Thanks, Meredith, it’s good to be here!

What genre of books do you enjoy reading? Who are some of your favorite author(s)?

I read most genres. Apart from Jane Austen (of course!) some of my favourite authors are Georgette Heyer, the Brontes, Winston Graham, Agatha Christie, Jonathan Stroud, E F Benson, JRR Tolkien and P G Wodehouse.

Did you always envision yourself becoming a writer? What is the first thing you wrote?

I never really thought about becoming a writer, but I started writing stories as soon as I could hold a pencil. It just seemed natural to me. The first thing I wrote was probably a story about fairies or elves, although I can’t remember that far back – not the sort of fairies and elves to be found in Lord of the Rings, the sort to be found at the bottom of the garden! But I do remember the first novel I wrote, which was a children’s fantasy rather like C S Lewis. I wrote it in the back of an old exercise book when I was at university but I never thought about trying to get it published, it was just something I did in my spare time.

When did you become a fan of Jane Austen?

I became an Austen fan when I was 12 or 13 years old and picked up Pride and Prejudice for the first time. I was in love with the book before I reached the end of page 1. Something about her writing just pulls me in.

What inspired you to retell the novels of Jane Austen through the eyes of Jane Austen’s heroes? Was it in your original plan to write a retelling for each of Jane Austen’s major novels?

I’ll answer the second question first, No! I had no idea I’d write a complete set. In fact, I never set out to write the first one, Mr Darcy’s Diary. I was just reading Pride and Prejudice again and I realised I hadn’t read it since becoming a professional author (I’d had about ten historical romances published by then). I found myself looking at it with an author’s eye and thinking, The only thing Pride and Prejudice doesn’t have which a modern romance would have is a few scenes from the hero’s point of view.

I found myself imagining some of the scenes from Darcy’s point of view, in particular Darcy going down to London and making Wickham marry Lydia. I sat down and wrote them, and then somehow I couldn’t stop. Before I knew it I’d written a whole book. I loved it so much I wanted to do it again, so I wrote Mr Knightley’s Diary. But it wasn’t until I’d written the third book, Captain Wentworth’s Diary, that I knew I wanted to write a whole set.

Your five retellings wonderfully flesh out the characters of Jane Austen’s heroes. I love the added insight and back stories you give these characters. Which Jane Austen hero is your favorite? Which Jane Austen hero do you find to be the most romantic?

Over the last seven years, my favourite hero has always been the one I’ve been writing about. I’ve discovered so much more about them through writing their diaries. Mr Darcy is still a great favourite of mine, but I think Colonel Brandon comes a close second, which is funny, because before I wrote Colonel Brandon’s diary I thought he barely deserved the name of hero. I thought he was dull. But I came to realise that still waters run deep and I would say he is the most romantic hero. What other hero rescues his first love from poverty and holds her as she dies, then fights a duel to protect the honour of her daughter and still goes on to fall wholeheartedly in love with the woman who is the real love of his life?

After reading Colonel Brandon’s Diary, I, too, felt he was the most romantic. Out of your five Jane Austen retellings and one paranormal novel, Mr. Darcy, Vampyre, which novel was your favorite to write? Which ones, would you say, are the favorites of your readers?

I’ve liked writing them all in different ways. If you push me, I think I would say that Captain Wentworth’s Diary was my favourite to write, as it’s the first diary with a full back story. I also loved writing Mr Darcy, Vampyre, because I modelled it on the early nineteenth century Gothic novels that were hugely popular in Jane Austen’s day and it was something very different for me to write. As to my readers’ favourite book, it’s Mr Darcy’s Diary without a doubt. I get a lot of emails about it, and readers come up to me at conferences and tell me how much they love it, which makes my day.

Let’s talk a little about Wickham’s Diary now. What prompted you to tell the inside story of this bad boy? What drew you to Wickham instead of other Austen bad boys (Willoughby, Henry Crawford, or Frank Churchill)?

I’ve always been interested in Wickham because I have a liking for him which I don’t really have for the other anti heroes (sorry to all those who love the other bad boys!) Willoughby is an out and out cad, I don’t like him at all – well, not once I find out what he’s really like; Henry Crawford is too vacillating for my tastes and Frank Churchill – what can I say about Frank Churchill? Only that I think Jane Fairfax can do better.

But I am drawn to Wickham. He’s handsome, he’s charming and he’s devious, but he doesn’t do any great harm. He tries to run away with Georgiana but fails; he runs away with Lydia but I think it would actually be fairer to say that Lydia runs away with him; he tries to marry Miss King but fails; he lies to Lizzy. Somehow no one is ever really hurt by him, so I can forgive him his sins and enjoy his charms because he’s a rogue, but not irredeemable.

In Wickham’s Diary the story starts when Wickham and Darcy were young boys, several years before the start of Pride and Prejudice. We don’t know much about Wickham’s childhood, (and what we hear from him we can not credit!) In Wickham’s Diary you give Wickham a history, a family, and you give the reader some understanding to his character. How did you go about creating Wickham’s background?

It was a bit like being a detective. I read Pride and Prejudice again and made a note of all the clues. I knew that he grew up on the Pemberley estate, that his father was the Darcy steward – therefore reliable and a good manager – and that his mother was extravagant (more about her lower down!) I also knew that Wickham was the companion of Darcy’s youth and that he grew up to betray Darcy. So I started thinking, why would two boys who had such similar upbringings turn out so differently? And then I imagined the kind of events that might have turned Wickham from the twelve-year-old playfellow of Darcy into his bitterest enemy. The main cause of their total breach was the thwarted elopement, and the reason for that was money and revenge. Then, when I thought about the revenge aspect, I realised that his desire for revenge was caused by money, too. So I gave Wickham a deep-down love of money, coupled with a disinclination to work for it, and the rest followed on from that.

In your novella, the only character Wickham seems to care for (besides himself) is his mother. She urges Wickham to dream big, marriage advantageously, and have high aspirations. She also shares some characteristics with Wickham’s future wife, Lydia! Can you tell us a little about your creation of Mrs. Wickham?

The germ of the idea came to me from this sentence in chapter 35 of Pride and Prejudice: “his (Wickham’s) own father, always poor from the extravagance of his wife, would have been unable to give him a gentleman’s education”. That set me thinking: Wickham had a reliable, responsible father, so why didn’t his father control his mother’s spending? The answer seemed obvious: because she was young and pretty and she could wrap him round her finger. I began to see her as good looking and charming but manipulative and selfish, just like George. I gave them a close relationship as they were so alike and that led to George’s love for her, which in my version of him is probably his redeeming feature.

What is your favorite scene in Wickham’s Diary? What were some of the challenges in writing Wickham’s Diary?

My favourite scene is on 8th March, 1791. I’m not going to say any more here because I don’t want to spoil it for people who haven’t read the book yet! I’d love to know what readers’ favourite scenes are, if they’ve read it yet!

The challenges were creating a boy (and then a man) who fit with everything we know about him in Pride and Prejudice, whilst adding to the story with more of his invented background.

I enjoyed that scene too, my other favorite scene would be the letters echange between Darcy an Wickham, I loved Wickham’s indignation with Darcy and unreasonable expectations!  I hear you are preparing for the new release of the long-anticipated Henry Tilney’s Diary! HURRAH! Can you tell us a little about it?

Henry’s Diary is very special to me because it completes the set of heroes’ diaries. It’s funny, I think of all the other diaries as Wentworth’s Diary or Brandon’s Diary, but I don’t think of this one as Tilney’s Diary, I think of it as Henry’s Diary! He’s such a funny, likeable person that I feel as if I know him.

I started the book when Henry is sixteen because I wanted to show some of his family life before his mother died. I also wanted to show his close relationship to his sister, Eleanor, and I very much enjoyed writing their scenes together as they passed through their teenage years to their early adulthood. It also gave me a chance to write more about Eleanor’s love affair, which is mentioned in Northanger Abbey but not filled out, and to give an explanation for Henry’s brother’s behaviour when he pursues Isabella. Then, of course, Catherine appears and I loved seeing her through his eyes. Henry was jaded by all the nonsense spoken in Bath, and although he likes talking nonsense as much as the next person I had the feeling that he wanted something more. In Catherine’s naïveté, optimism, honesty and charm he found it. I carried the novel on until their marriage, which takes some place after the end of Northanger Abbey, so that I could show them getting to know each other even better once Henry’s father had given his reluctant consent.

What is next for you? Is Wickham’s Diary a start of a new series? Are there more Austenesque novels you wish to write?

Next is a short story in an anthology called Jane Austen Made Me Do It, which will be out in October. My story is about Mr and Mrs Bennet’s courtship. After that, I don’t know. I don’t have any plans to write any more villain’s diaries, but never say never . . .

Lastly, if you could ask Jane Austen any question today, what would it be?

‘Do you forgive me?!’

Thanks for answering my questions, Amanda! Best of luck on your new release!

Thanks, Meredith, it’s been a pleasure.

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!  Thanks to Beth Pehlke of Sourcebooks, Austenesque Reviews has ONE lovely copy of Wickham’s Diary to give away to you wonderful readers! (US and Canada only)

You can enter this giveaway by stating which novel by Amanda Grange is your favorite.  Or, if you had not  read any yet, which one do you want to read?  To protect your inbox from unwanted spam, please DON’T leave your email address.  Just check back April 14th!

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This contest ends April 13th!  Thanks for entering and best of luck!