Mary Lydon Simonsen’s first book, Searching for Pemberley, was acclaimed by Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and RT Book Reviews. She is well loved and widely followed on all the Jane Austen fanfic sites, with tens of thousands of hits and hundreds of reviews whenever she posts. She has also self-published a parody of Persuasion, Anne Elliot, A New Beginning, and a modern romance, The Second Date, Love Italian-American Style. Mary lives in Peoria, Arizona where she is working on her next Jane Austen novel.
Mary Lydon Simonsen on her new Romance Book; The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy
Your newest book, The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy, was just released, can you tell us what scene in the book is your favorite?
Mary Lydon Simonsen: Actually, the scene I enjoyed writing the most involved an original character. After Jane Bennet accepts the fact that Mr. Bingley has left Hertfordshire, never to return, she permits Mr. Nesbitt, a gawky friend of her father’s sister, to call on her, only to discover that he is still tied to his mother’s apron strings. It’s one of those funny/sad tales because someone as financially vulnerable as Jane Bennet would have had to consider such a suitor in order to avoid spinsterhood.
In The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy, readers become more associated with Anne De Bourgh and Georgiana Darcy, why did you focus on them so much?
Mary Lydon Simonsen: One of the things I like about Jane Austen’s work is that she leaves a lot to the reader’s imagination. She did this with Georgiana Darcy and Anne De Bourgh as well. With Georgiana, we only know about her naiveté in falling for George Wickham and that she dotes on her brother. But she is also a teenager, so I wanted her to act like one. Writing Anne De Bourgh was even more fun because Austen doesn’t give her one word of dialog. I had a completely blank slate to work with, and because of that, I used those two characters to move the story forward.
Now, The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy is very similar to its original counterpart by Jane Austen; however, the reasons Darcy and Elizabeth are ultimately united are different. What made you differ in that aspect?
Mary Lydon Simonsen: There are a lot of coincidences in P&P. Darcy just so happens to be at Pemberley when Lizzy and her aunt and uncle are visiting Derbyshire. In The Perfect Bride, it is no accident that our favorite couple ends up at Pemberley together as Anne, with Georgiana’s help, has planned out the whole thing starting with Lizzy and Darcy’s departure from Kent after Darcy’s awful marriage proposal and Lizzy’s rejection of him.
If you could cast your own Mr. Darcy in a movie who would you choose - and what about Lizzy ?
Mary Lydon Simonsen: I loved both Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen, but I’d like to see Richard Armitage give it a go. I think he’d bring an edginess to Mr. Darcy’s character. I can’t help you with Lizzy. I get to the movies so rarely. All I can say is that I enjoyed both Keira Knightley and Jennifer Ehle’s performances.
Mary Lydon Simonsen on her Romantic Fiction Writing
Do you draw inspiration from reading other books, from family or other sources?
Mary Lydon Simonsen: All of the above. I have always been drawn to reading about great historical eras, especially World Wars I and II, but also the Regency Era. After reading Pride and Prejudice a number of times, I found that I had Lizzy’s voice in my head, and after watching the two most recent TV and film adaptations of Austen’s novel, I was confident enough to pen my own story.
Do you take on a lot of research for your novels?
Mary Lydon Simonsen: In Searching for Pemberley, there is a tremendous amount of research as it covers World Wars I and II and Regency England. In my four subsequent novels, my knowledge of the Regency Era is critical because I want to be as accurate as I can be because history is my first love.
Do you outline your story first or are you more of a go-with-the-flow type?
Mary Lydon Simonsen: Go with the flow. I have a beginning and an end, but the middle is always a surprise to me. My husband, who writes architectural specifications for a living, does not understand how I can work without an outline. I like living on the edge (and driving him crazy).
What is an average writing day like for you?
Mary Lydon Simonsen: After doing my morning chores, I write for about two to three hours, and then I run errands. I will probably write for another one to two hours in the afternoon. But my seven-year-old granddaughter visits me every day after school, so my writing day ends at 3:00. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking about the plot throughout the day. I do a lot of writing in my head while I dust and mop.
Mary Lydon Simonsen gets Personal
When did you first realize you wanted to become a writer?
Mary Lydon Simonsen: Actually, that happened pretty late for me. Once in my thirties and again in my forties, I tried to write a novel, but I just didn’t know how to do it. Believe it or not, I only figured out how to put a story together four years ago when I was in my mid fifties, and it occurred only because I had had my knee replaced. I was recovering from the surgery, not working, and I was bored. So I started to write down some thoughts that had been swirling around in my brain for a long time. Those swirls turned out to be my first novel, Searching for Pemberley.
Can you take us on a mini-walkthrough of how you became a published author?
Mary Lydon Simonsen: (1) Write a family history of my Irish immigrant ancestors who settled in eastern Pennsylvania in Minooka (near Scranton) and worked in the coal mines, (2) develop a story about a girl, Maggie Joyce, who comes of age in a dirty coal town (Minooka) and goes to work in England after World War II and finds her own Mr. Darcy, (3) self-publish said story as Pemberley Remembered, (4) Deb Werksman, acquisitions editor for Sourcebooks , finds my book on Amazon and calls me, and I sign with Sourcebooks, (5) after much reworking, the novel is published as Searching for Pemberley in 2009, (6) Sourcebooks buys three additional stories to be published in January, July, and October. Voila! I am a published author.
What can we expect from you in the future?
Mary Lydon Simonsen: I have two novels in the pipeline for Sourcebooks. The first one, A Wife for Mr. Darcy, is due out in July and is a “what if” retelling of P&P. What if Mr. Darcy had apologized to Lizzy right after the Meryton assembly? Such an event would have sent their romance on a different trajectory. But the course of love never runs smoothly, and another woman gets in the way.After A Wife for Mr. Darcy, I have written a story in which Mr. Darcy is a werewolf. I still can’t believe I actually wrote a werewolf story. However, I emphasize that Mr. Darcy is able to preserve his humanity despite his unique and furry second nature.
And last but not least, is there anything else you would like your readers to know about you or the books you write?
Mary Lydon Simonsen: I truly enjoy hearing from readers. I write short stories on fan fiction sites because I love to know what they are thinking. So many times, their comments have sent me in a different direction, and I have learned so much about writing a good story as a result of their input. May I also mention that I just became a grandmother for the second time? I now have a grandson!
Jessica, thank you so much for having me.
Free Give Away of The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy
Mary Lydon Simonsen and Sourcebooks Inc. Publishing will be giving away a free copy of The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy to two lucky winners. To find out how you can win just head on over to Suite101's Romance Fiction Blog.
Jessica Hastings - Jessica Hastings is a published author/poet, professional reviewer, and avid reader. Schooled in journalism and creative writing, she ...
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