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.
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I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.
I enjoyed The Jane Austen Society a lot more than I thought I would! I was hesitant when I started it, since I'm not a huge fan of classic literature in general (it's hard for me to feel immersed in a story when I don't understand half of the references and phrases, haha). They're just not for me! However, I was swept away by the story, the characters, and the love for Jane Austen. I really liked the little snippets from Austen's books, the detailed information about her history, as well as the character's reflections and perceptions.
If you're a fan of Jane Austen, this is definitely a book you need in your life. The author subtly weaves Austen's stories into her own, and shows readers how various people can all look at the same story and get something completely different out of it. Everyone has lived a unique life, and their individual situations played a role in how Austen's stories related to them (they do agree on some points, but debated many others). It was interesting to see how one author's stories impacted the lives of so many people, and how their love of Austen brought them all together. Her words helped them through some of the hardest moments in their lives, and they found solace in her characters and their circumstances.
The Jane Austen Society does take several chapters to get going. There are a lot of characters, and their lives are intricately connected (in ways they're not even aware of yet), and it takes some time to introduce all of the players. They each have a backstory, and details are slowly revealed over time. Additionally, the chapters skipped ahead by days, weeks, and years, so it often required several paragraphs for me to adjust to where they were in the story. Yes, the chapter headings provided dates, but I would have to flip back to a previous chapter to remind myself where I was in their timeline, and then do the math to determine how much time had passed. It was hard to stay fully immersed in the story when I kept having to backtrack (and mentally calculate dates).
This is also a book that needs to be savored and read with a sense of purpose. There are a lot of little details that shouldn't be missed, and it just felt like it needed to be read slowly. I don't know how else to explain it! Nothing ever felt rushed within the story; not the character's lives nor their conversations. Everything was discussed over tea, or on long walks, and the author's writing reflected that. Her words matched the pacing of her characters. It was truly exceptional! I felt like I was there with them, sitting by a fire, or bundled up against the winter wind.
Unfortunately for the characters, their lives are filled with turmoil and sadness. They're struggling with missed opportunities, the deaths of loved ones, feelings of inadequacy or failure. Some are afraid to be their truest selves, and some are just trying to survive until the next day. There are moments of happiness peppered in, and those seemed to revolve around their shared appreciation of Jane Austen, but for the most part we see real people struggling to live their lives. They continue to put one foot in front of the other, show kindness in the face of adversity, and give their all to preserve one woman's legacy in their small town.
The Jane Austen Society likely isn't a book I will read again, but I really enjoyed the experience. The characters and their lives, their love of Jane Austen (makes me want to try Pride & Prejudice again), and their resilience as people really resonated with me. If I hadn't known beforehand, there's no way I would've guessed this was Jenner's debut novel. The details and conflicts were so authentically portrayed, it felt as if the author had been telling stories for years.
