Guest Post: Jane Odiwe, author of Mr. Darcy’s Secret
Please welcome Jane Odiwe, author of the new novel, Mr. Darcy’s Secret!
by Jane Odiwe
Hello Vera, thank you so much for inviting me on to your blog to talk about Mr. Darcy’s Secret.
I’d always wanted to write the story of what happened after Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy got married at the end of Pride And Prejudice. The inspiration for the book came partly from research, and partly because I’d been thinking about Mr. Darcy! Don’t we all from time to time? I realized that we know very little about him apart from the fact that he is a landowner.
As I re-read Pride And Prejudice, and started to research into the history of Derbyshire where Mr. Darcy’s estate is to be found, I was fascinated by what it would have been like to have been a part of the circles that he moved in. I visited Chatsworth, Haddon and Kedleston Hall; all great houses that could have been the inspiration for Pemberley. I wanted to echo Jane’s themes of pride and prejudice and was thinking about how her books always revolve around a small community with its propensity for gossip and hearsay, as well as the society events that bring people together. As I wandered round these beautiful places I could imagine how daunting it would have been for Elizabeth to be thrust into a new set of people, and wondered how others that she already knew well would react to her marriage. Would Caroline Bingley be happy for her, or might she try to drive a wedge between her and Darcy?
[amazonify]1402245270[/amazonify]There was a lovely exhibition about the Duchess of Devonshire at Chatsworth, and in a case with beautiful objects there were examples of her correspondence. Writing letters was the only way of keeping in touch and we know that when Jane Austen and her sister were apart they kept in almost daily contact. Nowadays, we delete mail from our computer inboxes with a click, but then letters were kept, treasured and occasionally hidden. What if Elizabeth found herself listening to the local gossips, and what if she were to find a secret stash of letters that seemed to confirm her worst fears about some scandal attached to her husband?
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing Mr. Darcy’s Secret, and brought back most of the characters from the original including Jane and Bingley, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, Mr. and Mrs Collins, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Lydia and Mr. Wickham.
When I start a new book, I like a notebook especially to write down my ideas, and I tend to hand write a lot getting the basic plot in place and deciding which characters are going to be centre stage. Then, I’m ready to start on my laptop. I’m lucky because I do have a room I can escape to and I prefer solitude, but I have written in the living room with all my noisy family in attendance!
My luxury?
If I can have a slightly unusual one, a must-have luxury for me is TIME – that is, time to write and paint in particular! One other must-have luxury is scent or perfume, which can be spritzed from a bottle or wafted from a bowl of lilies or hyacinths.
I consider my many, many books necessities, to the point where they have taken over my kitchen. But if I ever build my dream house, I will have a bookshelf that swings open to reveal a hidden room—lined with even more bookshelves. Luxe!
Check out Jane Odiwe’s website and our review of Mr. Darcy’s Secret!
Category: Authors, Guest Posts
liking Jane’s idea for ‘ my dream house, I will have a bookshelf that swings open to reveal a hidden room—lined with even more bookshelves’ !!
sounds like a plan!
enjoyed meeting her in a personal way – her writing habits – including scent and solitude…
thx for introducing us to her in this way.
i don’t like authors messing with the JA character’s characters. modern authors do not seem to have any sense of the spiritual nature of JA’s writing, so they habitually think from a standpoint of modern culture , overlooking the religious nature and perspective Jane wrote from. this leaves their renditions far short and shortsighted writing is inaccurate. so this one defintely would not be a read for me. Mr Darcy would not have been the hero JA created without the solid character she designed. this new story demeans him leaving him less in our eyes and that is disappointment for this JA reader.
This was a wonderful post! I have a drawer full of the letters and cards friends and family have sent me over the years, and some of my most prized possessions are love letters my husband wrote to me when we were dating. Even though we are both just in our early thirties, we have always enjoyed letters and cards so much more than impersonal emails and texts…I guess it is one of the reasons we get along so well
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Can I just say that I have stolen Jane’s luxury wish of the bookshelves with a hidden door leading to more bookshelves! That is so awesome! Now I am going to be dreaming of such a wonderful room. Before this I wanted the library from the Disney Beauty and the Beast movie but this idea is much better! Like Mary said I have books stacked up all over my house so it would be nice to have enough shelves to hold them all
I really enjoyed this interview/guest post, I loved hearing how you researched for your book. I often wonder how much research authors do before sitting down to write a book or particular scene.
It must have been so incredibly exciting to visit the houses and I just read that you had your sister with you, how great is that!
Getting letters in the mail is the one thing that I miss about all this new technology we have today. I still ahve letters from my grandparents and cards from family. Now a days like you said we just delete our emails with the click of a mouse. I treasure all of the letters I ahve from family members that are no longer with us.
When you described what type of bookshelf you want to have, with the secret hidden room…I said to myself, yep..that would be awesome! My books are taking over my bedroom and living room, so to be the hallway and kitchen. But that’s ok with me.
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Thank you for the lovely interview, Vera!
Felicia, I had so much fun doing the research. My sister came with me for a lot of it so it was extra special. She was very patient as I kept her busy looking at grand houses and carriage museums without much rest in between!
Audra, thank you for your kind comments-I do hope you enjoy Mr Darcy’s Secret.
Wonderful interview. Jane, I’d have loved to been with you while you were researching for this book. Sounds like fun.
Felicia
Lovely guest post! I have this waiting at home and I’m looking forward to it.
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