The Brontes, However, Were Lousy Dating Gurus

As I mentioned last week, one of the effects of the blizzard that hit New York was that I missed a couple author appearances, including one by Lauren Henderson to promote Jane Austen's Guide to Dating. If your curiosity was raised by the title, the Telegraph confers with Lauren as she "leaves the world of rampant rabbits, serial cosmopolitans and toxic bachelors behind, to advise girls on how to snare a man the Regency way." (Yes, that last comma is rather oddly placed, I agree.)

"I think the books are coded instruction manuals--but they can be novels, too. They are about the best way to find someone who's going to be a life partner for you. What Austen is about is the continual process of observing the behaviour of people around you. And whether you're country dancing or grinding your bum into someone at a hip-hop club, it comes down to the same fundamental things."