Jane in love

Jane Austen is well known and loved for six novels written in the early nineteenth century - Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park.

Over the years many re-imaginings of these books have been created especially in film and on television (a new version of Emma is currently in Australian cinemas), but also as new interpretations or extensions of the stories in works by a variety of authors such as Death comes to Pemberley by P D James.  Seth Graeme-Smith even produced a book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (also made into a film). The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler is a novel based around the lives of of six people who regularly meet to discuss the works of Jane Austen.

There is also a wealth of non-fiction based on Jane Austen's life and work. A few examples that I have read include A Dance with Jane Austen by Susanah Fullerton, A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 reasons why we cannot stop reading Jane Austen edited by Susannah Carson and Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence.

The Age (Spectrum) 15 February 2020 page 22 reviewed four new novels influenced by the writing of Jane Austen or aspects of her life - The Clergyman's Wife by Molly Greenly (Charlotte Lucas- life after marrying Mr Collins); The Other Bennett Sister by Janice Hadlow (Mary from Pride and Prejudice); Miss Austen by Gill Hornby (Cassandra Austen) and Jane in Love by Rachel Givney. There is also a new book on Regency clothing - Dress in the Age of Jane Austen: Regency Fashion by Hilary Davidson.

In Jane in Love, the author supposes what might happen if, in 1803, a 28 year old Jane (who looks as if she will be a spinster all her life and is consequently strongly encouraged by family members to find a partner to marry) actually visits a dubious marriage counsellor to find true love. When she finds herself transported to moderen day Bath Jane is amazed by her new surroundings and the technology of the 21st century. She forms friendships with Sofia Wentworth, an actress involved in the making of a film version of Persuasion, and her brother Fred. In this modern Bath, Jane is surprised to learn that she has written six novels which are read and studied and that there are museums created to record her life and work. However as Jane acclimatises to this modern world she discovers that reference to her works and former life is disappearing resulting in the need to decide whether to stay in the 21st century with her new friends or return home to salvage her literary career.

This entertaining book by Rachel Givney will be enjoyed by many readers of Jane Austen's fiction and the world she has created.

Review: Jane in Love- on choosing the heart or the pen Better Reading 11 February 2020