Letters to Julia

This next book in The Merriweather Chronicles follows hard on the heels of the events in "Friendship and Folly." What happens when the Parrys' beloved Julia marries and goes to live across the Irish Sea? Well, for one thing, the Royal Mail becomes much richer...

From the Preface: Jane Austen is famously quoted as having said that Emma Woodhouse was a heroine "whom no one but myself will much like," and though the last two hundred years have proven that she seriously underestimated the public's ability to admire the self-deceived, as I was trying to hammer this particular portion of The Merriweather Chronicles into a coherent narrative, and saw the way it was heading, I could not help thinking of this comment. Frequently.

Actually, I expect the implication of mild disapproval contained in the above phrase is insufficient to cover what many readers who attempt the following pages may eventually feel toward the poor girl. A hundred years ago-even fifty-they might have cut her more slack; but this is the age, not only of "strong female characters" who take charge of their lives and positively wallow in high self-esteem, but of heroines who go above and beyond: forget the whole "I am the mistress of my fate, the captain of my soul" thing-now your ideal female lead takes on the whole natural and supernatural world, slaying vampires, demons, werewolves and who knows what else, all the while apparently dressed in tight jeans and perky crop-tops.

You know that innocent bystander who cowers under the nearest desk while Ms. Crop-top saves the known universe? That's my "heroine."