What surprised me the most was how closely Natalie Jenner veered to imitating Jane (and I know that is the highest form of flattery!) - I was expected a story about Jane’s legacy, not one that so accurately captured her tone and the scope of her novels. I was fully invested in how this was going to play out, and I loved how intimate a portrait of village life we were privy to.

It is a love story to a specific era in British history, but more than anything, it is an incredible character study.Įveryone in Chawton fit one of the stereotypes that we saw in Jane’s books the busybody, the handsome and mysterious doctor, the village teacher, the precocious young maid, the rector - but updated not only for 1947 (a movie star! an auctioneer!) but also for 2020 audiences (a gay couple! premarital sex!). Oh, and of course, there’s an inconvenient entail - something I wasn’t sure even existed as late as 1948. This entire story takes places over a few seasons, as an unlikely band of misfits bond over preserving Jane Austen’s home at Chawton in light of the post-war reality in England: estate taxes, loss of heirs, economic downturn, and slow decline into a post-Imperial power. It is a small novel in scope, but sweeping in Austen’s inimitable style, and it’s an amazing tribute to one of my favorite authors. It takes some of the best parts of Jane Austen - the social mores, the small town life, the family drama - and twists it with some modern sensibilities.

Review: If you are a fan of Jane Austen - and I am, clearly - this book is going to be right up your alley. As each of them endures their own quiet struggle with loss and trauma, some from the recent war, others from more distant tragedies, they rally together to create the Jane Austen Society. These people-a laborer, a young widow, the local doctor, and a movie star, among others-could not be more different and yet they are united in their love for the works and words of Austen. With the last bit of Austen's legacy threatened, a group of disparate individuals come together to preserve both Jane Austen's home and her legacy. Now it's home to a few distant relatives and their diminishing estate. One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England's finest novelists. Synopsis: Just after the Second World War, in the small English village of Chawton, an unusual but like-minded group of people band together to attempt something remarkable. Book Review: “The Jane Austen Society” by Natalie Jenner

The jane austen society novel