Synopses & Reviews
Read Laurie Viera Rigler's posts on the Penguin Blog. After nursing a broken engagement with Jane Austen novels and Absolut, Courtney Stone wakes up and finds herself not in her Los Angeles bedroom or even in her own body, but inside the bedchamber of a woman in Regency England. Who but an Austen addict like herself could concoct such a fantasy? Not only is Courtney stuck in another woman’s life, she is forced to pretend she actually is that woman; and despite knowing nothing about her, she manages to fool even the most astute observer. But not even her level of Austen mania has prepared Courtney for the chamber pots and filthy coaching inns of nineteenth-century England, let alone the realities of being a single woman who must fend off suffocating chaperones, condom-less seducers, and marriages of convenience. This looking-glass Austen world is not without its charms, however. There are journeys to Bath and London, balls in the Assembly Rooms, and the enigmatic Mr. Edgeworth, who may not be a familiar species of philanderer after all. But when Courtney’s borrowed brain serves up memories that are not her own, the ultimate identity crisis ensues. Will she ever get her real life back, and does she even want to?
Review
A devotee of all things Austen
discovers the reality of life in Regency England: rampant body odor, sexual and class repression and a style of medical care involving bloodletting.
Despite the smells, little in [her] current lifestyleincluding most of the mencan compete with the erotic charge of dancing in a candlelit ballroom.
USA Today
[A] delightful comic romp
Jane Austen makes a cameo appearance that is pure pleasure.
The Times Picayune
[A] charming novel
Rigler writes beautifully
a light and deftly orchestrated visit to 1813.
Austenblog.com
[A] winner.
Publishers Weekly
Review
"
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict... places her protagonist, in dreamlike fashion, right in the middle of a classic Jane Austen setting. Courtney, a modern L.A. woman, wakes up from a drunken evening of lamenting her fiancé's infidelity and finds herself in the body of Jane Mansfield, a nineteenth-century unmarried woman, recovering from a fall off a horse that resulted in a nasty blow to the head.
Rigler does an excellent job of conveying the shock of Courtney's transition to life in the nineteenth century, complete with the smells, sounds, frighteningly archaic medical practices, and domineering social protocol."
Danielle Marshall, Powells.com (read the entire Powells.com review)
Synopsis
The Los Angeles Times bestseller that has Austen lovers hooked After nursing a broken engagement with Jane Austen novels and Absolut, Courtney Stone wakes up to find herself not in her Los Angeles bedroom or even in her own body, but inside the bedchamber of a woman in Regency England. Who but an Austen addict like herself could concoct such a fantasy?
Not only is Courtney stuck inside another womans life, she is forced to pretend she actually is that woman; and despite knowing nothing about her, she manages to fool even the most astute observer. For her borrowed body knows how to speak without slaying the Kings English, dance without maiming her partner, and embroider as if possessed by actual domestic skill.
But not even Courtneys level of Austen mania has prepared her for the chamber pots and filthy coaching inns of nineteenth-century England, let alone the realities of being a single woman who must fend off suffocating chaperones, condom-less seducers, and marriages of convenience. Enter the enigmatic Mr. Edgeworth, a suitor who may turn out not to be a familiar species of philanderer after all.
Synopsis
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
After nursing a broken engagement with Jane Austen novels and Absolut, Courtney Stone wakes up and finds herself not in her Los Angeles bedroom or even in her own body, but inside the bedchamber of a woman in Regency England. Who but an Austen addict like herself could concoct such a fantasy? Not only is Courtney stuck in another woman's life, she is forced to pretend she actually is that woman; and despite knowing nothing about her, she manages to fool even the most astute observer. But not even her level of Austen mania has prepared Courtney for the chamber pots and filthy coaching inns of nineteenth-century England, let alone the realities of being a single woman who must fend off suffocating chaperones, condom-less seducers, and marriages of convenience. This looking-glass Austen world is not without its charms, however. There are journeys to Bath and London, balls in the Assembly Rooms, and the enigmatic Mr. Edgeworth, who may not be a familiar species of philanderer after all. But when Courtney's borrowed brain serves up memories that are not her own, the ultimate identity crisis ensues. Will she ever get her real life back, and does she even want to?
Video
About the Author
Laurie Viera Rigler is a freelance book editor who teaches writing workshops, including classes at Vromans, Southern Californias oldest and largest independent bookstore. Laurie lives in Los Angeles and holds a lifetime membership in the Jane Austen Society of North America. This is her first novel.