A Jane Austen Christmas: Regency Christmas Traditions

Jane Austen Regency Life, Book 1

By: Maria Grace

Narrated by: Barry Shannon

Many Christmas traditions and images of "old fashioned" holidays are based on Victorian celebrations. Going back just a little further, to the beginning of the 19th century, the holiday Jane Austen knew would have looked distinctly odd to modern sensibilities.

How odd? Families rarely decorated Christmas trees. Festivities centered on socializing instead of gift-giving. Festivities focused on adults, with children largely consigned to the nursery. Holiday events, including balls, parties, dinners, and even weddings celebrations, started a week before Advent and extended all the way through to Twelfth Night in January.

Take a step into history with Maria Grace as she explores the traditions, celebrations, games and foods that made up Christmastide in Jane Austen's era. Packed with information and rich with detail from period authors, Maria Grace transports the listener to a longed-for old fashioned Christmas.

Non-fiction

©2014 Maria Grace (P)2019 Maria Grace

Informative look into Regency life

As I was familiar with Grace's Regency dragon AU books, I wanted to see what else she had to offer and this is her primary non-fiction audiobook. This book did a very good job of laying out the system of Regency Christmas traditions, how societal expectations and traditions played into what might be a minor mention in a Regency romance novel, and I appreciated the look into history. The narrator was good as well, however I will note that there is something... off about chapter 4, his voice is muffled, I'm not sure if that's the fault of his mic or something on Audible's end. Still, he remained understandable and I am otherwise quite happy with my purchase.

Christmas during the Time of Jane Austen

This was a very informative book and I did enjoy the specific mores and food of the Regency period. I did not enjoy the narrator. He was a very clear speaking man but I would have preferred a woman. After all, a woman wrote the book. Who decided to have a man read it to me? Not a good idea. Otherwise a good listen. Very short.

The entire book is there. Nothing missing.

The entire book, including Boxing Day and Pantomimes, are in the narration. The information on the regency celebration of the holiday is very interesting. The narrator did an excellent job, including making the recipes an interesting listen.

Could not finish

I just could not finish it. I got to Twelfth Night.

Up to the point I stopped, the the narrator skipped two whole characters (Boxing Day and Patomimes). I don't know if more were skipped later in the book.