Deborah YaffeApr 12, 2021Strange brewOne of the many, many reasons I am glad not to live in the time of Jane Austen – right up there with the absence of antibiotics, reliable...
Deborah YaffeJul 23, 2020Cash for cream teas and champagneThe havoc that pandemic lockdown has wreaked on an array of arts and cultural organizations is old news by now. Janeites have seen a...
Deborah YaffeMay 2, 2019Talking with Britain's most-photographed manWhen I visited the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, England, in July 2011, Martin Salter had the day off. At the time, I didn’t know what I...
Deborah YaffeApr 4, 2019Statues, statues everywhereRemember back in elementary school, when one kid would get an awesome new toy or a cool pair of shoes, and then everybody had to have...
Deborah YaffeJan 10, 2019A tourist in BathLast Thursday, James McAvoy, the excellent Scottish actor who played Jane Austen’s crush Tom Lefroy in the 2007 film Becoming Jane, paid...
Deborah YaffeApr 2, 2018Down on Up LitOne of the most useful sentences Jane Austen ever wrote is surely this one: “Pictures of perfection as you know make me sick & wicked.”...
Deborah YaffeApr 20, 2017A fiver to BathThe Roald Dahl-flavored tale of the four specially engraved, possibly valuable Jane Austen £5 notes continues to be The Story That Will...
Deborah YaffeMar 27, 2017Jane Austen, trumpedFor an American, a British spouse confers certain advantages. Your tea will always be expertly brewed. Your friends will find the accent...
Deborah YaffeFeb 27, 2017Context is everythingOnce or twice in the past, I have mentioned my aversion to lists of Jane Austen quotes – or mugs with Jane Austen quotes, or, indeed, any...
Deborah YaffeSep 15, 2016SpotlightedI subscribe to the weekly newsletter of the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, England, so imagine my excitement when this week’s edition...
Deborah YaffeAug 25, 2016Austen must-seesI am, of course, aware that online listicles with titles like “22 Places in the UK That Are a Must-See for Jane Austen Fans” are silly...
Deborah YaffeJul 11, 2016Piece by pieceYesterday marked the fourth anniversary of a Janeite teapot tempest – the purchase at auction, by American singer Kelly Clarkson, of a...