Jane Austen's Guide to Dating

JANE AUSTEN'S GUIDE TO DATING: Lauren Henderson: Nonfiction: Hyperion, c2005: 287 pgs.

Dear Provo,

You didn’t know Jane Austen wrote a dating guide, did you? Well, technically she didn’t. But then again, she did!

So here’s the real scoop. There was this British girl, namely Lauren Henderson, who did her thesis on courting rituals in Jane Austen novels. Then she came to America and lost her boyfriend. She was sad. And of course everyone tried to give her dating advice (which didn’t work mind you.) But that brought her back to Jane Austen, whose work is chock FULL of dating advice, in a manner of speaking. She began to examine how Austen’s characters caught their true love. Then she compiled this lovely dating guide based on the romances--both those that worked and those that didn’t—of all your favourite Austen characters. It’s brilliant. After the tales of your Lydias, Emmas, Annes, and Darcys, the author describes exactly what the lover did right or wrong. She then relays a couple of modern examples, via her own or her friends’(names have been changed to protect the innocent) love lives to illustrate just what to do or not to do—in order to get to “I do”. She even provides a quiz for you to find out which Austen character you are (and which match you should be looking for).

Lots of luck in love,

DLA