings soon, including the Halifax launch for The Austens. If you know of a bookstore or group that might like to invite me to speak (in person or at an online event), please get in touch.

I took this photo of Government House a few weeks ago at the Lieutenant Governor’s Garden Party

Thanks so much to all of you, dear readers, for the conversations we’ve had here over the years about Jane Austen and her life and works. I appreciate your interest in my writing and photos, and I’m excited to share this novel with you!

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:

Shawna Lemay’s tribute to Jane Austen: on learning to “view the world at a comedic distance”

A Bookmark Plaque in Halifax, NS for Budge Wilson’s Story “The Leaving” (details about the Budge Wilson Bookmark and the fundraiser our Nova Scotia Reading Circle for Project Bookmark launched recently)

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

Read more about my books, including St. Paul’s in the Grand Parade, Jane Austen’s Philosophy of the Virtues, and Jane Austen and the North Atlantic, here.

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.