PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Brenda S. Cox is fascinated by the history of Jane Austen's time and the nuances of Austen's delightful and insightful books. Her own faith led her to start exploring the church in Austen's novels and world. She was excited to find new depths in Austen's works and astonishing connections with world-changing movements during this pivotal era in history. She spent almost ten years researching, including visits to England, hunting up many, many books and resources, some obscure and not easily available, and digging through them to answer her multiplying questions. So, she decided to write this book to provide all that information in one accessible place for others who love Jane Austen or history.A popular speaker at Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) meetings, Brenda Cox has shared about church-related topics, ranging from satirical cartoons to country curates, at regional and national meetings, and contributes regularly to their academic journal, Persuasions On-Line. She also loves connecting regularly with thousands of Austen fans at Jane Austen's World and on her own blog, Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen. Brenda first discovered Austen as a young mom living overseas, when she came across a copy of Emma. After devouring it, she immediately bought a complete set of Austen's novels. Each time she re-reads the books, she falls in love again with Austen's humor, deep insights into life and human nature, and finesse as a writer. She is now passing that love on to her grandchildren, reading the novels aloud together as Austen's own family did.Brenda loves learning and appreciated the privilege of homeschooling her four children because she got to learn so much along with them. She also enjoys cross-stitching Jane Austen projects and reading a wide range of books. She worked internationally for many years and values the beautiful variety of cultures and languages, which she expressed in her book on languages, Who Talks Funny? She earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering, a master's in applied linguistics, and, now in her third career, is loving writing about Jane.Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen's England is Brenda S. Cox's first book related to Jane Austen. Please visit her at brendascox.wordpress.com and as brendascoxregency on Facebook.
"""Finally! Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen's England is the Jane Austen reference book that's been missing from the bookshelves of every Austen fan and scholar. I can't wait to add this to my research collection and keep it at my fingertips whenever I'm writing about Austen's faith and the religious lives of her characters. Thank you to Brenda S. Cox for creating this invaluable resource!"" Rachel Dodge, Praying with Jane ""Fashionable Goodness offers a magisterial study of the ways in which the Christian faith and the Anglican Church of Jane's day were not only foundational for her personal life but also for her talent as a writer. ""Detailed study of the novels is revealed throughout this book and constant reference and quotation from the novels show how strongly Christian beliefs and ethics underpin Jane's work. The book fully underlines that to read the novels without a religious framework in mind leaves the reader missing vitally important points about the presentation of both her plots and her characters. ""Brenda Cox's scholarly and detailed work is a triumph. It is easily read, . . . extremely helpful and accurate and particularly so when dealing with titles and the life and inner workings of the Anglican Church and its clergy in the late 18th century. ""The volume also provides a wide and fascinating panorama of Anglicanism in the 18th century and of the various challenges the Church and wider society faced. In effect the volume is a marvellous compendium and a valuable handbook to turn to when reading (or indeed re-reading) the novels; the many insights it offers will undoubtedly instruct and enrich an understanding and appreciation of Jane's skill as a writer and of her life as a devout Christian."" Michael Kenning, Rector of Steventon 1992-2010, Vice-Chairman of the Jane Austen Society ""A meticulously researched, faultlessly organized, and engaging study of how religion, in all its forms, features in Jane Austen's world, her life, and her writings. ""Starting with Henry Tilney's famous defense of 'the English' in Northanger Abbey, Cox reveals the facts of Jane Austen's faith and the realities and challenges of practicing religion in the Regency period. With biographical sketches of the leading religious leaders and analyses of the various denominations of the time, she puts into context the explicit and subtle religious references in Austen's novels. ""This Christian world permeates Austen's writings. . . . You will look at Mr. Collins, the Crawfords, the Dashwoods, the Tilneys, the Wickhams, the Willoughbys, and especially Fanny Price!-all the 'good' and the 'not so good' people who populate the novels, with new and surprising insights. Bravo to Brenda Cox for giving us this very accessible, illuminating take on the 'fashionable goodness' of Austen's era!"" Deborah Barnum, Jane Austen in Vermont, Bygone Books, and Reading with Austen: Returning the Lost Sheep of Godmersham ""Brenda Cox's Fashionable Goodness is an indispensable guide to all things religious in Jane Austen's world. . . . a proper understanding of 18th century Christianity is necessary for a full appreciation of Austen's works. Cox provides this understanding. . . . This work will appeal to novice readers of Austen as well as scholars and specialists."" Roger E. Moore, Vanderbilt University, Jane Austen and the Reformation"
