The Jane Austen Society, (Hardcover)

Wonderful book! A feel good novel about saving Jane Austin's home in england. A rather incongruent group of villagers come together to save her house. Who knew they were lovers of Jane Austins books? They said their polite hellos and how are you but don't really know each other. Loved this book!

I have not read the book yet, but it was in excellent condition when it was delivered. Walmart had it packaged really good so no dents or dings happened.

** “You need to fully appreciate how (your loss) has changed you, so that you can indeed move on and live, but as this changed person, who might now want different things.Who might now want different people about them. And, yes, God forbid, different people to love again.” ** Take a step into the post-World War II world of Jane Austen in Natalie Jenner's “The Jane Austen Society.” In this novel set for a May 26, 2020, publication, an unlikely group of people come together in the mid-1940s to try to find a way to honor hometown author Jane Austen in the small village of Chawton, England: Adam Berwick — a farmer inspired by a chance encounter with an actress to start reading Austen; Mimi Harrison — famous American actress engaged to a Hollywood producer; Dr. Benjamin Gray — village doctor and widower; Adeline Lewis Grover — former teacher and now pregnant war widow; Andrew Forrester — solicitor; Frances Knight — last known heir to the Knight estate, former familial home of the Austens; Evie Stone — young housemaid at the Knight estate, with a keen eye for the importance of the estate's library; and Yardley Sinclair — of Sotheby's auction house and friend of Mimi. As this group comes together to try to save Austen's legacy, they also learn to find trust for one another while overcoming various adversities. “The Jane Austen Society” is a lovely historical piece that will delight Jane Austen fans. Throughout the novel, the group's members discuss Austen's life, her stories and the development of her characters — particularly “Pride and Prejudice” and “Emma.” My only complaint about the story line was a couple of chapters occurring in Hollywood and revolving around Mimi — they were a bit more course in language and sexual innuendos and situations, and I felt they were completely off tone from the rest of the book. Besides writing a fun historical fiction, Jenner filled “The Jane Austen Society” with several deeper themes, like the impact of remembering and dwelling on the forgotten past; overcoming grief and pain; coping with loss; feeling trapped and desperate; finding the key to those happier worlds we read about in stories; and sometimes all we have is hope. She also hints at the importance of literature: “Inside the pages of each and every book was a whole other world (one you can disappear into).” Jenner shows us how the characters not only relate to Jane Austen's characters, but they also feel saved by Austen. Four and a half stars out of five. St. Martin's Press provided this complimentary copy through NetGalley for my honest, unbiased review.