A Dance with Jane Austen: How a Novelist and her Characters Went to the Ball

Jane Austen loved to put on her satin slippers with shoe-roses, her white gloves and muslin gown, and go off for an evening of fun at the Basingstoke assemblies. The Bennet girls share their creator's delight and go off joyfully to dance, and of course to meet future husbands. Her subjects learn their steps, dress in readiness, find transport to convey them to a ball, choose between public and private balls, worry over a shortage of men, prefer a cotillion to a quadrille, talk and flirt with their partners, sustain themselves with supper, fall in love, and then go home to talk it all over at the end.

About the Author :
SUSANNAH FULLERTON is President of the Jane Austen Society of Australia and has lectured extensively around the world on Jane Austen's life and novels. She is the author of Jane Austen and Crime, a book described by Claire Tomalin as 'essential reading for every Janeite'. She lives in Sydney, Australia. Her other title for Frances Lincoln is A Dance with Jane Austen.

Review :
'Susannah Fullerton has done her research and written a book that will give much pleasure to anyone interested in the kind of dancing which Jane Austen and her contemporaries enjoyed. Lavishly illustrated, (and the piccies are seriously pretty), the book will tell you all sorts of thngs you didn't realise you wnated to know, while introducing you to a world of swirling, twirling silk and satin designed to advertise the beautiful people on the hunt for a mate.'  'Drawing upon contemporary accounts, Austen's own correspondence, and a detailed reading of the novels, Fullerton presents the reader with a charming insider's guide to a Regency ball.' 'readers wishing for more details about Austen's ball scenes, for a clearer sense of what would be worn at a ball, what kind of music would be played, and what sort of manners were typical, will want to consult A Dance with Jane Austen.' 'Drawing upon contemporary accounts, Austen's own correspondence, and a detailed reading of the novels, Fullerton presents the reader with a charming insider's guide to a Regency ball.' 'readers wishing for more details about Austen's ball scenes, for a clearer sense of what would be worn at a ball, what kind of music would be played, and what sort of manners were typical, will want to consult A Dance with Jane Austen.' 'Susannah Fullerton has done her research and written a book that will give much pleasure to anyone interested in the kind of dancing which Jane Austen and her contemporaries enjoyed. Lavishly illustrated, (and the piccies are seriously pretty), the book will tell you all sorts of thngs you didn't realise you wnated to know, while introducing you to a world of swirling, twirling silk and satin designed to advertise the beautiful people on the hunt for a mate.'