Join JASNA-NC for a discussion of our fanfiction read, Beth Pattillo’s Jane Austen Ruined My Life. Following our August meeting where we read member Inger Brodey’s Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness, her recommendation of Pattillo’s novel helped this book pick become the quick winner of our vote! Our facilitator will be our own Nancy Martin-Young, and we’ll even be joined by the author, Beth Pattillo!
The Details
What: Virtual Book Club: Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo
When: November 17, 2024 from 2:00-3:30 p.m.
Where: In the comfort of your home via Zoom
RSVP: This event is open to members and interested guests; it is FREE but registration is required. Register for Zoom here.
Accessibility: We have auto-captions available in the Zoom meeting for our conversation, and there may be slides with text and images accompany the presentation that will be as clear and as high-contrast as possible. If you have accessibility needs we have not addressed here, please let us know.
About the Book
English professor Emma Grant has always done everything just the way her minister father told her she should — a respectable marriage, a teaching job at a good college, and plans for the requisite two children. Life was prodigiously good, as her favorite author Jane Austen might say, until the day Emma finds her husband in bed with another woman. Suddenly, all her romantic notions a la Austen are exposed for the foolish dreams they are.
Denied tenure in the wake of the scandal and left penniless by the ensuing divorce, Emma packs up what few worldly possessions she has left and heads to England on a quest to find the missing letters of Jane Austen. Locating the elusive letters, however, isn’t as straightforward as Emma hoped. The owner of the letters proves coy about her prize possessions, sending Emma on a series of Austen-related tasks that bring her closer and closer to the truth, but the sudden reappearance of Emma’s first love makes everything more complicated. In the end, Emma learns that doing the right thing has very little to do with other people’s expectations and everything to do with her own beliefs. Laced with fictional excerpts from the missing letters, Jane Austen Ruined My Life is the story of a woman betrayed who uncovers the deeper meaning of loyalty.
About the Author – In Her own words
I’m a born and bred Texan, but like the George Strait song says, “Now I reside in Tennessee.” I’m a proud graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio – Go, Tigers! – where I learned to love really great Mexican food. Coincidentally, that’s also where I gained the freshman fifteen.
After college, I moved to Nashville where I earned a Master of Divinity degree from Vanderbilt University and met my wonderful husband. Our careers in ministry took us to Jackson, Tennessee, and then to Kansas City, Missouri, where my son was born. I started my first novel while in KC but didn’t sell a book until after we moved back to Nashville and had a second child, my darling daughter.
Now, lots of books and two grown children later, I wear a lot of hats — mom, wife, writer, sister, mother-in-law, friend — just like so many other women. I’m lucky that I love being all of these things. The challenge is keeping up with all the demands!
I’ve had the opportunity to write historical romance, chick lit, mystery, and women’s fiction. All my books do have two things in common — heroines you can root for and generous helpings of humor! I love a strong female character and lots of laughter. When I’m not writing, I love to watch sports of all kinds, cook dinner for people I love, and binge a Netflix show or two.
About The Virtual Book Club
The Virtual Book Club takes place quarterly with the typical following rotation: a contemporary of Austen, nonfiction work, an Austen work, and fan fiction. We’re switching up the timing and order of our book club this year due to scheduling opportunities and book releases, and our members Mary Jane Curry, Nancy Martin Young, and Sara Tavela serve as our primary book club facilitators and help coordinate our book selections.