An unusual group of people ban together to save Jane Austen’s history in her hometown, Chawton.

Multiple POVs as the group forms ‘The Jane Austen Society’ to accomplish this goal. They overcome obstacles, make unlikely friendships all for their own reasons of loving the late author, Jane Austen.

Let’s get this out of the way. This book wasn’t for me. I ‘read’ via audio book and thought the speaker did wonderfully. A wonderful voice for this historical fiction.

It started out fine. Slow, but I assume we were getting there. Too many characters to keep track of. Then… a rape happens. This scene was so out of place, went into way too much detail and put me in a mood for the rest of the book. I kept thinking, the author better justify this scene. It was constantly in my head of why was this necessary? The only reason I can see is ‘shock effect’. A slow book has a big moment to keep readers reading, but as other reviewers stated … it did the opposite. Some reviewers even claimed to have DNF because of this chapter. If this makes you uncomfortable, do not pick up this book. I know we shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, or title, but this particular book, this particular title… this scene would be the last thing I would think would occur.

From there, the book is slow. Nothing happens. Nothing happens. Hinted at something happening. All the build up is dropped when the rug is pulled out from under us for again, nothing to really happen.

The end.

All that negativity aside, I’ve read a lot worse. If you pick this up to learn more about Austen, want to enjoy Austen from another point of view… this isn’t for you.

Amazon Link – The Jane Austen Society By: Natalie Jenner