Many of Jane Austen’s contemporary readers consider her magical. Mary Robinette Kowal went one step further and made her so.
Jane Ellsworth, the Austen-inspired heroine of three Kowal novels to date, lives the kind of British Regency era life an Austen character might have, with a delightful exception: She’s a glamourist, a professional magician who creates illusions by manipulating strands of the ether, that mysterious medium people once thought filled the air.
Kowal visits Milwaukee on Monday to read from her new novel “Without a Summer” (Tor, $24.99), in which Jane brings her younger sister Melody to London for “the season” in the hope of finding her a husband – and in which Jane and her husband, David Vincent, also a glamourist, battle a conspiracy that preys on public fears about an unusual cold spell.
Kowal is also a professional puppeteer. Her author visit to Boswell Book Company will include a short puppet show connected to a story in one of her books.
Read the full Book Review: ‘Without a Summer’ by Mary Robinette Kowal.
