Authorpreneur Dashboard – Alice Spaulding Taylor McVeigh

Alice Spaulding Taylor McVeigh

Susan - A Jane Austen Prequel

Literature & Fiction

Susan is a Jane Austen Prequel (or Pride and Prejudice Variation) brilliantly capturing Austen's own Lady Susan as a young girl.

As the BookLife review put it for Publishers Weekly: "McVeigh's prose and plotting are pitch-perfect. Emma mingles with Pride and Prejudice in a delightful confrontation between the two books' worlds... This Austen-inspired novel echoes the master herself."

Familiar characters abound - Frank Churchill, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Darcy himself - but Susan - mischievous and manipulative - is the star. This is Austen that even Austen might have loved, with a touch of Georgette Heyer in the romantic sections. Fans of Bridgerton will also relish this classic regency romance, the first in a six-book series.

Sixteen-year-old Susan Smithson - pretty but poor, clever but capricious - has just been expelled from a school for young ladies in London.

At the mansion of the formidable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, she attracts a raffish young nobleman. But, at the first hint of scandal, her guardian dispatches her to her uncle Collins' rectory in Kent, where her sensible cousin Alicia lives and "where nothing ever happens."

Here Susan mischievously inspires the local squire to put on a play, with consequences no one could possibly have foreseen. What with the unexpected arrival of Frank Churchill, Alicia's falling in love and a tumultuous elopement, rural Kent will surely never seem safe again...

Book Bubbles from Susan - A Jane Austen Prequel

Harriet - A Jane Austen Variation

Literature & Fiction

“McVeigh’s plotting and prose are pitch-perfect” (Publishers Weekly)

Harriet is an intriguing and original 'take' on Jane Austen's immortal Emma, by Publishers Weekly’s 2021 BookLife Prize quarterfinalist, Alice McVeigh.


Emma, a privileged young heiress, decides to mentor Harriet Smith, a pretty boarding-school pupil, and to matchmake her as eligibly as she can… But how is she to guess that Harriet has a secret?

Meanwhile, the brilliant, penniless Jane Fairfax consents to a clandestine engagement with Frank Churchill – though not daring to confess, even to him, that she is being relentlessly pursued by her best friend’s husband.

Harriet sidelines Emma herself in favour of the ingenious Harriet and the fascinating Jane Fairfax. It is Emma – but an Emma with a surprisingly believable twist in its tail.


“A dynamic take on a revered classic. This is still Austen’s Emma—but the story that unfolds through the recollections of these two ‘side’ characters feels remarkably fresh… With or without an understanding of Emma, Harriet contains a fully formed narrative that should satisfy even the choosiest Austen fans… Readers will rarely find the words ‘page-turner’ and 'Jane Austen' in the same sentence, but McVeigh’s impeccably written Harriet certainly fits the bill.” (IndieReader editorial review)

“A highly engrossing novel that captures the spirit of Austen and celebrates all the best qualities of her work from new and innovative angles… The characters are vibrant and full of life – McVeigh hits the mark spot-on.” (Readers Favorite editorial review)

Book Bubbles from Harriet - A Jane Austen Variation

Opening of HARRIET

Yes, you're right... I have indeed made one alteration in EMMA! I have dared to make little Harriet Smith - the original "dumb blonde" - clever enough to APPEAR to be stupid. She does this in order to flatter Emma, and to advance in regency society, where, unless one can "break into" society, the life chances for an unknown orphan were pretty poor. The book is my 'take' on EMMA, as narrated by Jane Fairfax - as faithful to the original as I could make her - and by a rather savvier Harriet.

Darcy - A Pride and Prejudice Variation - KINDLE

Literature & Fiction

Basically, Pride and Prejudice from Darcy's point of view, rather than Elizabeth's. With added interest from Mary's diaries and flashbacks from Darcy's life. 

Book Bubbles from Darcy - A Pride and Prejudice Variation - KINDLE

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