Meet Philip Dobney

Painting of the parish church of St James the Greater, Stirchley, Shropshire, seen from the southeast. Circa 1850. John Holmes Smith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I liked sharing a full chapter last in the previous Story Connections post, that I decided to do it again. 🙂 I’m also sharing the full chapter to give you a good understanding of who Philip Dobney, the hero of And Then Love, is — just in case you haven’t already met him. If you have, it’s always fun to revisit an old friend.

Philip, as well as Lucy, in this story are good friends of Fitzwilliam Darcy. They’ve grown up together, so the friendship is of long standing. Philip is the person to whom the living at Kympton fell when Wickham refused it.

The fact that Philip is a parson is why I picked the painting above to share with this post today. I thought it was a pretty little church, even if it is in Shopshire and not Derbyshire. 🙂 I also liked that it includes a graveyard because that is the setting for the excerpt below that sets up why Lucy needs Philip’s help.

Oh, and one more note about the setting of this story. It begins at the time when Wickham is petitioning Darcy to give him that living he refused. Between him and Lucy’s uncle (who is far worse than Wickham), there’s most certainly going to be some trouble in this story.

Enjoy!

Continue reading Meet Philip Dobney

Femme à la lorgnette (Woman with Spyglass) by Henri Nicholas van Gorp

Femme à la lorgnette (unaltered from original Wikimedia Commons post). Henri Nicolas van Gorp, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Today, I’m not giving you a short excerpt to read. I’m giving you the whole first chapter of Assessing Mr. Darcy. This book is the final entry in my Dash of Darcy and Companions collection, and you can download it today for FREE from Amazon. (Today, August 9, only. It goes back to regular price tomorrow. However, it is also available to read in the Kindle Unlimited program.)

As you will see from the chapter below, Mr. Collins is not Mr. Collins in this story, but rather William Bennet.

I think you’ll also figure out why I decided to pair the above picture with this book, but I have to ask: Do you suppose the lady in the painting is spying on her new and handsome neighbours like Elizabeth is? 🙂

Enjoy!

Continue reading Femme à la lorgnette (Woman with Spyglass) by Henri Nicholas van Gorp

Pride and Prejudice Illustration by C.E. Brock

Charles Edmund Brock (1870-1938), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

On Friday, I have a new Teatime Tales story publishing called An Accomplished Lady (of the Best Sort). So I thought I’d share a little teaser from the story with you today.

You should know that it is a story that is told completely from Bingley’s point of view as he attempts to make his best friend realize that Miss Elizabeth is his friend’s perfect match. And, I’m sure when you read the excerpt, you will know both the setting place and time (as it relates to the timeline of P&P) and why I chose the above image for today’s post.

Enjoy!

Continue reading Pride and Prejudice Illustration by C.E. Brock

Never Mind (Frederick Morgan)

“Never Mind”, from a Pears Annual, 1884, Frederick Morgan (1856-1927), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I saw this picture and thought of two little girls who end up becoming the responsibility of their uncle in Sketches and Secrets of Summer. Maggie is the oldest and five. Rose is the youngest and three. Rose is also the more cautious of the pair, while Maggie is a good bit more independent.

Both of them adore Miss Bennet (aka Mary), and so does their uncle, though he hasn’t figured that out by the time they make this call at Pemberley in the story.

Continue reading Never Mind (Frederick Morgan)

A Summer Shower (Charles Edward Perugini)

Three young women standing under a tree to stay out of the rain.
FER96213 A Summer Shower, 1888 (oil on canvas) by Perugini, Charles Edward (1839-1918); 115.6×76.5 cm; Ferens Art Gallery, Hull Museums, UK; English, out of copyright. via Charles Edward Perugini, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

When I was scrolling through pictures on Wikimedia today, I came across this one and my mind immediately went to the scene below for Morning Mist — even if in that scene there are only two young ladies standing under a tree during a rain shower. 🙂

Morning Mist is one of my Nature’s Fury and Delights novelettes. This one, as you will see, is a variation on Sense and Sensibility. In this short, six-chapter variation, which tells how Marianne falls in love with the colonel, Marianne meets Colonel Brandon before she meets Mr. Willoughby, and she meets him in just the sort of setting to make her imagine him as a brave and noble knight. So, by the time she and her younger sister Margaret meet Mr. Willoughby, the colonel has already taken up a place of admiration in Marianne’s mind.

Continue reading A Summer Shower (Charles Edward Perugini)