11/20/2025
My new Jane Austen book, Wisdom and Worldliness, coauthored with my Cornish writer pal, is nearly ready to publish. Here’s a wee sample:
Dear Trot is an absolute favorite for Christine and myself. In the book, the Austen family has retired her - and Jane (cough! Christine) wrote a poem in tribute:
TO A FAITHFUL DONKEY
O Trot, would that I could restore to thee
those youthful days of our first company!
No gentler, meeker steed could e’er be found
than little Trot who, in her youth, would take
her charges over hilly field and ground
where other finer mounts refused to ride.
Now hers are the days of leisure and pride,
her task no more to bear us but to draw
the cutter and make short the greening sward,
her dainty feet in shoes of leather clad.
Her wise and thoughtful head seems glad
to serve us through the warmest summer days
We marvel at our dear and sing her praise.
The book is stuffed with illustrations, letters, poetry and humor. I’ll let you know as it becomes available.
