My Jane Austen Summer (30 page)

Authors: Cindy Jones

BOOK: My Jane Austen Summer

11.1Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Acknowledgments

M
any people helped launch my debut novel. I am fortunate that Mike Lankford was my first serious writing teacher. For careful reading and comments, I thank: Kathleen Kent, Bill Swart, and Ellen Moody. Many thanks to my writing groups: Jana Swart, Erin Burdette, Larry Campbell, and Brett Levy. For helpful assistance: Shilpi Gowda, Lori Reisenbichler, Cindy Corpier, Lori Ingram, Deborah Sundermann, Sarah Lunzer, Will Clarke, Amy Bourret, Bob Jones, Leslie Callahan, Philip Theophilus, and Alma Garcia. For the trip: Justus Sundermann.

I am grateful for everything The Writers' League of Texas and The Squaw Valley Community of Writers offer aspiring writers. The online discussions groups, Austen-L and Janeites, were a constant source of information and I have learned much from my association with the Jane Austen Society of North America.

I am grateful to my wise and talented agent, Laura
Rennert, for patient guidance, and to my unflappable and enthusiastic editor, Lucia Macro. Esi Sogah and the team at Avon/Harper Collins have been an absolute pleasure to work with. Thanks to my parents, Dan and Sally Sundermann, with extra gratitude to my mother for reading multiple drafts. Love and appreciation to my sons: George, Daniel, William, and Robert. I would not be thanking anyone were it not for my husband, George, who is also my best friend, first reader, and the person who goes to work every day so I can write.

About the Author

CINDY JONES
was born in Ohio and grew up in small midwestern towns, reading for escape. She is a winner of the Writers' League of Texas Manuscript Contest, and she lives with her family in Dallas.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

Praise
for
My Jane Austen Summer

"When one has read the six great Austen novels, and been through the juvenilia and the letters, and then reread and then reread the six again, one's only recourse is the company of others equally bereft. Cindy Jones's
My Jane Austen Summer
fills the gap with a nourishing Austen-soaked setting, a wonderfully surprising plot, and Lily, a delightfully peculiar heroine. By being so socially awkward, Lily won my heart. By loving Fanny Price best of all Austen heroines, she also wins my awe and admiration."

--Karen Joy Fowler, author of
The Jane Austen Book Club

"A beautifully written novel full of surprises with an unexpected heroine you'll not soon forget. Cindy Jones's deeply honest tale of a woman in search of herself carries you away on a literary adventure of the mind and heart, proving her maxim: Books are indeed good for you."

--Syrie James, author of
The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen

"Austen lovers everywhere will delight in Lily's summer adventure and wish Cindy Jones had cast them in a role, too, so they could play a part in this whimsical literary treat."

--Marilyn Brant, author of
According to Jane

"An invitation to get lost in Austen all over again. Janeites will have great fun watching how Cindy Jones cleverly interweaves a very modern romance with the characters, themes, and scenes of Austen's masterpiece."

--Lynn Shepherd, author of
Murder at Mansfield Park

"A delightful story that takes us for a romp through the English countryside and into the wonderful world of Jane Austen. You can't help but root for Lily Berry, a refreshingly real heroine, as she searches for herself in a novel and finds something quite unexpected."

--Shilpi Somaya Gowda, author of
Secret Daughter

"
My Jane Austen: A Season in Mansfield Park
is a loving tribute to the timeless appeal of the world created by Jane Austen. A delightful and imaginative coming-of-age story of a young woman's search for romance, acceptance, and belonging, with some help along the way from Jane Austen herself."

--Kathleen Kent, author of
The Heretic's Daughter and The Wolves of Andover

Other Books by Cindy Jones

M
Y
J
ANE
A
USTEN
S
UMMER

Credits

Cover photographs: top (c) Mark Owen/Arcangel Images; bottom (c) Plush Studios/Getty Images

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

MY JANE AUSTEN SUMMER.
Copyright (c) 2011 by Cindy Sundermann Jones. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

EPub Edition (c) FEBRUARY 2011 ISBN: 978-0-06-207880-3

11 12 13 14 15