Good morning (afternoon, evening, middle of the night, sunrise, sunset, witching hour, etc) my friends. In my part of the world it’s winter right now, and well, I have a bit of the doldrums. I’m really done with being cold and am ready for spring. Or chocolate. Whichever comes first. I’m easy.

So, I’m going to trust my good friend Jane, who said, “To be very brief was all that she could determine on with any confidence of safety.”

I’m all about safety.

I was thinking last night about what I should be writing for this blog post. And what did I have playing on my laptop while I was musing? Northanger Abbey, of course! I love Northanger Abbey. It’s one of my favorite books, right up there with P&P and Persuasion. I’ve read it so many times I’ve got it memorized and I’ve enjoyed both film versions. (Although I really prefer the 2007 Andrew Davies one over the vaguely creepy 1987 Peter Firth edition)

Henry is in many ways an overlooked Austen hero. He’s not haughty like Darcy, he’s not angry like Wentworth, he’s not humorless like Knightly (or Bertram or Brandon) (Jane really had a trend there, didn’t she?) Henry is an all-around nice guy. The problem(s) he has are all based around his father, who is not a nice person at all. Henry likes dancing, he makes jokes, he is simply charming.

It was with no small measure of delight, therefore, when I found this posted on my morning’s facebook feed. It’s a recording of part of the Team Tilney presentation from the 2010 JASNA AGM.

Because when it’s cold and you are done with everything, Youtube and Jane Austen make everything better.

Heather Lynn Rigaud is tired of being cold and is the author of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star.