When I started my own Jane Austen Book Club online back in 2010 it was because I couldn’t find like-minded fellows to create a real one in my little hometown in Italy. But thanks to the web and the Internet, I could discover how many lovely, devoted, enthusiastic Janeites are out there in the world.
While reading the newly released The Jane Austen Society, the charming debut novel by Natalie Jenner, I was brought back to that initial passionate desire to spread the love for Jane Austen and to be part of a community. I enjoyed it so much! I wasbrought back to Hampshire and Chawton, which I visited only once in my life, but whose touching memories will stay with me forever.
Here are 10 reasons why you should read The Jane Austen Society. 1. Agreat set of relatable, well written charactersIn the years following the Second World War in Chawtoneight completely different like-minded people gather together with a remarkable purpose: to save the legacy of Jane Austen, one of the finest English writers, who had made their little village her final home. They are an improbable band ofpeople with different backgrounds and life experiences,but their common interest in Austen will form unexpectedbonds and will lead them to found the Jane Austen Society. Their dream is to acquire the cottage where Jane spent the last years of her life and make it a museum.
Are they historical or fictional? This is what Natalie Jenner had to say: “In wanting to write about a group of people traumatized to varying degrees … I chose not to base the characters on anyone real in order to enjoy full artistic freedom.”2. Vivid narrating styleAll the characters are so thoroughlywritten and given their own personal world that it is easy to figure them out in their distinctive uniqueness. The narration shifts from one to the other, and from present to past, smoothly and clearly, and creating, page after page, a group portrait set in lyrical surroundings. I started imagining the story as if on a screen with no effort and dreamcasting some of my favorite actors. I believe this book would work rather well on screen.
3. The healing power of booksI’ve always liked books about reading and book lovers. I’ve also always believed in the healing power of reading poetry and fiction. Bibliotherapy is the new trend, but this is old news among Janeites, since Austen’s novels were used in the treatment of shell-shocked soldiers during and after WW1 and have given solace and comfort through times of loss, sadness and suffering to so many all over the years.
That happens to some of the protagonists of the novel too. They will find comfort and a refuge in their favorite Austen’s novels and, in the end, even areason to fight and live for4. Jane Austen’s homeplaceIn the novel Chawton House, the grand residence of Jane Austen’s brother Edward -adopted as a boy by the wealthy but childless Knight family - isboth a character and the setting of many crucial scenes. If you’ve visited the place, you’ll recognize it in the detailed descriptions in the book.In the story, Frances Knight and her dying father live there. Mr Knight has changed his will and excluded his own daughter from inheriting their house. Frances passively and obediently accepts her father’s will,though it will leave her in reduced financial circumstances and without a home. Ironically enough, Frances prefers reading the Brontes, but will join The Jane Austen Society and try to save her own and her illustrious ancestor's legacy. Chawton Cottage, the small house Edward Knight granted his mother and his two sisters, is often mentioned and becomes the treasure to conquer in our heroines and heroes' quest. The Jane Austen Society is founded with the aim of buying and tranforming it into a museum.
5. Love for Jane Austen and her worldA Jane Austen fan feels at home in the pages of this novel, where Pride and Prejudice, Emma or one of the other major novels often become the focus of lovely conversations between the characters or food for their thoughts, memories and reflections.There’s so much gratitude and appreciation for Austen, her stories, her characters and her own life in the book that while reading it Janeites will feeland breath their own love. 6. RomanceI don’t want to give away major spoilers here, but … could love and romance lack in a book inspired to Jane Austen’s world? 7. Strong female charactersI mentioned Frances Knight before, but there are other female characters that you will love in the story: Adeline Lewis, the committed and stubborn ex teacher turned into a mourning young widow by the war,Evie Stone the sixteen-year-old maid who catalagues the books in Chawton House neglected library at night just to satisfy her own curiosity and love for knowledge, Mimi Andrews, Hollywood star and committed Janeite. Their strong, lively personalitiesare certainly indebted to Jane Austen’s own heroines.8. Men who love Jane AustenYou’ll be surprised to find male characters who are really fond of reading Jane Austen, and no, they aren’t academics or scholars, they are just men who happen to be very appreciative of her style and her stories. Among them, romantic and fascinating Dr Gray and touching, tender Adam Berwick. 9. Austen-worthy happy ending Natalie Jenner agrees with Jane Austen and gives her characters and her readers the happy ending Jane Austen would be proud of.
"My characters shall have, after a little trouble, all that they desire" (Jane Austen)
10. Last but not least … Richard Armitage!This was a lucky coincidence! I have been a great fun of Mr Armitage for many years and I really appreciate him as a narrator of audiobooks. It's been a delight to listen to his awesome reading of The Jane Austen Society. Natalie Jenner admitted she wrote her Dr Gray figuring him out as Richard Armitage, so when she heard he had accepted reading her book, she was extremely happy. When I started listening to audiobook it was inevitable to imagine the fascinating doctor as tall, dark, blue-eyed and very handsome. "Because I write without any kind of an outline or idea of what lies ahead, I get to know my characters over time. But with The Jane Austen Society, one particular actor and his performances directly influenced one of my characters right from the start. Benjamin Gray is the widowed village doctor in my story, as well as the keeper of everyone's secrets. When I was writing, I kept imagining this pillar of the town who was so handsome and tall and comforting in tone, but also so inwardly tormented. In that respect the character called to mind the performance by British actor Richard Armitage in the 2004 BBC drama North and South where he played John Thornton, who has always struck me as the ultimate romantic period drama hero." (Natalie Jenner) Listen to Richard Armitage reading the opening of the novelAbout the Book
Natalie Jenner is the debut author of THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY, a fictional telling of the start of the society in the 1940s in the village of Chawton, where Austen wrote or revised her major works. Born in England and raised in Canada, Natalie graduated from the University of Toronto with degrees in English Literature and Law and has worked for decades in the legal industry. She recently founded the independent bookstore Archetype Books in Oakville, Ontario, where she lives with her family and two rescue dogs.
Read also:Natalie Jenner dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, The Jane Austen Society
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