Charlotte's official debut: A bouquet for her and for you

Peonies at Chatsworth/Pemberly. I made them Charlotte’s favourite flower.

I don’t know how to write this blog. Today was the day I was supposed to be clasping my hands over piles of glossy hardcover copies of my first novel Charlotte, a sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice told from the perspective of the heroine’s best friend, Charlotte Lucas. I was supposed to be stroking the cover and admiring the endpapers — both, in my completely unbiased opinion, the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. I was supposed to be getting my hair done and choosing an outfit for the launch and afterparty — the first of several celebrations, signings, panels and launches in two countries.

Of all the debuts for my beloved book, I didn’t envisage being alone at home, recovering from pneumonia, wearing a lampshade on my head. But here we are. Dozens of writers I know are experiencing this fate — all the hard work by a team (no book is ever produced alone) and years of toil and effort, only to see their book swept aside by an invisible virus.

This is not quite how I pictured my launch day. Note the pendant: although this is a very English book, I’m South African, and I wanted to reflect this. So I chose a Charlotte-style locket that features one of our indigenous sunbirds sitting on our national flower, the protea. Today is about flowers, I’ve decided.

But just as Austen’s Charlotte Lucas made the best of the hand she was dealt, never sulking when she was called away from festivities because “she was wanted about the pies”, this Charlotte will also have her day. Not so much in the sun, as a series of steps in dappled shade — but slants of light nonetheless. So let me officially be the footman that announces her entry into the assembly rooms.

Ladies and gentleman, may I present: Miss Lucas, Mrs Collins, the esteemed and estimable Charlotte. You may ask for the pleasure of her company in e-format, or you may wish to hear her musings via audio book. I wish you great joy of her acquaintance. She is everything to me. (She really is.)

E-book (Amazon UK) here:
E-book (Kobo) here:
Audible version, read exquisitely by British actress Isabella Inchbald — for a tempting excerpt, listen to the short Prologue here.

For those who have ordered the print book: we won’t be seeing those until the end of lockdown, sadly, as they’re stranded in a warehouse somewhere in Britain. We’ll all have to exercise (more) patience. I am so sorry for your disappointment — BELIEVE ME, I SHARE IT.

Just a few thoughts and thanks. It’s hard to pinpoint where this journey started; in a dusty lecture hall at the University of Cape Town decades ago, where Jeanne Heywood pointed out that far from being venal, Charlotte Lucas was brave, resourceful and fair — she met her side of the marital bargain with the fawning clergyman Mr Collins by working hard to make him comfortable, content and respectable. Then the writing started one momentous night looking over the hushing Irish Sea (I will forever be fond of Ireland because of my book’s beginnings there), on a writing retreat with my most special friends, co-authors and co-conspirators, Sarah Lotz and Paige Nick. I tear up EVERY time I remember the debt I owe you two in kickstarting Charlotte that night, and then tugging her out of me like a spool of thread you would not stop winding. I love you both. And then there was the unforgettable day in July 2018 when the delightful Eleanor Dryden, then at Bonnier Books in London, sent me an offer letter for Charlotte and a sequel, in which the Bonnier folk said such lovely things about my manuscript, my ears still go pink when I remember them. But for the full list of all those who got us to this day, please read the Acknowledgements of the book. Even if it’s the only thing you read.

I’ve written quite a few books, but this is my first novel, a book I’ve wanted to write for nearly 30 years. So I want to do something to mark this day. Not an online launch: we’re all exhausted, and everyone with an internet connection is Zoomed-and zoned-out. Instead, if you like, please send Charlotte a bouquet of virtual flowers in the comment threads or replies. My Charlotte loves gardens and flowers, and it might cheer us all a little bit.

And here, once again, the sumptuous cover.
*curtseys*