Image via Wikipedia
I am slowly working my way through Jane Austen’s works thanks to that little e-reader called a Nook. I downloaded her complete works because they are economical. I began with Northanger Abbey, followed that with Sense and Sensibility, and recently finished Pride and Prejudice. I am currently reading Merton Place.
No, I am not! Jane Austen never wrote a book titled Merton Place! But I have it stuck inside my mind that she did. She wrote a book titled Mansfield Park…which I want to call Merton Place.
I was interested to find that there is a historical Merton Place however.
Merton Place
Strangely enough I found this bit of history about Merton Place which really is a place in the real world. And where did I find the history about Merton Place? Why! It was on a Jane Austen fan site of all places. The site purports to bring “Jane Austen, her novels, and the Regency Period alive through food, dress, social customs, and other 19th C. historical details related to this topic.” I guess Merton Place fits into the latter category since the history I read does not have anything specific relating to Jane Austen…though the owner of Merton Place, Horatio Nelson, seemed like a real character out of a book to say the least!
Most likely I was thinking of the fictional town of Meryton in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice…but how I turned Mansfield Park into Merton (Meryton) Place is anybody’s guess. As an author I am half persuaded that I should write a book titled Merton Place. It may or may not have anything to do with Horatio Nelson or Jane Austen. Maybe it would be set in an alternate reality…that seems more my style.
