R J Weinkam

More Sense than Sensibility R J Weinkam

MORE SENSE THAN SENSIBILITY is a diverting rendition of Jane Austen's youthful brush with the French Revolution and her friendship with Elinor and Marianne Fairwood, whose tangled romances inspire her first novel, which she is determined to begin as soon as she can. It is the summer of 1794, Jane is 18, her cousin, Eliza de Feuillide, learns her husband has died at the guillotine - betrayed by a Jean-Phillip Morel. The imposing Mr Hugh DuBray, a British agent, invites Eliza to visit Tilburn Abbey to learn more about her French affairs; Jane accompanies her, of course. Just over the hill, Elinor and Marianne Fairwood move into their Uncle's cottage. It is a comedown for them, keenly felt, but their father has recently died and left them without funds, while a distant cousin, the odious Mr Collins, inherited their entailed estate and turned them out after Elinor refused to marry him. Marianne is discovered stealing cherries by the scandalous Tot Massingale and is stung by bees while trying to escape. What good fortune it was, for he proved a kindred spirit, perfect in her eyes, at least until Pamela Just and Fleecy Stopple turn up, both claiming young Massingale had proposed marriage to win their favors and then begged off. Maryanne despairs, while Elinor suspects his antics are a ruse. Then DuBray and Massingale suddenly disappear. Jane and Eliza believe they went on a secret mission into France, but no one knows until they reappeared weeks later, shaken and exhausted. They had rescued a frightened ten-year-old French boy, Hugo-Andre Condorlet, orphaned by the murder of his mother during their escape. But he is not safe. Jane discovers dark riders creeping through the forest - Morel and his gang, they mean to take the boy back.