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Jane Austen’s Dragons
Of Course There Were Dragons!
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a dragon.
Time is running out for Darcy to win Elizabeth’s trust and recover the precious firedrake egg before it hatches, and the fragile peace between humans and dragons is lost forever.
Meryton meets Pern in a fantastical regency romp bound to delight readers of Jane Austen and Anne McCaffrey alike.
A dragon’s imagination is very rapid. It jumps from separation to anxiety, and anxiety to wreaking havoc.
Fitzwilliam Darcy finds caring for a baby dragon more of a fraught guardianship than anticipated. Little Pemberley may have survived a perilous hatching but she’s pining for one particular human.
Elizabeth Bennet may yearn for baby Pemberley, but her cousin Mr. Collins, heir to the Longbourn entail, has decided that marrying her will add very greatly to his future happiness. While the estate dragon agrees, Elizabeth insists he is the last man in the world whom she could ever be prevailed on to marry.
Baby Pemberley’s fate is caught in a deadly tangle of families and fortunes, forcing Darcy and Elizabeth to take the biggest gamble of their lives to win or lose it all.
Certain satirical spirits might say that next to having a dragon accepted into the Blue Order, a Dragon Keeper likes to be crossed a little in love now and then.
Elizabeth Bennet, Dragon Keeper, accidental guardian of Pemberley the young firedrake, and even more accidentally betrothed of one Fitzwilliam Darcy, would beg to disagree. Banished from her home, her marriage indefinitely delayed, and desperate to secure Pemberley’s future, Elizabeth must tame a rogue dragon.
Darcy cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which upended every expectation he had for his future, leaving him caught in the middle of keeping the fragile peace between dragons and humans only to discover a shocking betrayal and treacherous plot against Elizabeth.
With war on the horizon, time is running out for Elizabeth and Darcy to save the dragons and any hope of a future together.
Nobody had any compassion for dragon lore expert Thomas Bennet’s nerves.
He was reconciled to the fact he was father to some of the silliest girls in the country. However, he had suspected for some time that little Elizabeth was different. When she befriended the old tatzelwurm in the woods, he was convinced.
When Elizabeth discovers an abandoned clutch of fairy dragon eggs, Mr. Bennet finds an unhappy alternative before him. Somehow, he must save the dragon eggs, contend with the jealous estate dragon, and keep it all hidden from his family…or risk exposure of England’s greatest secret and the breaking of the Pendragon Treaty that keeps the tenuous peace between man and dragon.
Can he help his precocious, passionate daughter find her place in a dangerous world with little tolerance for little girls.
In order to secure her future, a young lady must marry well.
One would think Anne Elliot, a baronet’s daughter, would find the marriage mart far easier to navigate than a more ordinary woman. One would be wrong.
After refusing a poor, but otherwise perfect sailor, on the advice of her friend Lady Russell, Anne finds an unhappy choice before her: marry deathly dull Charles Musgrove or hope against hope that another suitable proposal might come her way before she becomes a spinster on the shelf.
Anne’s disgracefully independent choice to refuse Charles’ offer turns her world entirely arsey-varsey and not in the expected turned upside down sort of way. She begins to see things … hear things … things like dragons.
And once one sees dragons, one talks to them. And when one talks to them, nothing is ever the same again.
Keeping a hibernating dragon should have been a simple thing.
With the estate in debt, Anne Elliot’s father in denial, and the dragon’s treasure missing, Kellynch’s awakening was shaping up to be nothing short of catastrophe. Not to mention there was the pesky matter of her own broken heart and resentment against the old friend who had caused it.
With the war that kept him employed at an end and a small fortune in prize money, Captain Frederick Wentworth found himself at loose ends. Working as an agent of the Blue Order, managing dragon matters across England, seemed a solid alternative to marriage. Then investigating one such matter sent him directly in the path of Anne Elliot, the woman who had ruined him for all others.
Now a royal dragon rages, a sleeping dragon lurks, and too many treasures have gone missing. Can Anne and Wentworth lay aside resentment, pride, and heartbreak to prevent Kellynch’s awakening from ending in bloodshed—or worse?
Smugglers. A kidnapping. A fire-breathing fairy dragon? The Blue Order is falling apart at the seams.
After months in Bath mentoring Dragon Keepers and Friends, Dragon Sage Elizabeth Darcy actually anticipates traveling to London for the Keeper’s Cotillion. Which says a great deal considering the she-dragons who make up the Cotillion board would very much like to show the Sage her proper place.
The she-dragons, though, are no match for what Sir Fitzwilliam Darcy finds waiting for him in London. He manages to keep matters under control until a fairy-dragon’s prank unleashes sinister forces who perpetrate an unthinkable crime that could spell the end of the Pendragon Accords and usher in a new age of dragon war.
Can Elizabeth and Darcy, with the Wentworths’ help, restore balance to the Blue Order before the dragons decide to take matters into their own talons and right the wrongs themselves?
Territory challenges. Dragon battles. Baby dragon debutantes. When will the chaos end?
Dragon Sage Elizabeth Darcy longs for life to return to normal, at least as normal as it could be for a Blue Order officer who lives with more household dragons than most small villages. Having two sisters and an infant dragon to present as debutantes to the Order, make ‘normal’ difficult. The fine ladies—she-dragons one and all—of the Cotillion Board make it impossible.
Sir Fitzwilliam Darcy, Knight of the Pendragon Order never envisioned his oath to ‘protect and serve the interests of the Blue Order and dragonkind’ would demand immediate action. But only a Keeper can defend Pemberley’s territory against threats far too big for a baby dragon to manage. Threats against the Pendragon Accords themselves. And only the one closest to the Dragon Sage can protect her from the sinister forces menacing the Order, possibly from within its own ranks.
Can Darcy and Elizabeth ensure the Cotillion strengthens the Order rather than laying the groundwork for its demise?
Dive into the hidden-in-plain sight world of the Blue Order dragons.
A heart-warming collection of short stories peeking into the hidden lives of the dragons, their Friends and Keepers. Birth, death, love, loss, and the amazing relationships that underscore them all. Visit with familiar characters and learn their stories. Meet entirely new dragons and their Friends, while delving deeper into the mysterious world of Blue Order dragon.
Meryton meets Pern in a fantastical regency romp bound to delight readers of Jane Austen and Anne McCaffrey alike.
Homecomings never live up to expectations.
After a visit to London filled with more fairy tale intrigues—kidnappings, dragon battles, secret societies—than any woman had right to experience, Dragon Sage, Lady Elizabeth Darcy, only wants to return to the serenity and safety of Pemberley estate.
Likewise, Sir Fitzwilliam Darcy, knight of the Pendragon Order, rejoices to lay down the Dragon Slayer and return to life as master of his estate and Keeper to Pemberley.
Their homecoming cannot happen soon enough.
The estate —and its substantial population of minor dragons— welcomes them home with open arms. But those open arms contain more than happy dragons.
Actually more a can of wyrms.
Wyrms that plague the estate and surrounding county. Wyrms that bring dragon-sized dilemmas endangering the Blue Order itself. Wyrm-ridden dilemmas that might be too big for even the Dragon Sage.
Hers was the plight of a gothic heroine…
… banished from her home by a cruel brother and his heartless wife, the Dragon Sage. Misunderstood and maligned, Georgiana’s only hope of rescue: letters to aunts describing the medieval dungeon to which she had been sent.
What matter that was a wee exaggeration for effect?
Boasting as many dragon teachers as human ones, Mrs. Fieldings’ School for the Improvement of Young Ladies promises to train Georgiana up to be a proper Blue Order member and a credit to her family. But she was already an accomplished young lady, and an appreciation for dragons was hardly a necessary accomplishment in the marriage mart. Clearly, she had nothing to learn.
One way or another, Georgiana would make it through the school term with her dignity, and her opinions, intact.
When the new dragon students arrive, needing warm-blooded student partners to complete their educations, Georgiana endures the indignity of a dragon-partner for the promise it will hasten the end of her tenure with Mrs. Fieldings. But dragons always bring complications. Dangerous, dragon-sized ones that not even the Dragon Sage could have predicted. Complications that turn the school term into something truly gothic.
Queen of Rosings Park
Lady Catherine commands everything except Elizabeth’s heart.
Elizabeth Bennet, daughter of noted physician, Dr. Thomas Bennet, is her father’s right hand in caring for his patients. Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s generosity lured him away from his London practice to move his family to Rosings Park in order to care for her sickly daughter Anne. But his good income comes with a price: complete obedience to Lady Catherine’s every whim.
The great lady controls every aspect of the Bennet household, from the shelves in the closet to the selection of suitors for the five Bennet daughters. Now she has chosen a husband for Elizabeth– Mr. George Wickham—whether Elizabeth agrees or not.
When Fitzwilliam Darcy, Lady Catherine’s nephew, comes to visit Rosings Park, he is fascinated by Elizabeth who effortlessly understand everyone around her, including him—something no woman has ever done. But Lady Catherine does not take kindly to anyone interfering with her plans to see Anne and Darcy wed.
Will Darcy be able to thwart Lady Catherine’s plans before Elizabeth is lost to him forever?
Lydia Bennet faces the music…
Running off with Mr. Wickham was a great joke—until everything turned arsey-varsey. That spoilsport Mr. Darcy caught them and packed Lydia off to a hideous boarding school for girls who had lost their virtue.
It would improve her character, he said.
Ridiculous, she said.
Mrs. Drummond, the school’s headmistress, has shocking expectations for the girls. They must share rooms, do chores, attend lessons, and engage in charitable work, no matter how well born they might be. She even forces them to wear mobcaps! Refusal could lead to finding themselves at the receiving end of Mrs. Drummond’s cane—if they were lucky. The unlucky ones could be dismissed and found a position … as a menial servant.
Everything and everyone at the school is uniformly horrid. Lydia hates them all, except possibly the music master, Mr. Amberson, who seems to have the oddest ideas about her. He might just understand her better than she understands herself.
Can she find a way to live up to his strange expectations, or will she spend the rest of her life as a scullery maid?
Dull, plain and practical, Mary Bennet was the girl men always overlooked. Nobody thought she’d garner a second glance, much less a husband. But she did, and now she’s grateful to be engaged to Mr. Michaels, the steady, even tempered steward of Rosings Park. By all appearances, they are made for each other, serious, hard-working, and boring.
Michaels finds managing Rosings Park relatively straight forward, but he desperately needs a helpmeet like Mary, able to manage his employers: the once proud Lady Catherine de Bourgh who is descending into madness and her currently proud nephew and heir, Colonel Fitzwilliam, whose extravagant lifestyle has left him ill-equipped for economy and privation.
Colonel Fitzwilliam had faced cannon fire and sabers, taken a musket ball to the shoulder and another to the thigh, stood against Napoleon and lived to tell of it, but barking out orders and the point of his sword aren’t helping him save Rosings Park from financial ruin. Something must change quickly if he wants to salvage any of his inheritance. He needs help, but Michaels is tedious and Michaels’ fiancée, the opinionated Mary Bennet, is stubborn and not to be borne.
Apparently, quiet was not the same thing as meek, and reserved did not mean mild. The audacity of the woman, lecturing him on how he should manage his barmy aunt. The fact that she is usually right doesn’t help. Miss Bennet gets under his skin, growing worse by the day until he finds it very difficult to remember that she’s engaged to another man.
Can order be restored to Rosings Park or will Lady Catherine’s madness ruin them all?
Stand Alone Titles
Elizabeth Bennet’s father, Admiral Thomas Bennet, assures his daughters that his retirement from His Majesty’s Navy will be the start of a new life for them all. Little does he know his family’s battles have only just begun.
Well-connected and in possession of a good fortune, their entry into society should have been a triumph. However, their long-awaited first season in London proves a disaster, and the resulting scandal sends the Bennets fleeing to the wilds of Derbyshire.
Widower Fitzwilliam Darcy, the master of Pemberley, wants for nothing, most especially not a wife. From the moment the Bennets arrive in Derbyshire, Darcy’s neatly ordered life turns upside down. His sons beg to keep company with their new playmates, the young Bennet twins. His mother-in-law sets her cap for Admiral Bennet. Worst of all, Darcy cannot get his mind off a certain bewitching Miss Elizabeth Bennet, but she has sworn never to let another gentleman near her heart.
Darcy’s best efforts to befriend and assist the Bennet family go horribly awry, alienating first Miss Elizabeth, then her father, and finally endangering what both men hold most dear. Can the two men Elizabeth loves most set aside their pride to prevent catastrophe for their families and win the love they seek?
Theo Darcy is everything his disapproving elder brother, Fitzwilliam, is not – easy-going, charming, and full of fun. A tragic event as children severed their bond of friendship, but now they are together again. They are still at odds, though, this time over the love of Miss Elizabeth Bennet and the truth about George Wickham. Will Wickham manage to divide the brothers again? And more importantly, which Mr. Darcy will Elizabeth choose?
Darcy is at his wits end.
As guardian to his younger sister, he wants her to become a properly accomplished woman–she is coming out soon, after all. But Georgiana steadfastly refuses despite the encouragement of Elizabeth Bennet, long time Darcy family friend. Darcy invites a few guests to Pemberley in the hopes of encouraging Georgiana’s improvement with a taste of society.
Unexpected additions to the party prove dangerously distracting, leaving the Darcy family on the brink of disaster. Elizabeth holds the key to their restoration, but she has fled Pemberley, unable to tolerate another day in the Darcys’ company.
Will Darcy relinquish his pride and prejudice to seek out a woman below his notice before his family is irreparably ruined?
Sweet Tea Stories
Sweet, Austen-inspired treats, perfect with a cup of tea.
Full of hope and ripe with possibility, beginnings and new beginnings refresh the spirit with optimism and anticipation
Four Days in April.
Two letters. Four Days. Everything changes.
Last Dance
To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love. But is dancing essential to falling in love?
Not Romantic
Charlotte has no place for romantic notions or sentimentality. Must she betray her friendship to pursue everything she has ever hoped for
Sweet Ginger
Harriet Smith has abandoned all hope of a home and family of her own but her friends’ grumpy old bear of a brother might just change that.
Colonel Fitzwilliam should have been happy facing retirement. No more Napoleon, no more tromping the Continent, and his distant cousin had unexpectedly left him an estate. What was more, two of his favorite people, Darcy and Elizabeth, were travelling with him to visit his new home.
But the colonel wasn’t happy, not when he was forced to watch Darcy exchanging enamored glances with his wife. No, he wanted to pitch his cousin out the window. It didn’t help when Darcy kept lecturing him on the joys of wedded life— as if women like Elizabeth Darcy grew on every tree.
Then the snow started.
Now they were stranded at the home of George and Emma Knightley, another intolerable, blissfully wedded couple who wanted nothing more than to see his bachelor days come to an end. Thank heavens they never thought of matching him with the proud spinster who had also been caught in the storm. That would have been utterly intolerable.
Or would it?
Mary goes to the library looking for escape, not love.
With three daughters married in a single year, one would think that Mrs. Bennet’s matchmaking ploys would diminish. One would be wrong. Very wrong.
To avoid her mother’s affectionate arts, Mary takes refuge at Clarke’s library. There, in the reading room, she can forget the trials of Longbourn, lost in the pages of her favorite books.
The strategy works—surprisingly well in fact—until the morning a tall, handsome stranger wants the same book she has already checked out—a text she needs to help a friend.
Now Mama has seen him, matchmaking is not far behind.
Mary is determined to escape Mama’s machinations at all costs. But, maybe, just maybe, this time Mama is right.
His muse desires her; she detests him. How will his soul survive?
Gentleman artist Fitzwilliam Darcy had never been able to express himself in words, but with his brushes and paints, he expressed what few men ever could. When his flighty muse abandons him, though, he finds himself staring at blank canvases in a world that has turned bland and cold and grey.
Worried for his friend, Charles Bingley invites Darcy to join him in Hertfordshire, in hopes the picturesque countryside might tempt Darcy’s muse to return. The scheme works only too well. His muse returns, with a vengeance, fixated upon the one young woman in the county who utterly detests him.
Will his selfish distain for the feelings of others drive her and his muse away or can he find a way to please this woman with the power to bring color and feeling back into his world?
Darcy Family Christmas
Elizabeth anxiously anticipates her new duties as mistress of Pemberley. Darcy is confident of her success, but she cannot bring herself to share his optimism.
Unexpected guests unsettle all her plans and offer her the perfect Christmastide gift, shattered confidence.
Can she and Darcy overcome their misunderstandings and salvage their first Christmastide together?
Jane Austen never wrote the details of Christmastide 1811. What might have happened during those intriguing months?
Following the Netherfield ball, Darcy persuades Bingley to leave Netherfield Park in favor of London to avoid the match-making machinations of Mrs. Bennet. Surely, the distractions of town will help Bingley forget the attractions of Miss Jane Bennet. But Bingley is not the only one who needs to forget. All Darcy wants this Christmastide is to forget another Miss Bennet.
Can the diversions of London help Darcy overcome memories of the fine eyes and pert opinions of a certain Hertfordshire miss?
Without the Bingleys, the Bennets are left to the company of Mr. Collins and the militia officers—entirely suitable company, according to Mrs. Bennet. Elizabeth disagrees, refusing an offer of marriage from the very eligible Mr. Collins. Mama’s nerves suffer horridly until Elizabeth follows her advice to make the most of the officers’ company.
Even Mr. Bennet seems to agree. So, whilst Jane pines for Mr. Bingley, Elizabeth admits the attentions of one agreeable Lt. Wickham. What possible harm can it cause, especially when her parents are so pleased?
After the debacle of the previous holiday season, Darcy and Elizabeth joyfully anticipate Christmastide 1813, Georgiana’s come out at Pemberley’s Twelfth Night Ball culminating the season. With months of planning behind the event, even Lady Matlock is satisfied and sends Colonel Fitzwilliam to represent the family, assured there will be no repeat of the previous Christmastide.
On St. Nicholas’ day, Anne de Bourgh and Lady Catherine arrive on Pemberley’s doorstep—never a good sign—demanding sanctuary against the de Bourghs who (according the Lady Catherine) are trying to retake Rosings Park for their family with plans to seduce and marry Anne. Needless to say, Darcy and Fitzwilliam are skeptical.
Can Darcy and Elizabeth, with a little help from Fitzwilliam, soothe Lady Catherine’s nerves, see Anne to a respectable match, and still salvage Georgiana’s come out?
Yuletide 1814, the Darcys are celebrating their third wedding anniversary and the baby Elizabeth is expecting. Overprotective and perhaps overbearing, Darcy is ready to do anything for Elizabeth’s comfort, including defying the will of his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh who demands their presence to bestow a gift that absolutely cannot wait.
What sort of gift is so urgent it cannot wait for a more auspicious time?
Christmastide 1815, the Darcys hope for a particular sort of joy to bring a close to a dark and difficult season. It only seems fitting that an unexpected—and unwelcome—guest disrupts their small family house party. Could the un-expected gift they bring be the key to the fulfillment of the Darcys most heartfelt desires?
Given Good Principles
Six months after his father’s passing, Fitzwilliam Darcy still finds solace in his morning reflections at his parents’ graves. Only in the quiet solitude of the churchyard does he indulge his grief. None but his unlikely mentor recognize the heartache and insecurity plaguing him as he shoulders the enormous burden of being Master of Pemberley.
In the midst of his struggles to reinvent himself, his school chum, Charles Bingley, arrives. Darcy hopes the visit will offer some respite from the uproar in his life. Instead of relief, Darcy discovers his father’s darkest secret staring him in the face. Pushed to his limits, Darcy must overcome the issues that ruined his father and, with his friends and mentor at his side, restore his tarnished birthright.
With the regiment come to camp in Meryton, many young ladies are pleased. Not all share their enthusiasm. Among them, Mr. Carver, who removes his family from Meryton’s savage society. He blames, not on the militia officers, but the bad influence of the Bennet family.
Elizabeth denies the allegations at first, but rapidly uncovers the shocking truth. The Carvers are not the only family to cut the Bennets from their acquaintance. Their reputations materially damaged, the family borders on social ruin.
Warned by the local curate that several of the officers have unsavory designs on the local girls, Elizabeth must find a way to honor her father, rein in her sister and salvage the family’s reputation, all in the most ladylike way possible.
What is a young woman to do? One handsome young man has all the goodness, while the other, the appearance of it. How is she to separate the gentleman from the cad?
When Darcy joins his friend, Bingley on a trip to Meryton, the last thing on his mind is finding a wife. Meeting Elizabeth Bennet changes all that, but a rival for his affections appears from a most unlikely quarter. He must overcome his naturally reticent disposition if he is to have a chance of winning her favor.
Elizabeth’s thoughts turn to love and marriage after her sister Mary’s engagement. In a few short weeks, she goes from knowing no eligible young men, to being courted by two. Both are handsome gentlemen, but one conceals secrets and the other conceals his regard. Will she determine which is which before she commits to the wrong one?
Twelfth Night—a night for wondrous things to happen.
At least for other people.
In the months after her sisters’ weddings, nothing has gone well for Kitty Bennet. Since Lydia’s infamous elopement, her friends have abandoned her, and Longbourn is more prison than home.
Her only ray of hope is an invitation to Pemberley for the holidays. Perhaps there she might escape the effects of her sister’s shame.
But, in an instant all her hopes are dashed, and her dreams of becoming proper Catherine instead of just plain Kitty evaporate. Will Kitty Bennet’s inner strength be enough to bring her heart’s desire?
On an ordinary night perhaps not, but on Twelfth Night, it just might be enough.
Jane Austen Regency Life
Jane Austen’s books are full of hidden mysteries for the modern reader.
Why on earth would Elizabeth Bennet be expected to consider a suitor like foolish Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice? Would Lydia’s ‘infamous elopement’ truly have ruined her family and her other sisters’ chances to marry? Why were the Dashwood women thrown out of their home after Mr. Dashwood’s death in Sense and Sensibility, and what was the problem with secret engagements anyway? And then there are settlements, pin money, marriage articles and many other puzzles for today’s Austen lovers.
Take a step into history with Maria Grace as she explores the customs, etiquette and legalities of courtship and marriage in Jane Austen’s world. Packed with information and rich with detail from Austen’s novels, Maria Grace casts a light on the sometimes bizarre rules of Regency courtship and unravels the hidden nuances in Jane Austen’s works.
… In the meantime, for elegance and ease and luxury, the Hattons and Milles’ dine here to-day, and I shall eat ice and drink French wine, and be above vulgar economy.
~Jane Austen to Cassandra, Godmersham, June 20, 1808
We know Jane Austen ate ice cream. What might her favorite flavors have been? Pride and Pistachios? Sense and Strawberry Cream? Whatever it was, we can be fairly certain it wasn’t vanilla—read more to find out why!
Take a romp through period recipes, personalities and polite society and get a taste for the ice cream Jane Austen would have eaten!
Many Christmas traditions and images of ‘old fashioned’ holidays are based on Victorian celebrations. Going back just a little further, to the beginning of the 19th century, the holiday Jane Austen knew would have looked distinctly odd to modern sensibilities.
How odd? Families rarely decorated Christmas trees. Festivities centered on socializing instead of gift-giving. Festivities focused on adults, with children largely consigned to the nursery. Holiday events, including balls, parties, dinners, and even weddings celebrations, started a week before Advent and extended all the way through to Twelfth Night in January.
Take a step into history with Maria Grace as she explores the traditions, celebrations, games and foods that made up Christmastide in Jane Austen’s era. Packed with information and rich with detail from period authors, Maria Grace transports the reader to a longed-for old fashioned Christmas.