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Marianne

MARIANNE

By Alice McVeigh

Marianne cover with updated award badges

Excerpt from Marianne

(from Marianne’s journal)

…Suddenly nervous, I began to calculate the number of minutes before I might reach the house I still thought of as Brandon’s. Twenty minutes, perhaps – perhaps a trifle more, for my shoes were so delicate, and so ill-suited to my purpose. Had only I worn my ankle-boots! – even if I would have been disdained by the ton for ever! Perhaps I had been a fool, to set off so impulsively in the very heart of London – a fool to imagine that walking alone in town – and the throbbing heart of town, at that – might be as safe as it would have been in the country!

Suddenly a limping, heavy-set fellow pushed past, jostling me. Breathing faster, and hearing more footsteps close behind, I pretended to stop, in order to check something in my pocket. A mistake – as I was then passed by a heavy sailor, reeking of drink, and his slighter acquaintance, a sardonic smile on his filthy, part-shaven face. They stopped before me, blocking my path, and obliging me either to remain or else to attempt to push past them (which must have been impossible). Panicking, I thought – impatiently – ‘Oh, why am I always so impatient? Why could I not have waited for a chair?’

The fat fellow leaned towards me, leering, ‘Eh, pretty missus! And why might you be out and about at such an hour, and in such fetching earbobs, besides?’

Obeying my first instinct, I plucked up my skirts and fled. However, I had no chance in such a gown – or in any gown. The heavy fellow had caught me up within a yard or two, and crushed me towards him, while his friend’s filthy fingers scrabbled about my ears… I screamed, thinking, ‘There are still plenty of people about! Surely someone will help me?’

Someone did. A young man on the opposite side was across the street in an instant. In a shocked melee of seconds, to my own bewilderment, I found myself released and my assailant groaning on the pavement, clutching his lower abdomen, while his accomplice slipped like an eel down a side alley. My arm was then clasped by – in the ecstasy of my relief, I was almost too distraught to recognise him – but then I cried, ‘Mr Crawford!’ He was tucking my arm within his own and turning me around while saying, in an urgent undertone, ‘Are you uninjured, Mrs Brandon?’

‘I am perfectly well – and most grateful.’ Then I spotted blood on the cuff of his olive-green tailcoat. ‘But those ruffians have hurt you!’

‘Nothing worthy of mention,’ said he, his teeth very white even in the dim light. ‘A filthy fingernail. But are you truly recovered? Your breathing is very quick!’

‘’Tis only the shock, I assure you.’

 ‘I am relieved to hear it.’

Read an Excerpt

Listen to an excerpt from the new audiobook.

ASIN: B0FWTDKRVM

Publication: ‎ 2025-10-22

Publisher: Warleigh Hall Press

Editions: Paperback, ebook.

New release! A classy, classic historical romance. Fifth in "McVeigh's celebrated Jane Austen series" (Publishers Weekly)

When Marianne – still beautiful, still impulsive and not yet twenty-one – returns to London, she is rich, with a house in Mayfair and an estate in Dorsetshire. Despite her resolve to remain single, she finds herself besieged with admirers, including the dangerously attractive Willoughby and the charming and irreverent Crawford.

Then Marianne’s younger sister Margaret arrives. Margaret’s passion for romance leads to unexpected complications. As Marianne attempts to navigate the social whirl of Regency London, she finds her resolution tested and her feelings torn – between the pull of the past and the allure of the present.

“A deeply felt and pitch-perfect continuation that lets its title character finally come into her own.”  

– Kirkus Reviews

“Marianne captures the essence of  Austen. Funny, heartwarming and everything lovers of Austen’s universe could hope for.”

– Publishers Weekly

“McVeigh’s delectable Marianne is about unexpected love and redemption. Young Margaret is a particular delight. She dreams of becoming a celebrated writer (“Is not ‘perspicacious’ a divinely long word?” she reflects.) This Regency-era romance that sparkles with heart and wit.’

– Foreword Indies Clarion review

“An absolute delight: bright and lively prose, romance and satire worthy of Austen herself.”  

– IndieReader editorial review

“Witty and warm… McVeigh never strikes a false note in her beautifully observed and hugely entertaining series . Marianne is a deeply touching love story, an assured comedy of Regency manners and a page-turner, wrapped up in one elegant package.”

–  Jane Austen’s Regency World

“McVeigh delivers a rare kind of sequel: one that honors Austen’s world while expanding it. McVeigh is true to the spirit of the original while offering something entirely her own.”  

– RECOMMENDED by the US Review of Books

“A masterpiece! Dive in!”

– Historical Fiction Company, editorial review

“Could have been penned by Austen herself – it feels both familiar and fresh. In elegant and engaging prose, McVeigh seamlessly picks up where Austen left off, presenting a Marianne who is complex, thoughtfully portrayed, and deeply relatable… An absolute must-read for Austen fans.”   

– The Coffee Pot Book Club, editorial review

“Invigorating, self-aware, contemporary… This series continues to be an immersive delight, extending, honoring, and doing full justice to Austen.”  

– SPR  editorial review 

Excerpt from Marianne

(from Marianne’s journal)

…Suddenly nervous, I began to calculate the number of minutes before I might reach the house I still thought of as Brandon’s. Twenty minutes, perhaps – perhaps a trifle more, for my shoes were so delicate, and so ill-suited to my purpose. Had only I worn my ankle-boots! – even if I would have been disdained by the ton for ever! Perhaps I had been a fool, to set off so impulsively in the very heart of London – a fool to imagine that walking alone in town – and the throbbing heart of town, at that – might be as safe as it would have been in the country!

Suddenly a limping, heavy-set fellow pushed past, jostling me. Breathing faster, and hearing more footsteps close behind, I pretended to stop, in order to check something in my pocket. A mistake – as I was then passed by a heavy sailor, reeking of drink, and his slighter acquaintance, a sardonic smile on his filthy, part-shaven face. They stopped before me, blocking my path, and obliging me either to remain or else to attempt to push past them (which must have been impossible). Panicking, I thought – impatiently – ‘Oh, why am I always so impatient? Why could I not have waited for a chair?’

The fat fellow leaned towards me, leering, ‘Eh, pretty missus! And why might you be out and about at such an hour, and in such fetching earbobs, besides?’

Obeying my first instinct, I plucked up my skirts and fled. However, I had no chance in such a gown – or in any gown. The heavy fellow had caught me up within a yard or two, and crushed me towards him, while his friend’s filthy fingers scrabbled about my ears… I screamed, thinking, ‘There are still plenty of people about! Surely someone will help me?’

Someone did. A young man on the opposite side was across the street in an instant. In a shocked melee of seconds, to my own bewilderment, I found myself released and my assailant groaning on the pavement, clutching his lower abdomen, while his accomplice slipped like an eel down a side alley. My arm was then clasped by – in the ecstasy of my relief, I was almost too distraught to recognise him – but then I cried, ‘Mr Crawford!’ He was tucking my arm within his own and turning me around while saying, in an urgent undertone, ‘Are you uninjured, Mrs Brandon?’

‘I am perfectly well – and most grateful.’ Then I spotted blood on the cuff of his olive-green tailcoat. ‘But those ruffians have hurt you!’

‘Nothing worthy of mention,’ said he, his teeth very white even in the dim light. ‘A filthy fingernail. But are you truly recovered? Your breathing is very quick!’

‘’Tis only the shock, I assure you.’

 ‘I am relieved to hear it.’

Read an Excerpt
Get Marianne here

Click here to read about the Warleigh Hall Press Jane Austen series.

Awards

Current finalist for Foreword Indies’ Book of the Year 2025 in romance

Currently shortlisted for the Hawthorne Prize

Currently in the final four for the Ink Book Prize 

Gold medal/category winner (romance) in the Literary Global Book Awards

Austen winner – Historical Fiction Company Book of the Year 2025

Winner: Romance category for American Writing Awards 2025

First Place winner in three categories in the Incipere Book Awards (Literary, Historical and Women’s Fiction, 2025).

Gold medal in historical romance, BookFest Awards 2026.

Best in Genre, Booksshelf Annual Book Awards 2025

Awarded a B.R.A.G. (Book Readers Appreciation Group) medallion

Gold medal in the Coffee Pot Book Awards, finalist for “Book of the Year 2025”

Gold medal, PenCraft 2026, Best Book in Historical Romance

Finalist, Indies Today Best Book of the Year 2026 (historical fiction) 

Awarded 10th Annual PenCraft Seasonal Book Award, Winter 2026 (Best Romance Winners)

Semi-finalist, Chanticleer International Book Awards 2025

Marianne is at the moment on a special offer and exclusive to Amazon. For this reason, the links to alternative retailers below will not work for now. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Multiple award-winning author

Shortlisted 2025 The Selfies Adult Fiction
5 stars
CIBA Fiction Series 1st Place
The Historical Fiction Company Awards - Gold 2023

Other books by Alice

Pride and Perjury

Pride and Perjury

By Alice McVeigh

Pride and Perjury cover with updated award badges

Excerpts (from Pride and Perjury)

Despite this pretty exhibition of ruffled feathers, Elton believed the lady less offended than flattered by the ‘puppy’s’ presumption – or, at least, that she would have been flattered, had Mr Jackson only had sufficient sense to have been rather better-born.

*

Meanwhile, as Mrs Suckling wished the music to commence, there ensued an anxious parade over which should lead, and which merely follow. Five young ladies performed, though not one in any danger of throwing their audience into ecstasies.

*

Lydia laughed. ‘Oh, you are impossible! You do realise that you are impossible?’

‘I have often enough been told so,’ said Wickham.

‘So, do you make a habit of kissing ladies, then?’

‘Only if they are excessively pretty.’

‘And do they never object?’

‘That depends.’

‘Upon the quality of the kiss?’

‘Upon the quality’ said he, ‘of the lady.’

The twelve tales in McVeigh’s Pride and Perjury include:

The Housekeeper’s Tale” explores the entangled love lives of the Longbourn servants – not to mention their real opinions of the Bennet family.

In “Lady Catherine Regrets”, we are privy to that lady’s innermost fears with regard to that “dreadful” Bennet girl -including the scene in which she recklessly attempts to dissuade Mr Darcy from marrying her.

Kitty is tempted to fall for the Longbourn curate in “Valentine’s Day at the Bennets’” The youngest two Bennet sisters annoy their father in ”The Bennet Girls’ Easter Bonnet” and “All Hallow’s Eve” – while “A Heliotrope Ribbon” exposes every facet of Wickham and Lydia’s accidental elopement in Brighton.

“Captivating Mr Darcy” represents Miss Caroline Bingley’s artfully artless attempt at pulling this trick off although – of course– she never does!

“Tact and Tactics” lays bare Anne de Bourgh’s pursuit of the sardonic Lord Cuthbert – along with Mr Collins’s hilarious tipsiness while conducting a funeral service.

“One Good Sonnet” was inspired by Mrs Bennet’s brag in Pride and Prejudice that Jane Bennet, when only fifteen, had “some verses written on her” by a smitten young man in London.

Mr Perry, the apothecary, divines all in “A Highbury Christmas” – thanks in part to the loquacious Miss Bates – while Mr Knightley takes centre-stage in the deeply moving “Mary Rose”.

The startling misadventures of Mr Elton at Bath – culminating in his offering to Miss Augusta Hawkins – completes Pride and Perjury with the eponymous short story. (This short story was finalist in Chanticleer’s short story awards 2024 as a short story. The volume Pride and Perjury also placed as finalist in April 2025, in short story anthologies.)

Read an Excerpt

ASIN: B0D3C72WVS

Publication: 30 May 2024

Publisher: Warleigh Hall Press

Editions: Paperback, ebook.

A prizewinning, fresh Pride and Prejudice Variation

“I have very little hope,” said Mr Bennet, “of disposing of even one of my daughters much before luncheon.” 

 (from McVeigh’s Pride and Perjury)

Discover the untold stories behind Jane Austen’s beloved characters in this captivating new release, the fourth in the award-winning standalone series!

What really happened when Wickham eloped with Lydia? What did the Longbourn servants secretly think of the Bennet sisters? Take a deep dive into the ambitions of Caroline Bingley, Lady Catherine’s de Bourgh’s diary, and Mr Knightley’s heart.

Download your copy today – and fall in love with your favourite Austen characters all over again!

Previous books in this series have been shortlisted for the UK Selfies Book Awards at the 2024 London Book Fair, named runner-up for Foreword Indies’ “Book of the Year,” and been quarterfinalists in Publishers Weekly ’s BookLife Prize. In April McVeigh’s Austenesque series won first prize in Chanticleer International Book Award’s Book Series (historical).

“A spirited addition… With inventive creativity, compact world-building and smooth flow, these twelve enchanting stories add new facets to Austen’s beloved landscapes.”

– Foreword Indies Clarion Reviews

“An intelligent prequel packed with enjoyable Austen references. McVeigh displays a brilliant, spot-on command of Austen’s diction and tone.”

– Kirkus Reviews

“Absorbing, delightful, technically flawless and loyally Austenian, Pride and Perjury boasts inspired interpretations of minor characters and off-page events – some of which Austen only hinted at.”

– IndieReader editorial review

“Freshly imagined – could have come straight from Austen’s pen. McVeigh spins a marvellous illusion, uniquely echoing Austen’s own spirit of wit.”

– SPR, editorial review

“Alice McVeigh’s narrative is perfectly pitched, capturing Austen’s authorial voice without ever descending into pastiche. Employing that coolly ironic gaze, she describes events ‘omitted’ from Pride and Prejudice with remarkable conviction.”

– Jane Austen’s Regency World magazine, editorial review

“With attention to detail and an obvious love of her subject, Alice McVeigh creates a wonderful tribute to Austen, perfectly capturing the speech patterns, subtle humour, and satirical jabs at high society. Yet what I liked most about Pride and Perjury was the way it shows how the past of a character can influence the present… Austen’s novels are unlikely to be forgotten with talented and perceptive authors like Alice McVeigh paying homage to them.”

– Historical Fiction Company, editorial review

“McVeigh’s evident dedication to studying Austen’s unique writing style imbues her captivating stories with a strong sense of authenticity. The reader can transition smoothly between Austen’s books and McVeigh’s due to the similarities in writing styles. It is hard to believe that Austen didn’t write these short stories herself, as they bear such a strong resemblance to her engaging writing style.”

– The Coffee Pot Book Club, editorial review

Get Pride and Perjury here

Click here to read about the Warleigh Hall Press Jane Austen series.

Awards

GOLD IPPY in European fiction, 2025.

Shortlisted for the famous UK Selfies Awards at the London Book Fair.

Finalist for Foreword Indies’ famous “Book of the Year” 2024

Finalist for the American Writing Awards’ Hawthorne Prize (all-genre)

The only silver medallist in 2024 SPR annual Book Awards

First Place in the annual 2025 PenCraft Book Awards, and also in the PenCraft Spring Book Awards (2026)

Finalist in 2025 IAN Book of the Year Award Winners

First, historical (clean) Entrada Incipere Book Awards 2025

Gold medal, Global Book Awards 2024 (historical fiction)

Winner: Silver Medal in the Global Ebook Awards (Historical Literature Fiction – Modern)

Selected as one of the top 100 indies of 2024 by Shelf Unbound (fiction AND non-fiction)

Gold medal in American Book Fest 2024 (anthologies)

Winner: The series of which this is a part won First Prize in Chanticleer International Book Awards’ Book Series Award (historical).

Finalist: The eponymous short story was a finalist for CIBA’s “Shorts” award for short stories.

Finalist for Chanticleer’s Shorts (short story collection/novella) Book Awards.

Silver medal, Global Book Awards 2024 (Book series, fiction)

Honoree: Indie B.R.A.G. medallion

Fourth in Readers’ Favorite Book Awards (historical).

Austen semi-finalist – HFC Historical Romance Book of the Year 2025

Poe Semi-Finalist – Historical Short Story & Anthology, HFC Book of the Year 2025

Pride and Perjury is at the moment on a special offer and exclusive to Amazon. For this reason, the links to alternative retailers below will not work for now. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Multiple award-winning author

Shortlisted 2025 The Selfies Adult Fiction
5 stars
CIBA Fiction Series 1st Place
The Historical Fiction Company Awards - Gold 2023

Other books by Alice

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ALICE McVEIGH

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