Wild for Austen

There's never been a better time to study and celebrate her wildness

Dear Jane-Friends:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. I should probably apologize for starting us off with a nugget from Charles Dickens! We’re a third of the way through celebrating Jane Austen’s 250th anniversary year, and I find myself thinking often about the 1790s through her eyes and those of other creators.

A DIGRESSION INTO THE ORIGINS OF MY FASCINATION WITH THE 1790s

By the time I read Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities (1859) in the 9th grade, I’d become a very weird kind of student of the French Revolution. No one in my family had gone to college. I didn’t know about this era through deep historical conversations. I learned about it through a comedy album.

My father (and a million other people) proudly owned a copy of Allan Sherman’s 33 1/3 album, My Son, the Nut (1963). I was allowed to play these albums at will. At age five, my second favorite Sherman song was “You Went the Wrong Way, Old King Louie,” which I was fond of spinning for crowds of assembled children at 78 speed, then awkwardly hurtle-dancing to. I was that kid in kindergarten informing flummoxed adults, “Louie the 16th was the worst since Louie the 1st!” (Sherman’s pink satin pants line ages poorly, but other parts of the song definitely hold up!)

So while I thank my mom for introducing me to Austen, I can thank my dad for fostering my very niche love of anachronistic comedy songs about the 1790s. Dad doesn’t share my fondness for the hard-rock-mock The Upper Crust, but he’s indirectly responsible for it. (If that’s your speed, too, check out “Let Them Eat Rock,” which I may have mentioned before! My sons tell me I’m a broken record.) And so ends my elliptical commentary on current events.

COVER REVEAL FOR WILD FOR AUSTEN

I’m spending a lot of my time getting ready for the launch of Wild for Austen on 2 September 2025. Didn’t St. Martin’s do an absolutely amazing job on the cover?

I’m so grateful they let me be in conversation with the designer. That’s how we ended up with a Jane with no wedding ring and a broad wink. (One of our John-Thorpe-inspired sons told me that Jane looks as if she’s been punched in the eye, and hey, if that’s also your interpretation, then I love that, too!)

The punk-rock-concert-poster vibes and Barbie pink absolutely suit this fun-but-scholarly treatment of Austen’s writings, life, and legacy. At least that’s what I hope this book of literary criticism (writings), biography (life), and reception studies (legacy) does. I’ve got old stories told anew and new stories you haven’t heard before. The press is billing it as “the ultimate tribute to Jane Austen,” and I hope you’ll agree.

PLEASE CONSIDER PRE-ORDERING?

The book is available for pre-order at all the places. If you think you might ever buy a copy, then please consider pre-ordering it from your favorite store. Did you know that pre-orders help determine the fate of a book, including how many hands it gets the chance to fall into after its launch? Hard truth. I’ll continue to share snippets from the book over the coming months, as I write to you a little more often this year. (Not too often, I promise!)

THE STATE OF THE ARC

The point of the process that my book is in now, just 157 days out from launch (yes, counting!), is known as the ARC stage. That means uncorrected proofs or ARCs (advance reader copies) are being circulated to potential reviewers and influencers, including through places like NetGalley and Edelweiss. That’s how the book already has a few pre-pub reviews on Goodreads. If you or someone you know should have an electronic or print ARC of Wild for Austen, please drop me a line! And if you’re on Goodreads and could take a moment to add the book to your “Want to Read” list, then that would also be very much appreciated.

MY JUST-READ AND TBR PILE

Things I’m now reading and recommending are: Rebecca Romney’s captivating Jane Austen’s Bookshelf, Janet Todd’s moving Living with Austen, and Octavia E. Butler’s prescient, stunning dystopian novel, Parable of a Sower. Fun fact: I just heard Levar Burton rhapsodizing about Butler in an event at the Huntington Library.

One perk of author-life is getting to read books before they’re out. Here are my endorsements for two beautiful ones:

• Janet Todd’s hybrid memoir and work of criticism, Living with Jane Austen, which I summed up as “A timely, moving and masterful book by one of the English-speaking world’s foremost literary historians and a trailblazing scholar-heroine in Jane Austen studies.” Jan is just the best of the best.

• Natalie Jenner’s historical novel, Austen at Sea, about which I said “This brilliant, sparkling novel, with unforgettable characters inspired by Jane Austen’s legacy and family, grapples with how to honor history’s remarkable women, safeguard what they make, face injustice, and choose love. Natalie Jenner has done it again with Austen at Sea.” Go, Natalie!

I’m now working on a review of other forthcoming Austen books. On that, more soon!

DOWNTOWN CRAZYTOWN NEWS ABOUT MY NEXT, NEXT BOOK

I’m excited (and surprised!) to announce that I’ve got a next, next book lined up, The Stunning Gunnings. If you love history, strong women, Jane Austen, Bridgerton, and the Kardashians (especially if you hate-love them), then this one will be for you. I’m going to be all Austen, all the time in 2025, but watch for this one in late 2027!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Are you in the Los Angeles area? If so, please join me at two events coming up in the next month.

Appearance at Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (April 26-27, 2025) on the campus of USC. I’ll be signing books and giving out Wild for Austen bookmarks at the festival at the JASNA Southwest table, now scheduled for both afternoons at 1 p.m. (Also check out JASNA SW’s amazing annual Young Filmmakers’ Contest.)

Lecture at “A Star is Born” JASNA Southwest Region Conference (May 3-4, 2025), held in part at the Huntington Library and Gardens. I’ll be speaking there on Sunday, 5/4, about a few almost-were Pride and Prejudice films.

I’ll have more on my Wild for Austen events soon. I’m working on it. If you’re connected to an organization that hosts lectures or an independent bookstore who should have Wild for Austen on its shelves or have me visit its store, please let them (then me) know? Thanks so much for remaining connected and for celebrating Jane and strong women together, especially now, and do let me know if you notice things you think I ought to.

Your humble and occasionally obedient servant,

Devoney

P. S. Feel free to forward this newsletter to a friend who might want to join us here? Because once again (again), with apologies for mangling Austen’s beautiful prose—How quick come the reasons for forwarding what we like!

P. P. S. Better links next time, but if you’re on social media and enjoy to-the-moment updates, then here are more places to find me talking about Jane, books, strong women, etc. I do try to follow back, but I’m a little off my game that way these days!

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