Lauren talks with Zandria from BBB about writing, Ladies of the House, and adapting Austen to the modern day.
Interview with Hasty Book List
Lauren talks with Ashley Hasty about her literary inspiration, favorite characters, and what she’s working on next.
https://www.hastybooklist.com/home/author-interview-lauren-edmondson
Ladies of the House in Washingtonian Magazine
Washingtonian Magazine includes Ladies of the House in its April DC culture meter!
Ladies of the House Included GMA’s February Book List
Ladies of the House is included in Good Morning America’s roundup of anticipated February books! Read the whole list here:
https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/24-books-february-75490833
Listen to Lauren on Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books
Zibby Owens hosted Lauren on her award-winning podcast, Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books. You can download the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or find it here:
https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/lauren-edmondson-ladies-of-the-house
Lauren talked with Zibby about her pandemic pregnancy and her “second baby of the quarantine” — her novel, Ladies of the House. She discussed growing up around politics, what it took to modernize Jane Austen, and her relationship-status with writing.
POPSUGAR’s 23 Must-Read February Book Releases
Ladies of the House by Lauren Edmondson
Lauren Edmondson’s delightful debut Ladies of the House is a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility that transports the action to Georgetown. After her father’s unexpected death in the midst of a scandal, Daisy struggles to keep her family together even as her oldest friend prepares an exposé on her father’s life.
Ladies of the House included in Bustle’s Most Anticipated Debuts of 2021
A contemporary Sense and Sensibility retelling, Lauren Edmondson’s Ladies of the House centers on widowed mother Cricket and her adult daughters, Daisy and Wallis. While still mourning the death of Cricket’s husband, the late Sen. Gregory Richardson, the women learn that the man they loved was embezzling political donations to fund a lengthy extramarital affair. Pushed out of their home and reviled in D.C., the little family must find a way to reinvent themselves in this tender novel.
Ladies of the House receives glowing review from Publishers Weekly
Edmondson’s charming debut transports Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility to contemporary Washington, D.C., where a senator’s death leads to scandal. Sen. Gregory Richardson leaves behind his widow and their two daughters, Daisy and Wallis. On the day of the memorial service, with the ink still wet on a story about Gregory’s affair, Daisy, the older daughter, who’s followed her father into politics, fields a call from a reporter with questions about mismanaged campaign funds. She hopes to keep the scandal from further sullying their name as she mourns her father whom she loved despite his faults. Then journalist Atlas Braidy-Lowes (Daisy’s best friend who she has been “trying to fall out love with” for 15 years) returns from England to write a feature on Senator Richardson, and Wallis falls for Blake Darley, a South Carolina politician from the other side of the aisle. As Atlas uncovers the widening scope of the senator’s crimes, the novel finds Austen’s themes alive and well in contemporary society, where women must choose between nice or powerful men and are left without options if a man behaves badly while they try to balance their hearts, careers, and reputations in search of happiness. This retelling is a witty success.
Ladies of the House Receives Starred Review in Booklist
Booklist reviews
Issue: November 1, 2020
Ladies of the House: A Modern Retelling of Sense and Sensibility.
Senator Gregory Richardson was an influential member of Congress before his fatal heart attack and before damaging secrets were revealed after his demise. His daughter Daisy, her sister Wallis, and their mother Cricket are devastated not only by the loss of their father and husband but also of life as they know it in their plush Georgetown home. Separately, they make choices meant to protect each other but instead lead to chaos. As things devolve, personal and professional boundaries blur in the messy political Washington, D.C., landscape. If there’s a solution out there, surely the Richardson women will find it, won’t they? Inspired by Sense and Sensibility, first-novelist Edmondson’s favorite Jane Austen novel, this updating remains focused on the female characters while offering an original exploration of their relationships with each other and the men in their lives. A glimpse into D.C. life, solidly dramatic moments at unexpected junctions, and a good balance between reflection and action all blend nicely in one satisfying story. A great choice for book groups (a reader’s guide is provided), this fresh take on a somewhat overlooked Austen novel will please her fans as well as readers looking for an emotionally engaging and hopeful story.
— Stacey Hayman