The man who loved Jane Austen - Sally Smith O'Rourke

When New York artist Eliza Knight buys an old vanity table one lazy Sunday afternoon, she has no idea of its history. Tucked away behind the mirror are two letters. One is sealed; the other, dated May 1810, is addressed to "Dearest Jane" from "F. Darcy"--as in Fitzwilliam Darcy, the fictional hero of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Could one of literature's most compelling characters been a real person? More intriguing still, scientific testing proves that the second, sealed letter was written by Jane herself.

Caught between the routine of her present life and these incredible discoveries from the past, Eliza decides to look deeper and is drawn to a majestic, 200-year-old estate in Virginia's breathtaking Shenandoah Valley. There she meets the man who may hold the answer to this extraordinary puzzle. Now, as the real story of Fitzwilliam Darcy unfolds, Eliza finds her life has become a modern-day romance, one that perhaps only Jane herself could have written. . .


"Fascinating. . .pays tribute to Jane Austen's enduring ideals of romantic love." --Booklist


"O'Rourke's latest is mysterious yet romantic as she reveals secrets of Jane Austen's life." --Romantic Times

Sally Smith O'Rourke lives in Monrovia, California, where she is working on her next novel.