The Jane Austen Society - Natalie Jenner

Description

'Hope can sometimes be just enough.'

It's only a few months since the war ended but the little village of Chawton is about to be hit by another devastating blow. The heart of the community and site of Jane Austen's cherished former home, Chawton estate is in danger of being sold to the highest bidder.

Eight villagers are brought together by their love for the famous author's novels, to create The Jane Austen Society. As new friendships form and the pain of the past begins to heal, surely they can find a way to preserve Austen's legacy before it is too late?

And there may even be a few unexpected surprises along the way...

Review

I think my love of Jane Austen made me just grab at this book - and the lovely cover. But somehow I just didn't get along with it the way I thought I would.

There were times I really didn't care to read it and then at other times I could not put it down. Analysing this I think the parts that drew me in the most were the discussions around the Austen novels by the characters in the book. The back story of the characters themselves didn't really flow that well for me and it felt a little stilted. Also I unfortunately found that some phrases did not ring true for the period just after the 2nd world war and had at times a North Americanism to them. There were also some legalise terms used that were not correct, but I don't want to be a pedant about them! The average reader would probably not notice, but this detracted from the book for me. One of the nice things about the book was the way that at times the lives and actions of the characters resembled those in Austen.

Although the Society does exist this book is a work of fiction and not based on how the society was formed. A pleasant read overall with a nice ending. I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Netgalley and Orion for the ARC to review.

Comments

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