Jane and the Damned
Reviewed by Gabrielle Pantera
“I reread Austen’s novels for the vampire subtexts,” says Jane and the Damned author Janet Mullany. “For instance, the Crawfords [Mary and Henry in Mansfield Park], Willoughby [Sense and Sensibility] and Wickham [Pride and Prejudice] are clearly vampires. I also give an explanation of why Austen dedicated Emma to the Prince Regent.”
”I seem to have turned into a paranormal writer who does terrible things to Jane Austen,” says Mullany. “I do feel that the more I find out about Austen the more enigmatic and mysterious she becomes. I’m definitely not one of those writers who digs into her life and feels they’ve cracked the code.”
Mullany says it was her editor, May Chen, who set her on the road to Austenite vampires. “She asked me if I’d do something funny and paranormal about Jane Austen, and I talked it over with my brother when I was on a visit to England. He kept suggesting great titles like Austen Powers and Blood Bath, while I came up with the most outrageous idea I could. I became rather interested in the idea of showing Austen as a smart, ruthless, courageous woman, rather than the rather precious persona which I believe was mainly an invention of the Victorian age.”
In Jane and the Damned, Jane and her sister Cassandra are attending a dance at Basingstoke when Jane and her sister encounter otherworldly creatures from London. Vampires, to be exact. After chatting with William in an empty room, which was scandalous enough, he turns Jane into one of the damned, a vampire.
Jane informed her father Reverend Austen, who loves his daughter so much he wants to save her. Possibly the water a Bath will cure her. The family journeys to Bath. The French invade England before Jane gets to take the cure. Will she use her superhuman strength and speed to save their country?
Cassandra plays a small role in this novel. The bond between Reverend Austin ad Jane is reminiscent of Pride and Prejudice. There’s humor, although purists may object to Jane become a vampire. Mullany’s writing is witty and ironic. This mash-up by Janet Mullany with Jane Austen as a vampire is defiantly outside the realm of the Jane Austin that we all think we know.
Mullany says she deliberately chose a period for the novel when there were no letters written to or by Jane. Mullany says she used Google books for research. Some books she referred to were Jane Austen: A Family Record by Deirdre LeFaye and Napoleon and the Invasion of Britain by Alexandra Franklin.
“I really hope that people who like Austen will appreciate the book as a sort of improvised riff on her life, and that those who like vampire books will also enjoy it,” says Mullany. “I’m very proud of my elegant Georgian vampires.”
Mullany currently lives near Washington, D.C. She was born in London. Mullany is currently working on the second book about Jane as a vampire, set in Chawton in 1809.
Rating: 3 Stars
Jane and the Damned: A Novel, by Janet Mullany. Trade Paperback, 304 pages, Publisher: Avon (September 28, 2010), Language: English, ISBN: 9780061958304.
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