Jane Austen Meetup NYC- For Janeites and Newbies Alike!

“It's such a happiness when good people get together.”
--Jane Austen, Emma

The first line of the novel is: “ Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her. ” The novel opens after the marriage of her governess where Emma boldly declares that she is the one that set them up. This sets the stage for Emma to fancy herself a matchmaker within her town of Highbury. Because we do not leave the principal town, as we have done in other Austen novels, Austen is allowing us a glimpse into how intimate families of a community act with one another when living in a small country town. Emma is steadfast in what she thinks she wants from life, but as the novel progresses, we see Emma's change of heart and mind and we see her grow up a little, too.

When referring to Emma, Austen said, "I am going to make a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." Time has shown that has not been the case. It is a novel filled with lightheartedness, misunderstandings, and mischief making, which leads to comical scenes but also stresses why it is never good to make assumptions.

Please do not distress poor Mr. Woodhouse and have your RSVP updated by Wednesday August 13th!

We will also announce our next book at this meeting.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Description from Storygraph:

The fourth book in the Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney Mystery series, which finds the amateur sleuths caught up in the whirlwind of the London Season—and in a murderous scheme involving the family of Edmund and Fanny Bertram.

Jonathan Darcy and Juliet Tilney understand each other perfectly; it's a pity their families do not. A series of misunderstandings, misplaced pride, and—indeed—prejudice, has led their parents to deem the pair unsuited to wed. Now, with the Season approaching, Juliet has been sent to London with a new wardrobe and orders to prove herself worthy of someone better than the snobby Darcys.

Meanwhile, Jonathan has been forced to accept an invitation to stay with old friends Edmund and Fanny Bertram at the house of Edmund's brother, Sir Thomas. Oblivious to and undesiring of female attention other than Juliet's, Jonathan is in danger of being ensnared by Caroline Bingley's plans to make herself—or her daughter—mistress of Pemberley.
But when the former husband of Edmund's sister Maria, Mr. Rushworth, is discovered dead, Jonathan and Juliet find themselves with problems far weightier than the marriage market.

In one of the greatest scandals of its day, Maria abandoned her husband for the notorious rake Henry Crawford and, when he wouldn't marry her, was forced to flee to the continent in disgrace. Now Maria is back, with a daughter she claims Mr. Rushworth fathered after their divorce—and who he wrote into his will just before his death.

Now Jonathan and Juliet must unmask a killer before the drama surrounding the Rushworth family fortune claims another victim.

Run mad as often as you choose, but do not forget update your RSVPs by September 10th, as we would like to make sure that we are aware of the correct number of attendees.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

** Please keep in mind, now that the world is opening up again and we are having meetings in person, when we are indoors, and not via zoom or outside, your RSVP is very important. If you cannot make an event, please kindly remember to adjust your status so that people on our waiting list can be notified that there is a spot for them. **

**You all were so great last year, so I thank you for continuing to update your RSVPs. I will still be still taking attendance this year. So just as a reminder, repeated no-shows will be bumped to the waitlist so as not to take up one of our limited spaces. But maybe moved day of, if the meeting is not full.**

In Austen's first novel, which, at its heart, is about loving to read novels, she triumphantly assures us readers, “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” Since Gothic novels were so popular at the time, Austen parodies these stereotypical tropes while maintaining her own distinctive voice. She also is introducing us to Bath high society with her classic ironic insight.

The centrepiece of this novel is the residence of the Tilney family, to which the novel gets its name, Northanger Abbey. Catherine, with her active imagination, is invited to stay with them, and as she sees it looming in the distance, she is told tales of dreadful secrets that old houses sometimes hold. Are its creaking floors trying to tell her the tale? Which mysteries will be unfolded in the dark past of their home? What adventures and miscalculations must our young heroine have before she reaches her true self-awareness?

As we see Catherine struggling to separate her beloved novels from real life, the narrator has us wonder, is it possible for young ladies to read "too may novels?"

Please 'Add your name to the Pump-room guest book' and have your RSVP updated by Wednesday, October 8th as we would like to make sure that we tell the restaurant the correct number of attendees.

** Please keep in mind, when we are having meetings in person and are indoors, and not via zoom or outside, your RSVP is very important. If you cannot make an event, please kindly remember to adjust your status so that people on our waiting list can be notified that there is a spot for them. **

**You all were so great last year, so I thank you for continuing to update your RSVPs. I will still be still taking attendance this year. So just as a reminder, repeated no-shows will be bumped to the waitlist so as not to take up one of our limited spaces. But maybe moved day of, if the meeting is not full.**

We will also announce our next book at this meeting.

Looking forward to seeing you there!