Hi friends! Get ready for another jam-packed week at Austenesque Reviews! I’m so happy to start my week by welcoming author Alice McVeigh to AR for her first visit! If you aren’t already aware, Alice has recently published two Austenesque books – Susan: A Jane Austen Prequel. and Harriet: A Jane Austen Variation! I love that she is writing about the not-so-popular Jane Austen characters, don’t you? Today Alice is stopping by to share about her choice to write about Harriet Smith.

We hope you enjoy! 🤗

SO… Why present EMMA from Harriet Smith’s point of view?

The question I’m trying to address is why I chose to rewrite Austen’s immortal Emma from the point of view of… boring little Harriet Smith.

Oh, c’mon – you must remember Harriet Smith. Pretty, blonde and clueless Harriet Smith? The “parlour boarder” at the local school that the great Emma Woodhouse (the “smug Surrey goddess”) deigned to mentor, in hopes of improving her chances of making a good marriage?

Yeah. That Harriet Smith.

But… why on earth would anyone wish to re-write Emma from the standpoint of the naive and pathetic Harriet Smith?… Loads of writers have approached it from the point of view of Jane Fairfax – the romantic, elegant, gifted Jane Fairfax. Even 100 years ago, Jane Austen aficionados were re-imagining “the story of Jane Fairfax”!! But NOBODY – until myself – has ever imagined rewriting it from the viewpoint of Harriet Smith.

And neither have I.

What do I mean by this? – Because, of course, I cheated! – Instead of Austen’s dim little Harriet, I instead imagined a Harriet clever enough to pretend to be stupid.

That was my jumping-off point: a Harriet clever enough to realize that Emma Woodhouse loved to be flattered and had zero desire for another friend/mother figure, after the astute Miss Taylor had been transformed into Mrs Weston.

Instead, as Austen herself makes exceedingly clear, Emma longed to shape the destiny of others. She was desperate for someone amusing, malleable, charming, undemanding – and not in the least astute. And, in my Harriet: A Jane Austen Variation, young Harriet is more than anxious to oblige. She is anxious to do as well for herself as she possibly can.

Thus, she is willing to appear to be silly and stupid, if that makes the great Miss Woodhouse like her, approve her, and raise her in the eyes of Highbury society, and thus make it far more likely that she can snaffle some gentleman in marriage. So, that’s why I decided to write half the book from Harriet’s point of view.

Although the other half of the book was just as alluring. Who – who truly loves Austen’s Emma – could fail to mourn its missing chapters? – I refer, of course, to the missing chapters where Jane Fairfax is taken to Weymouth by the Campbells, encounters Frank Churchill, falls in love with him, and consents to a clandestine engagement. This is the kind of missing scenes that have inspired writers ever since Jane Austen died… I simply longed to have a go.

So, yes, I confess it: my book should indeed have been called – as so many intelligent readers have protested – Jane and Harriet. They share the narration. They deserve to be equal.

But. There are loads of re-imaginings from Jane Fairfax’s point of view. A couple of centuries-worth. While I am unique in choosing Harriet.

And also… titles can be TOO blinking long. Harriet: A Jane Austen Variation is quite long enough. Jane and Harriet: A Jane Austen Variation is crazy.

And also.. the cover. I found my Harriet!! Search as I might, I could never find both Harriet and Jane Fairfax, together. Though – believe me – I looked. I looked for ages.

And so, with deep apologies, I maintain that (a) the cover is better as it is, (b) the title is better as it is and – (c) the book is better as it is. It is nowhere near as accomplished as Austen’s – that goes without saying – but I have a sneaky feeling that Austen might rather have liked it.

And she is the person I write for – not for fans or prizes or sales – though have been insanely lucky with all of these, and not only with Harriet but with the previous standalone in the series, Susan: A Jane Austen Prequel.

But I always think: “Would this be acceptable to her? – or not?” And that’s my rule. Others may have other rules, but that is my own. That’s where I stick.

So… thanks for listening! And, if you read it, I really hope you enjoy it!

~ An Excerpt from Harriet: A Jane Austen Variation ~

Mrs Goddard said, ‘Harriet, I have delightful news for you.’

I certainly hoped that she had – and news specifically about Hartfield, for I had never spelled harder for an invitation in all my life. I was forever saying such things as, ‘I saw Emma Wodehouse pass by, wearing the sweetest pelisse I ever saw. How I wish I could meet her!’ Or, ‘Miss Woodhouse has just been visiting those poor Turners. I long to tell her how she inspires me, but – to be sure – she must not even know that I exist!’

But these hints, though tedious, had not been polished in vain, for my headmistress continued, ‘I have procured you an invitation – and from Hartfield. Miss Woodhouse has graciously consented to my proposal that you accompany me to dinner on Thursday.’

‘Oh, Mrs Goddard!’ I cried, as if astonished.

‘You need not thank me – in fact, she seemed quite taken with the notion. However, I beg you to say nothing unless applied to, and to behave with the greatest respect to Mr Woodhouse as well as to his daughter. This is a chance that your fellow pupils might envy.’

Which was true, for the other girls were not merely envious, but incredulous. (‘Why choose Harriet? – for no one in the world knows who her family might be, and Amelia is every bit as pretty!’… ‘Nay, I am not jealous, not in the least, for Miss Woodhouse is woefully high, and thinks no one equal to her’… ‘To Hartfield, fancy! Do you suppose Mr Elton might be of the party?’) Though my friend Amelia did consent to loan me her newest shoes, for mine were forlorn indeed. Thus I had the comfort of knowing that, from the ankle downwards at least, my appearance was unexceptionable.

How fast my heart beat as I trotted along the High Street with Mrs Goddard! I knew it all too well, for I had lived in Highbury since I was five, only departing from it to attend a concert in town, or a play at the Little Theatre. How I longed for the day when I might entrance some high-born gentleman, and live in a London Square, and walk my pug about the Serpentine! (For I would have a pug, or – at very least – a Pomeranian, and marrying a gentleman was most assuredly my plan.)

I sometimes found myself wondering if, should I succeed in captivating some Surrey gentleman instead, I might persuade him to move to town. Though whom that might be I could not conceive, for Highbury was just as deficient in young gentlemen as it was in every other particular – with one or two exceptions. What a sad place Highbury was – hardly more than a village, indeed – where every creature either young or personable was forever rushing about without the leisure to enjoy anything – everyone, that is, except for the enviable Miss Woodhouse!

I had already determined that it would serve me exceedingly ill to be my true self with Emma Woodhouse. It was not just her high reputation – it was because I understood what Miss Woodhouse was in want of and suspected that I might be able to supply it.

I had thought a great deal about her situation: lauded, envied and admired, with her independence, her beauty, her £30,000. Her father believed her to be perfection; she enjoyed all the freedom that his family fortune could procure and – though she could have visited Bath, Tunbridge or even London – she chose to reign over Highbury, instead. Thus, I reasoned that Miss Woodhouse preferred to direct rather than to contend – while the loss of her governess had reduced her to all the delights of her aged father’s company.

In short, I believed there to be a vacancy – not for another governess, but for someone youthful and doe-eyed, submissive and easily led, to give the young mistress of Hartfield an object. And though supremely unqualified for the post – in that I was neither submissive nor easily led – I had faith in my powers to appear so.

I would have to dissemble a good deal to succeed in the role. I must never sketch – for I have a modest talent in that regard – and must disguise my taste for music, the better to praise her own performance – something that occasionally gave even Mrs Goddard some qualms of conscience. Above all, Miss Woodhouse must never guess that I hoped to use her as a means of escape. For escape I had determined on – lest Highbury be the death of me!

I’m thrilled to see Harriet receive some time in the spotlight, and to see a new side of her character explored! To see her so aware and canny should be an interesting twist! 😍 Congrats on your new release, Alice!!

~~~

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

Today Alice brings with her  1️⃣ paperback copy of Harriet: A Jane Austen Variation for me to give away to one lucky winner!

To enter this giveaway leave a comment, a question, or some love for Alice!

• This giveaway is open worldwide.  Thank you, Alice!
• This giveaway ends March 14th!