Local Author Talk with AJ Bishop

AJ Bishop recently launched her debut novel, a literary satire of fan fiction romance Darcy’s Education of Miss Elizabeth Bennet, April 1, 2022. She is a published poet and second place winner of the Upper Valley Arts Guild 2021 annual poetry contest for her poem “Elder”. She has always been a writer of poetry and fiction between her responsibilities as a single mother supporting three children. For several years, she lived in the Grantham area and frequented the Dunbar Library, but more recently returned to Montreal with her partner Rick and dog Cooper.

Review Excerpts:

A well-played touch of the ribald opens up a new continuation of a classic.

             – Kirkus Review of Books

At turns erotic, gothic, and satiric, with commentary on the nature of friendship, family, and gender roles, Darcy’s Education turns happily-ever-after on its head.

             -Lise Gaston, author of Cityscapes in Mating Season

Excerpt From Darcy’s Education

It is a truth universally acknowledged that all romance ends with the word yes. The happy ending is assured in the deliberate absence of any further information, for no one knows how the Prince and Princess live happily-ever-after as it is never written. Few of us want to know that all good romance must suffer a little, that a marriage whose happiness is well decided is decidedly unhappy on a few occasions. Cinderella’s glass slipper, transparent and light at first, will shatter with daily use. Sleeping Beauty, serene and compliant in her dormant grace, will and must wake to confront the trials of eating, working, and fornicating. If a romance is generated from a tension of absence, then marriage is created from an equal proportion of presence.