Today I’m delighted to welcome novelist Julie Christine Johnson. Her ‘Porridge & Cream’ read is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
“Several years ago I created an annual tradition for myself: in December, as the light fades earlier each day and I retreat from the expectations and demands of modern commercial holidays, longing only for the renewal of Solstice, I soothe my tired and cold spirit with a reread of a work by one of my most treasured authors, Jane Austen. Her six completed novels — Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion — form a canon of comfort and delight on my bookshelves.
Julie’s copy of ‘Pride and Prejudice’
Among all these timeless treasures, it is that charming and soulful comedy of manners, Pride and Prejudice, I most anticipate. Truthfully, I rotate it in every couple of years. Each time I read the opening line, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” my entire being relaxes into a smile of familiarity and joy.
Pride and Prejudice is the story of intelligent, independent Elizabeth Bennet, the eldest daughter of five in a family of modest means, and the inscrutable and cranky Fitzwilliam Darcy, an aristocrat newly arrived in their Hertfordshire neighbourhood. In Regency England, class and manners rule the day, but between these two remarkable young people, love could overcome pride and prejudice if they could just get out of their own ways.
It is these characters, their vivacity, strong wills, and fabulous repartee, which enthral me anew each time. Austen’s crisp and vivid writing charms on the surface, but also reveals a darker side of Georgian society: the devastating effects of class consciousness, the subjugation of women, the travesty of the slave trade. I remain ever in awe of Jane Austen’s ability to craft a flawless narrative, and ever in love with Elizabeth and Mr Darcy.”
Julie Christine Johnson’s Bio
Julie is the award-winning author of the novels In Another Life (Sourcebooks, 2016) and The Crows of Beara (Ashland Creek Press, 2017). Her short stories and essays have appeared in several journals, including Emerge Literary Journal; Mud Season Review; Cirque: A Literary Journal of the North Pacific Rim; Cobalt; River Poets Journal, in the print anthologies Stories for Sendai; Up, Do: Flash Fiction by Women Writers; and Three Minus One: Stories of Love and Loss; and featured on the flash fiction podcast No Extra Words. She holds undergraduate degrees in French and Psychology and a Master’s in International Affairs. Julie leads writing workshops and seminars and offers story/developmental editing and writer coaching services. A hiker, yogi, and wine geek, Julie makes her home on the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington state.
Julie Christine Johnson’s links
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Julie Christine Johnson’s latest book
When Annie Crowe travels from Seattle to a small Irish village to promote a new copper mine, her public relations career is hanging in the balance. Struggling to overcome her troubled past and a failing marriage, Annie is eager for a chance to rebuild her life. Yet when she arrives on the remote Beara Peninsula, Annie learns that the mine would encroach on the nesting ground of an endangered bird, the Red-billed Chough, and many in the community are fiercely protective of this wild place. Guided by ancient mythology and challenged by modern problems, Annie must confront the half-truths she has been sent to spread and the lies she has been telling herself. Most of all, she must open her heart to the healing power of this rugged land and its people. Beautifully crafted with environmental themes, a lyrical Irish setting, and a touch of magical realism, The Crows of Beara is a breathtaking novel of how the nature of place encompasses everything that we are.
‘The Crows of Beara’ by Julie Christine Johnson [UK: Ashland Creek Press]
What is a ‘Porridge & Cream’ book? It’s the book you turn to when you need a familiar read, when you are tired, ill, or out-of-sorts, where you know the story and love it. Where reading it is like slipping on your oldest, scruffiest slippers after walking for miles. Where does the name ‘Porridge & Cream’ come from? Cat Deerborn is a character in Susan Hill’s ‘Simon Serrailler’ detective series. Cat is a hard-worked GP, a widow with two children and she struggles from day-to-day. One night, after a particularly difficult day, she needs something familiar to read. From her bookshelf she selects ‘Love in A Cold Climate’ by Nancy Mitford. Do you have a favourite read which you return to again and again? If so, please send me a message here.
‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen [UK: Penguin Classics]
Discover the ‘Porridge & Cream’ books of these authors:-
Rosie Dean
Laura Wilkinson
Graeme Cumming
Read about some valued first editions of Pride and Prejudice here.
And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
Why does author @JulieChristineJ re-read PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen? #books https://wp.me/p5gEM4-3id via @SandraDanby
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