This is the first facsimile publication of 'Martha Lloyd's Household Book', the manuscript cookbook of Jane Austen's closest friend. Martha's notebook is reproduced to scale in a colour facsimile section with complete transcription and detailed annotation. Introductory chapters discuss its place among other household books of the long eighteenth century. Martha Lloyd befriended a young Jane Austen and later lived with Jane, her sister Cassandra and their mother at the cottage in Chawton, Hampshire, where Jane wrote or revised her novels. Martha later married into the Austen family. Her collection features recipes and remedies handwritten during a period of over thirty years and includes the only surviving recipes from Mrs Austen and Captain Francis Austen, Jane's mother and brother. There are many connections between Martha's book and Jane Austen's writing, including white soup from 'Pride and Prejudice' and the author's favourites - toasted cheese and mead. The family, culinary and literary connections detailed in the introductory chapters of this work give a fascinating perspective on the time and manner in which both women lived, thanks to this extraordinary artefact passed down through the Austen family.

The story of Martha Lloyd—recipe collector, housekeeping expert, and Jane Austen’s dearest friend. Fans of Jane Austen often feel that the beloved author is like a best friend—and this book shines a light on what it meant to be exactly that. Jane Austen’s Best Friend: The Life and Influence of Martha Lloyd offers a unique insight into Jane’s private inner circle. Through this heartwarming examination of an important and often overlooked person in Jane’s world, we uncover the life-changing force of their friendship. Each chapter details the fascinating facts and friendship-forming qualities that tied Jane and Martha together. Within these pages we relive their shared interests, the hits and misses of their romantic lives, their passion for shopping and fashion, their family histories, their lucky breaks, and their girly chats. This book offers a behind-the-scenes tour of the shared lives of a fascinating pair and the chance to deepen our own bonds in “love and friendship” with them both.

Jane Austen wrote her novels in the midst of a large and sociable family. Brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, friends and acquaintances were always coming and going, and eating and drinking. Fortunately one of Jane's dearest friends, Martha Lloyd, lived with the family for many years and recorded in her Household Book over 100 recipes enjoyed by the Austens. This family fare, tested and modernized for today's cooks, is reproduced here, together with some of the more sophisticated dishes which Jane and her characters would have enjoyed at balls, picnics and supper parties.

The idea for Dining with Jane Austen began with two handwritten cookbooks held within the Austen family circle. Paging through the period ?receipts? revealed instant connections with the food references in the author?s letters and novels. Now Haricot Mutton, Orange Wine, Bath Buns, White Soup, and many other foods familiar to Jane Austen can be recreated using the author?s own family recipes. Dining with Jane Austen follows the sequence of the author?s life and letters, telling her story thorough the foods on her plate. This is the first work to feature recreations of the author?s family recipes on family china in family houses where Jane Austen lived and dined.Proceeds from the sale of this book benefit Jane Austen?s House Museum and Chawton House Library in Hampshire.

A Most Anticipated Book of August at The Millions From the Winner of the BBC National Short Story Award “Jo Lloyd has drawn out all the intensity and latent power of short fiction. . . . A major talent.” —Hilary Mantel “Her sentences could rouse the dead (and do, in this excellent book).” —Karen Russell In Something Wonderful, prize-winning author Jo Lloyd has crafted nine stories that delight in language and shine with wit, wisdom, and deep humanity. Whether seeking knowledge, riches, or a better life, the characters in this debut collection are united by a quest for lasting value, as they ask how we should treat our world, our work, our selves, and each other in both past and present. A vainglorious mine owner dreams of harnessing all of nature to the machinery of commerce. Two women hunt rare butterflies in a pre-First World War landscape already experiencing the first bites of biodiversity loss. A young man tracks down the father who abandoned him inside a festival exhibit. A rural Welsh community is fascinated and angered by glimpses of its invisible, wealthy neighbors. Clear-sighted and lyrical, compassionate, and full of truth, Something Wonderful from Jo Lloyd, winner of the BBC National Short Story Award, announces a remarkable new voice with a sensibility all her own.

Introducing an extraordinary new voice---a magical debut that will make your skin tingle, your eyes glisten . . .and your heart sing. Midnight Gulch used to be a magical place, a town where people could sing up thunderstorms and dance up sunflowers. But that was long ago, before a curse drove the magic away. Twelve-year-old Felicity knows all about things like that; her nomadic mother is cursed with a wandering heart.But when she arrives in Midnight Gulch, Felicity thinks her luck's about to change. A "word collector," Felicity sees words everywhere---shining above strangers, tucked into church eves, and tangled up her dog's floppy ears---but Midnight Gulch is the first place she's ever seen the word "home." And then there's Jonah, a mysterious, spiky-haired do-gooder who shimmers with words Felicity's never seen before, words that make Felicity's heart beat a little faster. Felicity wants to stay in Midnight Gulch more than anything, but first, she'll need to figure out how to bring back the magic, breaking the spell that's been cast over the town . . . and her mother's broken heart.