Happy Birthday Pride and Prejudice!

I’m having a giveaway, too!

My love affair with Pride and Prejudice began in 1996, believe it or not, with seeing an ad for the movie “Emma” with Gweneth Paltrow. Later that day, I was at the video store where I saw the miniseries with Kate Beckinsale and grabbed it. I was hooked, and the next day found myself at the bookstore purchasing a compilation of all of Jane Austen’s books. Once I finished Emma, I moved on to read Pride and Prejudice, which immediately became my favorite, and I’ll admit that I became obsessed.

That poor paperback was soon worn out to the point that I had to throw it away and get a copy of each novel instead, and of course read them again. For some strange reason I must have always skipped Northanger Abbey whenever I read the compilation and was thrilled to bits to have found a “new” book by Austen. I started searching the stores and internet for any versions of movies based on Jane Austen’s books, and fell in love with them all, time and time again – especially P&P! (I have to say that I threw away the 1940 version after seeing the ending, only to receive it again for Christmas later that year – fate must want me to have a complete collection.)

For a few years, this was enough, and then I became just a little distracted by the birth of my triplets (understatement!) Once I began to find a little time to myself, I re-read all of Jane’s novels and joined the The Republic of Pemberley, where I discovered the world of Jane Austen Fan Fiction, and went searching for more. It took me by surprise to find so many stories out there, and I couldn’t get enough!

And now, I’d like to share the love….

I’ll be giving away one paperback copy of

The Annotated Pride and Prejudice

by Jane Austen

Annotated and Edited by David M. Shapard

(Sorry, USA only):