Elizabeth Aston

This article is about the English author. For the Australian Paralympic swimmer, see Elizabeth Edmondson.
Elizabeth Aston
Born 1948
Died 11 January 2016 (aged 67–68)
Oxford, England
Pen name Elizabeth Pewsey
Elizabeth Edmondson
Elizabeth Aston
Occupation Author
Alma mater St Hilda's College, Oxford
Genre Historical fiction, contemporary fiction, mystery
Notable works Mr. Darcy's Daughters
Spouse Paul Aston
Children Eloise Aston
Anselm Audley
Website
http://elizabethedmondson.com/

Elizabeth Aston (1948 – 11 January 2016), also known under the names Elizabeth Edmondson and Elizabeth Pewsey, was an English author who wrote primarily in the mystery, historical, and contemporary fiction genres. She studied Jane Austen while a student at St Hilda's College, Oxford, and many of her published stories were adaptations and sequels of Austen's works, beginning with Mr. Darcy's Daughters in 2003. Before her death in 2016, Aston also founded a youth holiday orchestra to provide musical opportunities for local young people in the York area, an organisation that has operated since 1992. Her son, Anselm Audley, is a fantasy author.

Career

Much of Elizabeth Aston's body of work has included characters and settings from Jane Austen's novels, written in a similar style of comedy and romance.[1] She described Austen as possessing the same appeal as Mozart, "She was a genius, whose writing speaks to the soul while it enchants and delights... Because of her deep understanding of human nature, and her portrayal of the comédie humaine, she transcends the gap of two centuries between then and now".[2] Some have characterised Aston's books as fan fiction.[3] She was one of the most prolific writers of Austen-related fiction, having produced stories featuring the Darcy, Collins, and Bingley families.[4] She wrote under the names Elizabeth Edmondson and Elizabeth Aston,[5] Aston being her married name.[6]

Her first published novel, Mr. Darcy's Daughters, was released as a sequel to Pride and Prejudice in 2003. It features the five daughters of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet as they navigate London society while their parents are in Constantinople.[7] The novel was a success for publisher Simon & Schuster, and led the company to produce further Austen adaptations and sequels by other authors, such as Pamela Aidan's Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series.[8] Aston's Darcy series came to include five further novels: The Exploits & Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy (2004),[9] The True Darcy Spirit (2006), The Second Mrs. Darcy (2007),[10] The Darcy Connection (2008),[11] and Mr. Darcy's Dream (2008). While the series shared common characters, Aston gave each instalment a unique story and heroine, stating that it did not matter what order her readers read each one but that it was still enjoyable to follow a series from the beginning.[2]

Jane Austen, who inspired many of Aston's stories

In 2010 Aston published Writing Jane Austen, a contemporary novel featuring an author who is asked to complete a recently discovered Jane Austen manuscript despite never having read an Austen novel before.[12] Believing Austen was a contemporary novelist who "[wrote] about her times and mores", Aston thought it would be interesting to write a Jane Austen-inspired novel but set it in modern times.[2] In a review from Publishers Weekly, Aston was praised for having "written a witty page-turning love letter to Austen's work",[12] while The Washington Post characterised Aston's book as a "fun to read" romantic comedy and noted that she "clearly relish[es] imagining what Austen might have written had she not died at a youthful 41".[13] One of Aston's short stories, "The Ghostwriter", was included in the Jane Austen anthology Jane Austen Made Me Do It, published in 2011.[3][14]

Aston was also a writer of mystery novels. Her story Children of Chance, published in 2011, was the first book she ever wrote. It became part of her Mountjoy series and led to five further books, detailing "the wicked and wonderful world of the Mountjoys and their friends, all living in and around an apparently seemly English cathedral city".[15]

The Guardian published an essay by Aston in 2014 (writing under the name Elizabeth Edmondson), which was an edited version of a debate speech she gave at the Oxford Literary Festival. In the essay, she criticises the terms "genre fiction" and "literary fiction" as weasel words used by the publishing industry, writing that "all books can be thrust into a genre, and lit fic is simply one of many. As a tag, it tells us nothing about the intrinsic value of any individual title".[16]

Personal life

Aston's mother and grandmother were both writers published in South America and her father was a journalist.[17] Despite being named after the Jane Austen character Elizabeth Bennet, Aston did not read an Austen novel until the age of thirteen, when she read Pride and Prejudice. She quickly became hooked and read all six of the author's novels.[6] In the late 1960s, Aston read and graduated from St Hilda's College, Oxford,[5][17] where she studied Austen under the author's biographer Lord David Cecil. Aston described the "rigour" of her time at Oxford as "tremendously useful", as it allowed her to study Austen's contemporary era along with the language and background surrounding Austen's novels.[2]

In 1992 Aston founded a York-based youth holiday orchestra named Yorchestra. It is a charity organisation that provides musical opportunities to local young people.[18] She lived in Oxford and Italy, having owned a home in an area north of Rome.[17] She was married to Paul Aston, an art historian and translator, for thirty years before his death in 2011. The pair have two children, Anselm and Eloise.[18] Anselm is a fantasy author who writes under the name Anselm Audley.[17] A year after Paul Aston's death, Elizabeth organised a charity performance to raise money for Sobell House Hospice in Headington, where Paul had spent his final days. Both children participated in the musical performance.[19] Elizabeth Aston died on 11 January 2016 in Oxford.[18]

List of works

Darcy series
Darcy novellas
Mountjoy series
Vintage Mystery series
Other works

References

  1. ↑ Wiser, Paige (7 August 2003). "Elizabeth and Darcy: Now you can know the rest of the story". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 26 March 2016 – via Highbeam Research. (subscription required)
  2. 1 2 3 4 "A Conversation with Elizabeth Aston, Author of Writing Jane Austen". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  3. 1 2 Dow & Hanson 2012, p. 11.
  4. ↑ Scholer 2009, p. 32.
  5. 1 2 "St Hilda's Writers' Day at the FT Oxford Literary Festival". St Hilda's College, Oxford. 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  6. 1 2 McCabe, Linda C. (11 April 2010). "Q&A with author Elizabeth Aston and a contest". The Cutest Blog on the Block. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  7. ↑ "Mr. Darcy's Daughters". Publishers Weekly. 14 April 2003. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  8. ↑ Kaufman, Molly Rose (27 February 2007). "More pride, more prejudice: Jane Austen given new life as sequels thrive". Columbia University News Service. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  9. ↑ "The Exploits & Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy". Publishers Weekly. 21 February 2005. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  10. ↑ "The Second Mrs. Darcy". Publishers Weekly. 11 December 2006. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  11. ↑ "The Darcy Connection". Publishers Weekly. 7 January 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  12. 1 2 "Writing Jane Austen". Publishers Weekly. 22 February 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  13. ↑ Weeks, Brigitte (17 March 2010). "Book Review: Three new novels extend the beloved stories of Jane Austen". The Washington Post. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  14. ↑ Aston 2011.
  15. ↑ "1st Blogoversary: Interview with Elizabeth Aston & Giveaway!". Isle of Books. 21 February 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  16. ↑ Edmondson, Elizabeth (21 April 2014). "The genre debate: 'Literary fiction' is just clever marketing". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  17. 1 2 3 4 Zacaroli, Mary (24 March 2006). "Doomed generation in the run-up to war". The Oxford Times. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  18. 1 2 3 Laycock, Mike (27 January 2016). "Founder of York holiday orchestra dies". The Press. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  19. ↑ Hughes, Tim (9 November 2012). "Charity Matters: Memorial concert to say thanks to Sobell". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
Works cited
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