Happy Friday, friends! I am happy for the weekend! I will be spending it reading the book by today’s guest author – Katherine Cowley! Katherine just celebrated her release of The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet yesterday! Congrats, Katherine! I am so glad you wrote a mystery about Mary!
Katherine is here to share about where her story – The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet – takes place. We hope you enjoy!
Creating a Mysterious Setting for a Jane Austen Mystery Novel
Place is so essential in all of Jane Austen’s novels, whether it’s the grand beauty of Pemberley and its grounds in Pride and Prejudice or the stone staircase by the seaside where Louisa falls in Persuasion. When I set out to write my own Jane Austen-inspired novel, The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet, I knew that I wanted a compelling Austenesque setting that would set the stage for the mystery at the heart of my novel.
While Pride and Prejudice was the primary inspiration for my book, the setting I chose was inspired by Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey.
Northanger Abbey is a pastiche of the Gothic novel, and its heroine Catherine Morland approaches the abbey with all the awe and terror invoked by the many Gothic novels she has read:
As they drew near the end of their journey, her impatience for a sight of the abbey…returned in full force, and every bend in the road was expected with solemn awe to afford a glimpse of its massy walls of grey stone, rising amidst a grove of ancient oaks, with the last beams of the sun playing in beautiful splendour on its high Gothic windows.
The abbey is not quite what Catherine expects—it has more modern furniture and a larger staff—but there is an old chest and mysterious papers and soon Catherine is sneaking about the abbey in an attempt to discover what terrible things happened to the deceased Mrs. Tilney.
Illustration of Catherine Morland reading, from an 1833 edition of Pride and Prejudice. (Image in the public domain.)
I wanted my own novel to take place on an estate that invoked the same sorts of possibilities and mystery as Northanger Abbey. I’ve always liked taking inspiration from real historical events and buildings, and as a result, I found myself doing a deep dive on Wikipedia, spending hours reading about old estates and buildings.
And then I stumbled upon a type of English country house that struck my fancy: castles that are not actually castles. These buildings are typically called castles, and they’ll often have castle-like architectural features (such as castellations—the spaced notches or parapets you often see on the top of castles). But these buildings aren’t actually fortified—they could not withstand an attack. And they don’t incorporate the remains of actual castles. So they aren’t true castles.
I loved this idea—a castle that is not a castle. A building pretending to be something it is not. This seemed to be the perfect setting for a mystery. I read page after page about different non-castles on Wikipedia, and then I found Castle Goring.
Image of Castle Goring by Peetred at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Castle Goring is outside of Worthing, in Sussex, England. It was designed by a famous architect, John Rebecca, for Sir Bysshe Shelley, the grandfather of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. The front of the house looks like a beautiful fake castle. But if you walk to the back of the house, it seems like you’ve been transported somewhere else in Europe: the back looks exactly like an Italian villa.
Castle Goring is a Grade I listed building, so it’s protected because of its architectural and historical significance. This meant I was able to find a lot of information about it and the rest of the estate. It is owned by Lady Colin Campbell, who is doing expensive and necessary repairs, and it has been on several TV shows (which I watched—for research, of course!). Castle Goring is also a wedding venue, and I spent hours doing the 360-degree virtual tour as I explored the rooms of the castle.
I made a few changes and transformed Castle Goring into Castle Durrington for my novel. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but if you read the book, you’ll see that the novel’s many mysteries are intrinsically interwoven with the castle and the nearby town of Worthing.
For me, the icing on the cake came long after I finished writing and revising The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet. My publisher emailed me the cover of the book, which features a lightly edited version of the actual Castle Goring. I love that I can say that the building on the cover of the book is exactly how I pictured it in my head. So it’s a happy ending for everyone (except for the character who is murdered in the book—some characters just can’t be saved).
This is fascinating! I love that you found inspiration for your story in Castle Goring. I loved the virtual tour! Thank you so much for sharing these details about Castle Goring. How interesting that it was made for Percy Bysshe Shelley’s grandfather. I think it looks like a wonderful setting for a mystery. I can’t wait to see what intrigue and mayhem is in store for Mary in this story! 🏰🔎
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GIVEAWAY TIME!!!
In conjunction with her visit, Katherine is giving away 1️⃣ paperback copy of The Secret Life of Miss Mary Bennet to 1️⃣ lucky winner!!
To enter this giveaway leave a comment, a question, or some love for Katherine below!
- This giveaway is open to residents in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. Thank you, Katherine!
- This giveaway ends April 30th.
Thanks for the giveaway. You are combining my favorites – a mystery and Jane Austen characters. I am happy to see Mary take the lead here. I look forward to seeing where the story takes us.
Love that this is a P&P inspired by NA. Sounds great!
What a beautiful cover and such a find. It is always amazing when you can find just the right location for a story. The history surrounding this building was just the icing on the cake. I wish you well on the success of this story. I look forward to reading it. Of course, thanks goes to Meredith for hosting and thanks to our author Katherine and her publisher for the generous giveaway. Blessings, everyone, stay safe, and healthy.
Thanks so much for sharing your enthusiasm and interest in this story, Jeanne! I really love learning about how authors choose their settings and their inspirations behind them.
I love this cover and the premise of the book. I love a good story where Mary is the main focus. Congratulations!
I’m intrigued by a mystery-solving Mary Bennet! Thanks for sharing information about the historical location. I love stories with real-world inspiration.
So intriguing! I look forward to reading this story. And I love the dark, rich colors in the cover of the book. Even they add to the mystery…
I loved learning about all the research you did to come up with Castle Durrington! Congratulations on the new release, Katherine!
I would love to see how Mary fares as an investigator!!
Congrats on publication of your book! It sounds very interesting.
Love Mary Bennet stories and mixed with a mystery makes it perfect.
Congratulations on your new book. That building amd Ms Mary Bennet are truly perfect for such a mystery. Thank you for this time to share bits abiut this book. Looking forward to reading this.
Thankyou for the giveaway
LOVE Jane Austen variation mysteries. Looking forward to reading this one!
I already got the chance to read this one and it was fabulous. Oh wow, the castle not a castle with two aspects is real!
I look forward to reading this!
Castle Goring sounds marvelous.
I am always very happy to read more about Mary Bennet.
Wonderful visuals. Congratulations on your release and best wishes.
Congratulations and the best of luck, Katherine. I really enjoy getting the background of a book, and snippets of an author’s research. I love a good Mary book and this one sounds really good.
I shall pass on the giveaway drawing for the paperback, but good luck to everyone else. Thank you Meredith, for hosting.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, Michelle. We can never have enough Mary books!
What a wonderful setting! I look forward to your book.
Loved the virtual tour! I have a miniature of the painting in the library…self-portrait of Elisabeth Vigee Lebrun! What an amazing location for Mary’s story! I’m looking forward to reading this as I love when authors develop secondary characters from P&P and I love mysteries! Congratulations and thank you for a chance at the giveaway!
“Sadly” I live in Holland so I’m missing out on this giveaway… But the book sounds really great!!
Congratulations! The cover and the mystery are captivating and intriguing. What a wonderful and talented creation. Many thanks for your lovely feature and giveaway.
Congratulations on the release. The story, and the cover artwork is dramatic and mysterious.
I read the first pages on Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature – what a great book! Definitely on my TBR! Congratulations on your first JAFF book.
Congratulations on the new release. I loved how you used Castle Goring as your setting.
A lot of armories made in the late 1800s or early 1900s have a castle-like exterior. The one in my town does. My oldest son lived in Grey Towers at Arcadia U which was designed with the architectural details of Alnwick Castle.
denise
Please do not enter me in the contest, but I loved that perspective and look into castles real and take. Speaking of false castles, I loved that bit in Northanger Abbey in which the Moreland and Thorpe siblings try to get to Blaise Castle (another fake castle); thankfully, they don’t make it there! Thank you for sharing your inspirations.
I love a good mystery and would love to read this one! Thanks so much for the chance to win a copy.
I like books about Mary. Thank you.
I have not read this story and I do love a mystery. Thanks for a chance to win a copy.
I love JAFF mysteries and Mary’s stories, especially when she shows intelligence and character. Looking forward to reading it. Congratulations