I’m excited to share details about some upcoming events here in Halifax—on February 5th and 8th—along with a recent review of my novel The Austens and a link to a video interview I did for a book club called “Whispers at the Garden Gate.”

First, though, I want to say I was thrilled to learn from Bookmark Halifax that The Austens was their top selling book of 2025!!

I’m tremendously grateful to Mike Hamm (manager), Dan MacDonald (owner), and all the staff at Bookmark for their support for my novel—and to everyone who bought copies there. Here’s Mike at my book launch at the Lord Nelson Hotel in October:

If you’d like to order a signed copy of The Austens from Bookmark, here’s the link to their website. I visit the store often and am happy to personalize copies, if you like—just let the staff know when you place the order. (They ship within Canada. Details about other sources for the book in the United States and beyond are available here.)

Okay, now on to the events!

I’ll be reading from The Austens on February 5th as part of the Saint Mary’s Reading Series. I’ve been attending events in this wonderful series for many years, and it’s a great honour to be invited to share my own work. All are welcome!

A reading from The Austens

When: Thursday, February 5th, 7:00 p.m.

Where: Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS, Room 255 in the Sobey Building

Point Pleasant Park (not far from Saint Mary’s)

I’m also looking forward to speaking at the launch of St. Paul’s Halifax Historical Foundation on February 8th. This will be an updated version of the illustrated talk I gave at Government House last year, an overview of 275 years of the history of St. Paul’s, including the church’s role in relief efforts after the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912 and the Halifax Explosion in 1917, as well as the story of connections between the church and Jane Austen’s family.

The talk will be accompanied by music on the organ, played by Andrew Killawee, Director of Music at St. Paul’s. Andrew and I have chosen pieces that help illustrate the history of the church.

This event is free and tickets are available through Eventbrite. Join us in this precious historic building—the oldest building in Halifax and the oldest existing Anglican place of worship in Canada—for an afternoon of music and conversations about history. Light refreshments will be served, and copies of my book St. Paul’s in the Grand Parade will be for sale, along with copies of St. Paul’s Church at 275.

“St. Paul’s in the Grand Parade” and the launch of St. Paul’s Halifax Historical Foundation

When: Sunday, February 8th, 2:30 p.m.

Where: St. Paul’s Church, 1749 Argyle St., Halifax, NS

Tickets: reserve your spot here (free)

My spring events, including a reading at the public library in Yarmouth, NS and a Tuesday Talk at the Maritime Museum in Halifax, are listed here.

I was delighted to read this lovely review of The Austens from Collins Hemingway:

“Two Women, A World Apart”

He writes, “Two books give me joy in the New Year. The first, by Sarah Emsley, is The Austens, a novel about Jane Austen’s relationship with her sister-in-law, Fanny Palmer Austen. The second, by Rebecca Romney, is Jane Austen’s Bookshelf, nonfiction about women writers who shaped the English author.” He praises the two books as “notable for their originality, their research, and their generosity of spirit,” and he writes that “Emsley spent eighteen years writing and revising The Austens. The care shows in each well-crafted sentence. Nothing stands out, and everything does. Coincidentally, what Romney writes of Austen in her Bookshelf applies to Emsley as well: ‘Her style has the ease that comes from an incredible amount of work.’”

Last fall, I had the pleasure of meeting author Ivanka Dimitrova at the Jane Austen Society of North America AGM in Baltimore, and I enjoyed speaking with her in an interview for Season One of her online book club, “Whispers at the Garden Gate.” You can watch our conversation here.

This first season also includes interviews with Natalie Jenner, Julia Seales, the Countess of Carnarvon, Irina Shapiro, Molly Maslen, and Stephanie Barron, which you can find here.

My conversation with Ivanka is available here

If you enjoyed this newsletter, I hope you’ll consider recommending it to a friend. If you aren’t yet a subscriber, please sign up.

Here are the links to the last two instalments, in case you missed them:

“Something to celebrate, cherish, and protect” (photos of Point Pleasant Park, Halifax, and quotations from Jane Austen’s Garden, by Molly Williams)

“A new day” (quotations from L.M. Montgomery’s The Golden Road and Anne of Green Gables)

CBC Radio Documentary: “Our Jane”

CBC article: “‘Our Jane’: N.S. fans celebrate her 250th birthday, and her Halifax connection”

My debut novel, The Austens, is now available from Pottersfield Press! Order signed copies (personalized, if you wish) from Bookmark (for shipping within Canada) or Woozles (for shipping within Canada and the United States). Order from Jane Austen Books (they’re based in Ohio and accept international orders as well as orders within the United States). The ebook is also available; additional sources are listed here.

Copyright Sarah Emsley 2026 ~ All rights reserved. No AI training: material on http://www.sarahemsley.com may not be used to “train” generative AI technologies.