Alert Janeite Magda wrote to tell us that Jenny Davidson, author of the young adult novel The Explosionist, included several Jane Austen references in the novel.

“After a little while Sophie dug her book out of her satchel and took a seat on one of the benches beneath the tree at the bottom of the garden. Unfortunately the book was /Mansfield Park/. She’d already read it at least four times, and it was althogether too somber in tone to console her now.” (p. 178)

“Unable to fall asleep and unwilling to get up and tackle her homework, Sophie had tried to banish all thoughts of IRYLNS by reading her favorite novel, not /Mansfield Park /but /Pride and Prejudice/. Her copy had been read so many times it had almost fallen to pieces, but the story never lost its power to transport Sophie out of her real life.” (p. 181)

“She decided to try and get through some of her mountain of homework, but after arriving at three different answers to the same sum, she finally packed everything back into the satchel and retreated upstairs to the solace of Jane Austen.” (p. 186)