Old-Fashioned Charm Review: Death Comes To Pemberley (2013 Miniseries)

 Here is a delightfully insightful and informative review of the recent adaptation of P.D. James's Death Comes to Pemberley by Miss Laurie of the Old-Fashioned Charm blog.

• Old-Fashioned Charm: Death Comes To Pemberley (2013 Miniseries)

If you haven't seen the miniseries, but have been thinking about it, I would highly recommend this review! There are plenty of lovely photos, and the writing is well-organized under headings such as costumes, scenery, questionable scenes and historical accuracy.


My opinion of the 2013 miniseries coincides with Miss Laurie's, so I would also recommend watching it (after reading the review, of course)!

 

The BBC One Trailer

George Knightley, Esquire Book Two: It's almost here!!

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Part two of Emma from Mr. Knightley's perspective will be for sale on August 25th! And Thither is going to carry it.

Take a look at the cover here: Crownhill Writers Blog

Part One

If you are an admirer of Mr. Knightley and have not read this book, you must read it. No question. I enjoyed every word of it! I have a very, very high standard for any portrayal of my favorite hero, and Barbara Cornthwaite's Mr. Knightley does not fall short of it.

The story of Emma from his point of view can have somewhat of a potential to be boring. It could just be written as Mr. Knightley walking from Donwell to Hartfield, dining here, having this conversation there; it could get very monotonous. But that is far from the case here! Ms. Cornthwaite has captured the cheerful, clear-sighted squire of Donwell, who never misses a person's absurdities (especially Emma's). His banter with Emma and his brother, John, had me laughing out loud. I gained a deeper understanding of why he loves Emma, as well; which, as readers of Emma know, can be rather hard to see. She captures his humane side, too, as he takes care of his tenants, and is concerned about Emma and tries to guide her and protect her from her own foolishness or Mr. Elton's social-climbing or Frank Churchill's trifling gallantry. 

After every well-known scene I found myself eagerly anticipating the next because what I had just read was so well-written and had completely delighted me. When I had finished it, I was more enamored of Mr. Knightley than ever.

...and Charles Dickens Knew, My Review

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At last I'm giving my review of What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist -- the Facts of Daily Life in 19th-Century England. I would highly recommend this book! It's almost like an encyclopedia of background information on 19th century English life. But, unlike a real encyclopedia, it is much less daunting. Which means the way it is written makes it easy to read. 

Some of my questions it answered were:

• How exactly do you play whist, commerce, vingt-et-un, piquette, casino, etc.?
• Where did country houses get their names?
• Why were horses such a status symbol?
• What exactly did all the servants do?
• When is Michaelmas?
• What's the difference between an apothecary and a surgeon?

The book is neatly divided into sections such as: 

• "The Basics," with subcategories "Currency," "The Calendar," "London," etc.
• "The Public World," with "The Titled," and "Esq., Gent., K.C.B., etc." and so on
• "The Country," with "The Midland, Wessex and Yorkshire" and "Shire and Shire Alike: Local Government in Britain," etc.

It includes a handy glossary as well. Very helpful when you'd like to find a specific term.

Besides Mr. Dickens and Miss Austen Mr. Pool looks at works primarily by Anthony Trollope, Thomas Hardy and Charlotte and Emily Brontë. He covers the upper class, lower class and working class, transportation, titles, government (local and national), vocabulary, food, social life, crime, money, marriage, fashion -- from an "abigail" to a "yew," he'll inform you on all the important points of life in the nineteenth century.

I'd recommend it as a very interesting and helpful investment for any reader of 19th century novels!

What Jane Austen Ate...

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I've decided at last to read What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew, since it seems to have been popping up in every search for "Jane Austen" that I make on Amazon ever since I can remember. If it's so well-known and well-read, I feel it my duty to read it as an admirer and scholar of Jane Austen. My procrastination to read it has been quite irrational, now that I consider it. Because I'd never thoroughly investigated it before and just assumed that it wouldn't have very much of Jane's world since it included Dickens. I know, all unfounded! Once I'd picked it up from my library, and read the contents and description, I became quite excited! I can see there are some questions I have that will be answered in it's pages.



I'll be giving my opinion on it when I've finished it! So check back for that.

'Til the next post!

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