Book Review: “The Jane Austen Society” by Natalie Jenner
Book Review: “The Jane Austen Society” by Natalie Jenner
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.
One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England's finest novelists. Now it's home to a few distant relatives and their diminishing estate. 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. 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. 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. - St. Martin’s Press
Rating: 4
Review: If you are a fan of Jane Austen — and I am, clearly — this book is going to be right up your alley. 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. 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.
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. Oh, and of course, there’s an inconvenient entail — something I wasn’t sure even existed as late as 1948. It is a love story to a specific era in British history, but more than anything, it is an incredible character study.
Everyone 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!). 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.
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. This was a pleasant surprise; most modern historical fiction doesn’t hew so closely to the original era or source material, and it is a true testament to Natalie Jenner’s talents as a writer that I felt like I was reading something that could have been written by Jane.
TL;DR: An amazing tribute to Jane Austen — both the works and the woman behind them — that somehow felt both familiar and fresh.
If You Liked This, Try These:
“The Jane Austen Project” by Kathelen A. Flynn - Bookshop | Kindle
“The Gown” by Jennifer Robson - Bookshop | Kindle (my review here!)
“The Guersney Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows - Bookshop | Kindle
If you click on one of the links in this article and make a purchase, She’s Full of Lit may receive a small commission. It doesn’t add anything to your price — we promise! Thanks so much for your support.
