Jane and the Year without a Summer
Book Feature - Jane and the Year without a Summer by Stephanie Barron
HBL Note: JANE AND THE YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER by Stephanie Barron is the fourteenth (!!) book in her Being a Jane Austen Mystery series. But just in case you aren’t caught up on all fourteen novels, have no fear, it is a standalone novel, so you don’t need to worry about reading any of the previous novels if you don’t want to (though I suspect you might be tempted once you read this one!)
You might remember that I featured Stephanie Barron once before when I reviewed That Churchill Woman and took photos at the National Churchill Museum in Fulton, MO. It was probably one of my favorite book photo shoots I did (back when I was taking photos with the books I reviewed!) So it’ll come as no surprise that I’m a big Stephanie Barron fan. Scroll down to read all about her latest novel, JANE AND THE YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER.
Book Feature - Ramón and Julieta by Alana Quintana Albertson
From the publisher:
May 1816: Jane Austen is feeling unwell, with an uneasy stomach, constant fatigue, rashes, fevers and aches. She attributes her poor condition to the stress of family burdens, which even the drafting of her latest manuscript—about a baronet's daughter nursing a broken heart for a daring naval captain—cannot alleviate. Her apothecary recommends a trial of the curative waters at Cheltenham Spa, in Gloucestershire. Jane decides to use some of the profits earned from her last novel, Emma, and treat herself to a period of rest and reflection at the spa, in the company of her sister, Cassandra.
Cheltenham Spa hardly turns out to be the relaxing sojourn Jane and Cassandra envisaged, however. It is immediately obvious that other boarders at the guest house where the Misses Austen are staying have come to Cheltenham with stresses of their own—some of them deadly. But perhaps with Jane’s interference a terrible crime might be prevented. Set during the Year without a Summer, when the eruption of Mount Tambora in the South Pacific caused a volcanic winter that shrouded the entire planet for sixteen months, this fourteenth installment in Stephanie Barron’s critically acclaimed series brings a forgotten moment of Regency history to life.
