Jane Austen’s name and image have been appropriated for so many ancillary items – fridge magnets, tote bags, coffee mugs, temporary tattoos, air freshener, knitting patterns, scented candles – that’s it’s almost a surprise to find her associated with, of all things, books.
How refreshing, then, to hear of a new bookstore in the small city of Albertville, in northeastern Alabama, named Shades of Pemberley -- as in “Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?” Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s cri de coeur at Elizabeth Bennet’s presumption.
Pride and Prejudice is one of owner Brandi Atchison’s favorite books, according to a report in the local paper, the Sand Mountain Reporter.
Atchison plans to stock all genres in her store and eventually to add that now-de rigueur bookstore element, the coffee shop, explaining, “I just want it to be a relaxing environment for everyone needing a book.”
Which is – or should be – all of us.