The Jane Austen Society


Title and Author: The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner
Type: Austen Related
Perspective: Many characters
Romance Level: Kissing
Recommended: Yes, this was a charming story recommended by the Modern Mrs. Darcy
Access: I listened to this one on Audible and it was delightful!

Summary: The tiny village of Chawton was once home to Jane Austen where she worked on several of her novels. Just after World War II, an unlikely group of Austen fans join together to create a society to preserve her legacy and memory. The members include a farm hand, a young teacher widow, the town's doctor, the town lawyer, a movie star and the last remaining Austen relative. The quest pulls the members together as friends to help them work through their own lives and disappointments.

Pros:
* The characters are so real yet flawed. I really enjoyed the small town dynamic of people caring for each other.
* The characters were quirky but did not seem like caricatures of people in a small town.
* The roadblocks for the society (and the people) felt realistic to the situation. There were enough things that did not work out perfectly to make it plausible.
* The whole story was charming and I really enjoyed it. The audiobook was wonderful.

Cons:
* I loved it but I am not sure someone who doesn't know Austen would enjoy it as much. You don't need to know the stories to follow the plot, but you do need to love Austen to understand why they want to form the society.

Another charming (but more mordern) Austen related story is Austenland.

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