Showing results by author "Harriet Walker" in All Categories

Glamorous Margot Jones is the fashion editor at glossy women's magazine Haute and pregnant with her first child. Margot's used to her carefully curated life being the object of other women's envy - who wouldn't want her successful career, loving husband, beautiful house and stylish wardrobe? Maggie, a freelance journalist, certainly knows she doesn't measure up. So when Margot gets in touch to suggest she apply for her maternity cover at Haute, Maggie seizes the chance at living a better life - even if it's only temporary.

When Lizzie calls off her wedding in the south of France only a week before the big day, not even her closest friends know why. But since the chateau is already paid for, they figure it's the perfect place to take Lizzie's her mind off her suddenly single state. But when the group arrives, the wedding is waiting for them - food, flowers and all. The next day, Lizzie wakes to find her friends have drunkenly revelled in the wedding-that-wasn't - but not all their antics were benign. Someone is set on tormenting Lizzie, and she can't think who.

Based on the theme "Inspired by Jane Austen", the third year of the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation short-story writing competition attracted a high standard of entries, which were read by a special panel of judges including Susannah Harker (Jane Bennet, BBC Television Pride & Prejudice 1995), Natalie Jenner (International best-selling author of The Jane Austen Society and The Bloomsbury Girls) and Helena Kelly (writer, academic, and author of Jane Austen–The Secret Radical), to choose the final three short stories.