Vixie's stories: Presenting... 'Yours Affectionately, Jane Austen' Blog Tour

Welcome to this stop on Sally Smith O'Rourke's tour.

Read on to find out about the author and her novel, Yours Affectionately, Jane Austen.

I asked Sally who her top ten romantic couples are, seeing as her book stars a certain
Mr. Darcy, and what more could you ask for in a man? Now I'm thinking of Colin Firth, ooh...

Yours Affectionately, Jane Austen

Was Mr. Darcy real? Is time travel really possible? For pragmatic Manhattan artist Eliza Knight the answer to both questions is absolutely, yes! And Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley Farms, Virginia, is the reason why!

His tale of love and romance in Regency England leaves Eliza in no doubt that Fitz Darcy is the embodiment of Jane Austen’s legendary hero. And she’s falling in love with him. But can the man who loved the inimitable Jane Austen ever love average, ordinary Eliza Knight?

Eliza’s doubts grow, perhaps out of proportion, when things start to happen in the quiet hamlet of Chawton, England; events that could change everything. Will the beloved author become the wedge that divides Fitz and Eliza or the tie that binds them?

Tens List

Sally Smith O'Rourke's Top Ten Romantic Couples

Abigail and John Adams

Their amazing letters prove this was a true love match as well as one of shared respect.

George Bernard Shaw and Mrs. Patrick Campbell

This couple’s entire relationship was in letters, although they did know each other. An unconsummated relationship (as was Shaw’s marriage), theirs was a chivalric love.

Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart

Their real life love affair could have rivalled anything they portrayed on film.

Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy

Having been married in the Catholic Church, Tracy would not get divorced, but it is doubtful that Hepburn would have married him anyway. She believed that no one could ‘have it all’ and that if you have a career, are a spouse and/or parent then all of the avocations would suffer. She felt that she needed to chose one and it was work. Still, their love spanned many decades, until he died.

Marie and Pierre Curie

A couple whose love was so strong that it spanned their scientific and personal lives. They were together almost 24 hours a day, every day, and still their love and respect never faltered.

Victoria and Albert

Refusing a marriage strictly for political reasons, Victoria found her soul mate in Albert, who was at her side and instrumental in many governmental decisions Victoria made. Devastated by his death, she wore black to the day she died (even, unfortunately, to the weddings of her children).

Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester

The ultimate Cinderella story, but with a scandalous twist.

Anna Leonowens and King Mongkut of Siam (Jodie Foster and Yun-Fat Chow)

There is no historical evidence of a love affair, but it has been intimated in virtually every depiction since the publication of Leonowens' diaries from her time as governess to the king’s children. The relationship that I note here is the fictional one from the Andy Tennant/Steve Meerson film Anna and the King.

Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy (Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth)

The fictional couple in the book is pretty romantic, but Ehle and Firth brought them to such vivid life that they are Lizzy and Darcy to millions of people, most particularly me.

Eliza Knight and Fitz Darcy

The couple from Yours Affectionately, Jane Austen and The Man Who Loved Jane Austen.

Praise for Yours Affectionately, Jane Austen

O’Rourke creates a world that defies cynicism and demands suspension of disbelief –

even in this age of doubt and hyper-realism. Sheer escapism at its best.

Clever, charming and affectionate.

~Jocelyn Bury

…the reader must tenaciously read on rather than put the book down to satisfy their hunger for the story to resolve, which it does in characteristically Jane Austen fashion.

~Erin Murdock

In Yours Affectionately, Jane Austen, author Sally Smith O’Rourke creates a compelling story that investigates what and who might have inspired Jane Austen. While the storyline is certainly far-fetched, it is a truly unique idea, one that captivated this reader until the very last page.

~Meg Massey

Purchase

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Smashwords

The audio book with Kendra Hoffman’s wonderful narration

is now available at Audible.com.

Author Sally Smith O'Rourke

Sally Smith O’Rourke is a surgical scrub nurse at the City of Hope national cancer research hospital in Duarte, California, and resides in the nearby Victorian village of Monrovia. With her late husband, author Michael O’Rourke (aka F.M. O’Rourke), Smith O’Rourke owned and operated a medical advertising company where she used her diverse talents to produce and co-write teaching films and videos. Working not only with major medical and surgical manufacturing companies, but also network television. These endeavours ultimately led to a collaboration on two feature films (direct to video) and three published novels.

The wife and husband writing team of Sally Smith and Michael O’Rourke, being long-time fans of Jane Austen, wrote The Man Who Loved Jane Austen, released by Kensington Books in 2006. Kensington followed that very successful effort with The Maidenstone Lighthouse in 2007 and Christmas at Sea Pines Cottage in 2009, both also collaborative projects by Smith and O’Rourke. Published after her partner and spouse’s untimely death in 2001, the publisher chose not to use the names Michael O’Rourke and Sally Smith (as the manuscripts were presented), releasing all three books under Sally Smith O’Rourke. Yours Affectionately, Jane Austen is Sally Smith O’Rourke’s first solo novel.

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