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Jane Austen had at least a taste of London high life. In 1813 a barouche drove her around town in what she called “solitary elegance.” Two years later, after a tour of the Prince Regent’s palatial Carlton House, she was invited to dedicate her last lifetime novel, Emma, to the His Royal Highness.
What if Jane Austen had moved in such circles earlier? What if she had fallen in love? What if her banker brother, Henry Austen, had been caught in a web of corruption that did more than destroy his own enterprises?
Lord Moira’s Echo is both a love story and a tale of dark intrigue, drawing on unpublished archives to introduce a historical character who might have met Jane Austen during the very years when almost nothing is known about her. The story is told from two perspectives, Lord Moira’s own, and that of a young Canadian musician, Vanessa Horwood, who was the protagonist of Stuart Bennett’s first novel, The Perfect Visit.
Lord Moira is mentioned in Jane Austen’s correspondence and he played a role in the lives of her nautical brothers, Francis and Charles. Moira’s debts also contributed to Henry Austen’s bankruptcy in 1816 and were the subject of Austen family correspondence as late as the 1820s.
The cover image reproduced above is from an original print by H. Mutlow in the author’s collection. It first appeared in The Lady’s Magazine for January 1801, published in London by G.G. and J. Robinson, with the caption “Paris Dress.”