Comic novel has heroine finding romance on reality show

What's a 39–year old single woman with a daughter, a failing business and penchant for Jane Austen and Regency romance to do to get her life back on track? Well, in the case of Chloe Parker, the heroine of the  funny "Definitely Not Mr. Darcy" by Karen Doornebos (Berkeley 2011; $15), the answer is to audition for a new reality dating show — one set in the Regency England of 1812.

In keeping with the Jane–Austen–inspired theme, the TV show has eight women competing for both a $100,000 dollar prize and the love of Mr. Wrightman. But alas, to win the money and the man, the contestants have to live like it's 1812 which means no cell phones, deodorant, indoor plumbing (there were, instead, chamber pots) or hair dryers. Even worse, getting dressed no longer means throwing on a pair of jeans. Instead Chloe finds herself lacing up a corset and trying to figure out how to give a quick flash of ankle (oh so daring back then) as she competes with much younger women all vying for the same prize.

It doesn't take long for Chloe to lose her longing to live in the Regency era but still Mr. Wrightman might be a prize even without the added incentive of $100,000.

Always a Jane Austenite, Doornebos delved deep into research to help contrast then and now.

"I started by reading Jane Austen's letters, and then spent way too much time in libraries and doing research on the Internet," says Doornebos, who lives in Chicago and previously wrote ads for brands such as Diet Coke and Johnnie Walker. "There is a three–volume Jane Austen Encyclopedia out there and now we have the annotated 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Sense and Sensibility.'"