“Lockdown Lizzies”

Somehow I was quoted in The Sunday Times about Jane Austen! The article is titled, “By Georgian! Needlework and piano keep lockdown Lizzies busy” — how fun is that? Such a clever name for Janeites.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Jane Austen would practise the piano early in the morning before a leisurely breakfast at 9am. Rachel Dodge, a contributor to Jane Austen’s Regency World magazine, said the author ‘wrote newsy letters, played the pianoforte, prayed with her family, sewed beautifully, and loved brisk walks’ during a typical day. In the evenings, she would read.

Rachel Dodge, The Sunday Times

Have you picked up any Regency-style home projects this past year, my fellow Lockdown Lizzies??

For an excerpt, see below. To read the full article in The Sunday Times, click HERE. Special thanks to my friend Tim Bullamore of Jane Austen’s Regency World Magazine for finding this and sending it to me!

Hooray for Jane Austen and the Lockdown Lizzies!!⠀⠀⠀

Hobbies familiar to Jane Austen heroines are making a comeback as families swap screens for cross-stitch⠀

To fill the long days spent at home, the heroines in Jane Austen’s novels mastered the arts of needlework, painting and playing the pianoforte. For Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, knowledge of music, singing, drawing and “extensive reading” was the definition of an accomplished woman.

Fast-forward 200 years, and the enforced confinement of a third national lockdown is making many of us feel like we’re living in an Austen novel ourselves.

Retailers report that Britons are buying needlework kits, acrylic paints, novels and even pianos to pass the time. Fatigued by endless video conferences, home schooling and family Zoom chats, a growing rebellion against screen time has also fuelled the nation’s love of physical books as they seek out tech-free hobbies.

To continue reading this article in the The Sunday Times, click HERE.

Let’s keep in touch:

Subscribe to my blog
for articles on literature, faith, and my writing adventures!

Signed Books:

Order signed books here on my web site!
Each autographed book comes with a matching bookmark.

⠀⠀