It’s launch day, and I’m so excited to introduce you to my brand new book! Colonel Brandon has arrived and is now ready to tell his story in His Own Words.

“I was just going to tell you of our agreeable surprize in seeing him arrive…” (Jane Austen, Emma)

What kind of book is it? I’d say it’s a retelling of Sense and Sensibility from Colonel Brandon’s point of view, except it’s so much more! The story agrees with but is not at all limited to the scope of the original novel. It fills in blanks and adds on all over the place – before, during, and after. Everything you’ve always wanted to know and Jane Austen didn’t tell us.

Want to see how the duel between Willoughby and Colonel Brandon went down? Check. How about his failed elopement with Eliza? What went wrong there? Covered. A taste of his experiences in India? Yes! Do you craving details of how Colonel Brandon proposed to Marianne and what their newlywed relationship is like. You got it!

Colonel Brandon in His Own Words is available in paperback and Kindle, with audio coming soon). So here’s the book blurb followed by the Prologue:

Colonel Brandon is the consummate gentleman: honorable, kind almost to a fault, ever loyal and chivalrous. He’s also silent and grave, though. So, what events in his troubled past left him downcast, and how does he finally find the path to a brighter future? In Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen gives us glimpses, but not the complete picture.

Now Colonel Brandon tells us his full story in His Own Words. He relates the truth about his early family life and his dear Eliza – his devotion to her and the devastating way she was lost to him forever. He shares with us a poignant tale from his military days in India – about a woman named Rashmi and how she likewise left a permanent mark on his soul. And of course Marianne. What did Brandon think and feel when he first saw her? How did his hopes for her subsequently rise, plummet, and then eventually climb upwards again. After Willoughby’s desertion, what finally caused Marianne to see Colonel Brandon in a different light?

This is not a variation but a supplement to the original story, chronicled in Brandon’s point of view. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the things Jane Austen didn’t tell us about a true hero – the very best of men.

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Prologue

It is happening again, and I suddenly feel very old. Although I survived it once before – just – I have the gravest doubts that I can do so again. Some days, I do not even wish to.

The current circumstances are quite different, it is true. But the pain is the same – the sudden wrenching in my gut each time I think of it, which I do nearly every minute of every day; the repeated jolt of panic in my brain, which tells me that I must do something to stop it; the hollow ache in my heart and the certain knowledge of my own pathetic powerlessness. It is all too familiar, for once again the hand of the woman I love more than life itself is being given irrevocably to another, and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.

It is no doubt weak and self-indulgent, as I have repeatedly told myself, but my mind will persist in entertaining questions of morbid curiosity. I cannot seem to help asking if, overall, it is better or worse this time. Is my disappointment more or less profound, the circumstances more or less regrettable? Will the resulting pain last as long as before and leave scars as deep?  

Perhaps it is only the proximity, but the current event appears worse – at least for myself personally – for I shall not only have the pain that she is lost to me forever, but the additional mortification of knowing she does not care for me. In truth, she thinks nothing of me at all. So, God willing, I shall be the only one to suffer, which was not the case before.

Poor Eliza.

I would not wish her fate on Marianne Dashwood, not for the world. In fact, that must be my chief consolation: knowing that Marianne is happy, even if it must be in the arms of another man. I would willingly sacrifice my own happiness and more if it would secure a lasting one for her. And yet who can say that her present bliss will endure, dependent as it is upon a man of whom I have every reason to think ill? And so my mind can by no means be easy.

I have been to her sister in Berkeley Street to have my worst fears confirmed, and now I know I should put Marianne from my mind and retire to Delaford to lick my wounds. And so I have made ready to do more than once. Still, as long as she is in London, I feel compelled to stand by – for what purpose, I cannot even conceive – at least until she is well and truly married. After that, it will be nobody’s right except her husband’s to be concerned for her welfare.

Until then, however, I will wait. Perhaps there may yet be some small service I can render. If I am needed, I swear I will not fail her. Whatever the cost, I must do better by Marianne than I did by Eliza… or by Rashmi.

Meanwhile, I have nothing to do but think of the past. Although there have been enough joys and compensations over the years, the regrets and failures continue to haunt me. I am in a dangerous state of mind.

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Can’t wait to read more? Get Colonel Brandon in His Own Words now in paperback and Kindle (audio coming soon). And please follow the blog tour for more excerpts, interviews, topical posts, and other good stuff! Check back here for live links as the tour goes along.

I hope you agree with me that Colonel Brandon is a very worthy hero, and it’s about time he had his day in the sun! If you’re not already a fan, I trust you will be after reading Colonel Brandon in His Own Words.

1. July 1- Austenesque Reviews (excerpt: Colonel Brandon first meets Marianne)
2. July 5 – Darcyholic Diversions (Mr. Collins interviews Shannon Winslow)
3. July 8 – Babblings of a Bookworm (Theme: history repeats itself)
4. July 11 – The Literary Assistant (Q&A with Shannon Winslow)
5. July 13 – So Little Time (excerpt: young Colonel Brandon and Eliza)
6. July 15 – My Jane Austen Book Club (What kind of hero is CB? Includes excerpt)
7. July 17 – Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen (role of faith in this book, plus review)
8. July 19 – The Calico Critic (review of Colonel Brandon in His Own Words)
9. July 21 – From Pemberley to Milton (guest post: inspiration and future plans)
10. July 23 – BONUS stop at Jane Austen’s World (review and guest post)