Interview With An Author – Patrice Sarath
1) Your own favorite Austen character and why?
Patrice: My favorite Austen character changes with the book I’ve read most recently, so currently its Emma Woodhouse. She’s very young and very meddlesome, but girls like her are so common nowadays. They are the leaders and sometimes the mean girls in high school, and they are the very opinionated young mothers at play group and who volunteer at the schools. But she is also good-hearted and loves her father very much. Emma is so timeless. Austen really knew her stuff when she drew her characters.
2) Your favorite Austen book?
Patrice: Persuasion. I think Austen had fully come into her writing powers at that point and what a tragedy that she died so young. I love and will always love Pride and Prejudice, but I think Persuasion is a better book. She captures family dynamics with a keen eye and sharp wit, and much like Emma, it’s so modern.
3) Which actor would you chose to be YOUR Mr Darcy and why?
Patrice: You can’t get much better than Colin Firth. He embodied the role so completely.
4) Who would be your perfect Elizabeth?
Patrice: Jennifer Ehles. I mean come on! She was perfect.
5) Your favorite book of all time by any author?
Patrice: I can’t pick just one favorite book. I love too many books for there to be favorites. But if I have to choose, then The Lord of the Rings. But that leaves out so many! One? I really can choose only one?
6) Your favorite Austen film or TV adaption?
Patrice: Persuasion, the Ciaran Hinds one. Boy was that well done and so marvelous. But obviously the BBC miniseries is also a sweet confection.
7) You are having a dinner party and can invite four Austen characters which would they be?
Patrice: Lydia Wickham, Emma Woodhouse, Mrs. Jennings (the gossipy mother from Sense and Sensibility), and Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
8. Why have you chosen them?
Patrice: Because as Dorothy Parker said, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, come sit by me.”
9) Which character would you like to play in a film?
Patrice:: Mary Bennet. Because I’m bookish like she is and I have a tendency to say the wrong thing and because…
10) Tell us about your next planned book (whether Austen related or not)?
Patrice: My novel The Unexpected Miss Bennet comes out this month from Robert Hale. It is about Mary Bennet and her life and awakening after the events of Pride and Prejudice.
I always wondered why Mary and Mr. Collins were never paired up because they would be perfect together right? Pompous, bookish, socially awkward, and aggravating. But I thought, no, Mary needed a better beau. That was how Mr. Aikens galloped in Mary’s life and heart.
A Very Big Thank You To Patrice Sarath
