An Interview with Victoria Connelly, author of A Weekend with Mr. Darcy (and GIVEAWAY)

As readers of this blog know, I am always excited by great new Pride and Prejudice inspired novels. I am honored today to have Victoria Connelly as a guest on my blog answering some of my pesky questions about her love for Austen. Without further ado . . .

LAG: Are you as obsessed with Austen as the characters in your novel?

VC: I am, indeed, as obsessed with Jane Austen as the characters in A Weekend with Mr Darcy. There are fewer greater pleasure for me than sitting down with a Jane Austen novel or enjoying one of the many beautiful film adaptations of her books. I also had the great pleasure of visiting many Jane Austen locations: her beautiful home at Chawton in Hampshire, the little church at Steventon, Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast and the magnificent Georgian city of Bath. I also have many books about Jane Austen from her novels to collections of her letters and biographies, and some very cute trinkets like my ‘I heart Darcy’ keychain, bookmarks and an ‘I Love Darcy’ T-shirt!

LAG: When did you first discover Austen?

VC: I first became aware of Jane Austen through the 1940 black and white film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson which I watched when I was about 13. I fell in love with it immediately even though the costumes were more Gone with the Wind than Regency England! I didn't read Pride and Prejudice until I was 17 but I was hooked for life, and I went on to study Sense and Sensibility at university and then read the other books too.

LAG: How did you apply what you loved about her novels in your novel?

VC: I hope that some of my enthusiasm for Austen comes through in my Austen addicts trilogy. I think many of the characters in A Weekend with Mr Darcy are very like me. Robyn uses Austen as an escape. Katherine’s love is through her work as an academic, and Warwick has been inspired by Austen to write his own books. I can relate closely to all three of these characters and maybe my readers will recognize something of themselves in them too.

Thank-you Victoria for being a guest on my blog today. Anyone who owns an "I Love Darcy" t-shirt, is definitely an author that I would like to read! Stay tuned for a review of A Weekend with Mr. Darcy on Laura's Reviews.

Giveaway Details
Beth from Sourcebooks has been kind enough to offer one copy of A Weekend with Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly for a giveaway.

If you would like to win a copy of A Weekend with Mr. Darcy please leave a comment about what intrigues you about the novel or this interview.

As part of your comment, you must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner.

For an additional entry, blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar. Provide a link to this post in your comment.

I will be using random.org (or a monte carlo simulation in excel) to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents (Sorry!).

No P.O. Boxes.

The deadline for entry is midnight, Friday July 22nd.

Good luck!