Jane Austen Sequels: The Novels of Joan Austen-Leigh
There are a lot of Emma sequels written as Jane Austen fanfiction, although, relatively few published Jane Austen sequels. If you wish that Jane Austen would have had more time in her relatively short life to write her own sequels to some of her classics, then you are in luck, her collateral descendant, Joan Austen Leigh, who is actually her great-great grandniece, has taken on the challenge.
Joan Austen-Leigh was born in 1920′s in Victoria, British Columbia. Her father was a land surveyor, while her mother was said to have finished a University degree. She was famous novelist Jane Austen’s collateral descendant by virtue of her connection to Jane’s nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh who was Joan’s great grandfather.
Before attending school in England, she also attended Queen Margaret’s School. Her career as a writer started much later when at the age of 48, when she finished her Bachelor of Arts degree in University of Victoria followed by Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing at University of British Columbia in 1975.
Using the same table where Jane Austen’s classic novel was written, she started writing Emma sequels at the age of 55 and eventually published two works: Later Days at Highbury and A Visit to Highbury. Both are currently out of print, but you can sometimes find a copy online either at Amazon or Ebay
She met her future husband, Denis Mason Hurley at his parent’s Shawnigan Lake Beach Resort. Their children are named Freydis Jane, Robert Conway, Tibbie and Damaris.
Joan Austen-Leigh’s books became popular because they provided Austen fans a different insight on what would have happened had Austen lived long enough to write more novels. Novels by Joan Austen-Leigh won numerous awards. Some of her famous works include the following:
Invitation to the Party (2001)
Later Days at Highbury (1996)
Mrs. Goddard, mistress of a school (1993)
A Visit to Highbury (1995)
Stephanie at War (1986)
Stephanie (1979)
She also wrote over 20 highly acclaimed plays that were staged all over North America, while using her married name, Joan Mason Hurley. Her works were so well respected, she won first prize for a Canadian playwriting competition in Ottawa in 1985.
Her list of plays include:
Four Canadian one-act plays (1990): Passacaglia,
Fugue for female voices, Inukshuk, Death seat
Women’s work (1979)
Our own particular Jane (1975)
Together with Henry G. Burke and J. David Grey, she co-founded Jane Austen Society of North America which is composed of Jane Austen fans in North America which is one of the largest literary organizations ever founded.
Austen-Leigh was honored with a Doctor of Laws degree from Goucher College in Baltimore in 2001. The honor was announced via speaker phone as she had been considerably weakened with treatment for cancer at that time. Later that same year, at the age of 80 she died of cancer just prior to her birthday where she would have been 81 years old.
Incoming search terms:
- Joan Austen-Leigh
- joan austen
- joan austen-leigh - novels
- austen-leigh
