Sister Novelists's Launch!

The first biography of the once-celebrated Porter sisters is now out from Bloomsbury US.

Dear Jane-friends, book-friends, and friends of history’s strong women:

It’s here. Sister Novelists: The Trailblazing Porter Sisters, Who Paved the Way for Austen and the Brontës is published today from Bloomsbury US!

For good luck, I put on my favorite platform boots, my P&P leggings, and a bad-ass designer dress from the secondhand store. What do you think? Is it a good day to bring two amazing nineteenth-century sisters back into literary history? All signs point to yes!

COULD YOU TAKE A MOMENT TO HELP?

Here are things you could do today to spread the word about this book:

• Order Sister Novelists in print or e-book. Or check out the audiobook!

• Suggest that your local library add Sister Novelists to its collection (ISBN: 163557529X).

• Share a photo of your just-arrived copy on social media—and tag me!

• Add the book to your “Want to Read” on Goodreads and return later to review it.

• Read or share this short excerpt, published in Smithsonian magazine.

• Listen to (or share) this interview about Sister Novelists on KJZZ’s The Show.

• Put these upcoming book tour events—virtual or in-person—into your calendar.

• Forward this newsletter to a friend or to your book group. (Sister Novelists has an online reader’s guide for book clubs.)

DOES DOING THESE THINGS REALLY MATTER?

Absolutely, yes! Many factors determine a book’s fate, but how it first fares with readers makes a difference. If you ever plan to buy the book, then doing so this week would have the greatest impact. Checking it out online could help boost its visibility. Your purchasing, or recommending, Sister Novelists today would be such a gift to me. It would also help the Porter sisters’ return to greater prominence, as they so richly deserve. Or at least I hope you’ll think they deserve it, after reading about their colorful lives and brilliant, yet often difficult, careers!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

I’m so grateful that you’ve given me this chance to share the joy of this special day with you. Thank you so much! I’ll sign off with a favorite quote of mine from Anna Maria Porter in 1797, age 18. By then, she’d already published three books, all roundly attacked by sexist reviewers. She wrote to her beloved older sister Jane, “God keep me from a literary husband, at least a professed author, for they are of all stupid, formal, affected wretches the most hateful.”

Here’s to history’s strong women speaking their minds and to keeping their pens moving—and to bringing more of them back into view today!

Your dutiful and obedient humble servant,
Devoney

P. S. DO YOU LIKE TO FOLLOW THINGS?
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UPCOMING EVENTS WITH DEVONEY: SISTER NOVELISTS BOOK TOUR

In-person events

• Columbia, MO: Skylark Books (Thurs., Nov. 10th, 6:30 p.m.), with Janet Saidi of KBIA and The Austen Connection

• Tulsa, OK: Magic City Books (Mon,. Nov. 14th) 

• Scottsdale, AZ: Poisoned Pen (Tues., Dec. 6th, 7 p.m.), with novelist Francine Matthews aka Stephanie Barron

• Minneapolis, MN: Magers & Quinn (Thurs., Feb. 16th)

Online events

• November 4th/5th: Austen Con "Regency Women Breaking Rules," with Janet Saidi of The Austen Connection (ticketed event)

• November 7th: Hub City Writers Project (November 7th, ), 6 p.m. ET, with Erin Templeton (free with registration)

• November 15th: Jane Austen & Co. Zoom webinar lecture "Sister Novelists: Reading Jane Austen Through the Trailblazing Porter Sisters" (free with registration)