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carebcut's review against another edition
25% in and DNF. Didn’t capture me and got a bit bored of the plot line. Not for me
thenovelbook's review against another edition
4.0
This book is in a class by itself when it comes to Jane Austen-related fiction. Far more than the ubiquitous Regency fan-fic full of meet-cutes and enjoyable enough fluff, this work sits neatly on the line between biography and fiction. It is a thoughtful, well-written reflection upon Jane Austen's closest friend, her sister Cassandra. Cassandra and Jane are both somewhat shrouded in mystery: there is just so much that we can't know. Which is the very point of this book. It deals with themes of privacy, family legacy, and the strange ways that narratives get shaped once other people or later generations take over.
There's not much plot here; the story alternates between elderly Cassandra (1840) and young Cassandra and Jane. In this setup, Cassandra in later life journeys to visit extended family with the goal of retrieving letters written by Jane. As she reads through the letters, she remembers in detail the events of her life with Jane. She also ponders on the way that life has turned out, the dreams vs. the realities, and what kind of legacy people might foist upon Jane compared to the way she and Jane really felt about their lives. Of course, the author introduces some speculative material, but none of it is wildly improbable, and it beautifully illustrates the themes. While Cassandra has sometimes been given short shrift as the destroyer of Jane's letters, this novel explores why she did it and reflects us readers back to ourselves as we ask, really, how much right do we have to intrude on all the details of a life, or make judgments in areas where there is bound to be complexity and context?
I initially passed by this book on NetGalley, but then I heard the author interviewed on the Bonnets at Dawn podcast and it convinced me that the book would have substance. I'm glad that I was convinced to go back and request it!
Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for this advance review copy.
There's not much plot here; the story alternates between elderly Cassandra (1840) and young Cassandra and Jane. In this setup, Cassandra in later life journeys to visit extended family with the goal of retrieving letters written by Jane. As she reads through the letters, she remembers in detail the events of her life with Jane. She also ponders on the way that life has turned out, the dreams vs. the realities, and what kind of legacy people might foist upon Jane compared to the way she and Jane really felt about their lives. Of course, the author introduces some speculative material, but none of it is wildly improbable, and it beautifully illustrates the themes. While Cassandra has sometimes been given short shrift as the destroyer of Jane's letters, this novel explores why she did it and reflects us readers back to ourselves as we ask, really, how much right do we have to intrude on all the details of a life, or make judgments in areas where there is bound to be complexity and context?
I initially passed by this book on NetGalley, but then I heard the author interviewed on the Bonnets at Dawn podcast and it convinced me that the book would have substance. I'm glad that I was convinced to go back and request it!
Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for this advance review copy.
sophieelizabethcox's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
I thought I'd love this book because I love Jane Austen, but I just didn't think it was very good. It was very slow-paced and at times boring, the characters were hard to keep track of and the plot inexplicable. I didn't understand why the Cassandra was behaving as she was - it felt like the letters would have a huge dramatic secret in the but there wasn't. And then it took her weeks to read them! Lots of supposed drama over nothing.
elsa_lectora's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Ejemplo perfecto de cómo una buena idea puede ejecutarse muy mal. Apenas pasa gran cosa de interés, la personalidad de la protagonista no es coherente en los dos momentos de su vida que se reflejan en la historia, y constantemente hay guiños burdos a los paralelismos de la vida y familia de Jane Austen con su obra. Una oportunidad desaprovechada...
ciaralindner's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
suvata's review against another edition
5.0
#Pemberlittens #JaneAdjacent March 2023 Read #ChapterADay @StayCurious @BarkingMadRead
#StoryGraph: fiction historical emotional informative reflective • 288 pages • first pub 2020
#OUABC 2023 Reading Challenge: 40 Prompts (10. A Book that features emails, journal entries, or letters)
“England, 1840. Two decades after the death of her beloved sister, Jane, Cassandra Austen returns to the village of Kintbury and the home of her family friends, the Fowles. In a dusty corner of the vicarage, there is a cache of Jane's letters that Cassandra is desperate to find.”
~ Publisher
DESCRIPTION
For fans of Jo Baker's Longbourn, a witty, wonderfully original novel about Cassandra Austen and her famous sister, Jane.
Whoever looked at an elderly lady and saw the young heroine she once was?
England, 1840. Two decades after the death of her beloved sister, Jane, Cassandra Austen returns to the village of Kintbury and the home of her family friends, the Fowles. In a dusty corner of the vicarage, there is a cache of Jane's letters that Cassandra is desperate to find. Dodging her hostess and a meddlesome housemaid, Cassandra eventually hunts down the letters and confronts the secrets they hold, secrets not only about Jane but about Cassandra herself. Will Cassandra bare the most private details of her life to the world, or commit her sister's legacy to the flames?
Moving back and forth between the vicarage and Cassandra's vibrant memories of her years with Jane, interwoven with Jane's brilliantly reimagined lost letters, Miss Austen is the untold story of the most important person in Jane's life. With extraordinary empathy, emotional complexity, and wit, Gill Hornby finally gives Cassandra her due, bringing to life a woman as captivating as any Austen heroine.
#StoryGraph: fiction historical emotional informative reflective • 288 pages • first pub 2020
#OUABC 2023 Reading Challenge: 40 Prompts (10. A Book that features emails, journal entries, or letters)
“England, 1840. Two decades after the death of her beloved sister, Jane, Cassandra Austen returns to the village of Kintbury and the home of her family friends, the Fowles. In a dusty corner of the vicarage, there is a cache of Jane's letters that Cassandra is desperate to find.”
~ Publisher
DESCRIPTION
For fans of Jo Baker's Longbourn, a witty, wonderfully original novel about Cassandra Austen and her famous sister, Jane.
Whoever looked at an elderly lady and saw the young heroine she once was?
England, 1840. Two decades after the death of her beloved sister, Jane, Cassandra Austen returns to the village of Kintbury and the home of her family friends, the Fowles. In a dusty corner of the vicarage, there is a cache of Jane's letters that Cassandra is desperate to find. Dodging her hostess and a meddlesome housemaid, Cassandra eventually hunts down the letters and confronts the secrets they hold, secrets not only about Jane but about Cassandra herself. Will Cassandra bare the most private details of her life to the world, or commit her sister's legacy to the flames?
Moving back and forth between the vicarage and Cassandra's vibrant memories of her years with Jane, interwoven with Jane's brilliantly reimagined lost letters, Miss Austen is the untold story of the most important person in Jane's life. With extraordinary empathy, emotional complexity, and wit, Gill Hornby finally gives Cassandra her due, bringing to life a woman as captivating as any Austen heroine.
pixiekp's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
dars's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
candacesiegle_greedyreader's review against another edition
5.0
Why do we know so little about Jane Austen? We know she was a prodigious writer of letters, but we also know that her older sister, Cassandra, destroyed them. "Miss Austen" imagines why that might be.
The first part of the novel is charming, with a jolt of great sadness when Cassandra's fiance dies in the West Indies, leaving her future uncertain. More than perhaps any other I've read, this novel brings home the frightening situations of unmarried woman who cannot work and have no money of their own. Jane never wanted to marry but Cassie's marriage would have secured her own future--a home to live in.
The story toggles between 1840 and late in the last century. Cassie shows up at the home of her friend Eliza. Eliza is long dead, but her daughter is about to lose the house that has been in the family for generations. With no vicar in the family to take the living over, it will go to a stranger. Cassie wants to find the letters Jane wrote to Eliza and other friends, to keep them from being discovered and published, revealing how different the real Jane was from the adored author she now is.
"Miss Austen" is a wonderful imagining of what the lives of Jane, Cassie, and their other friends who didn't marry were like as they grew older. It's filled with love and sisterhood, but the friends can only hope that a male family member will provide them with enough money to live.
Throughout the book we see women marrying men who are stupid, thoughtless, or cruel because the alternative is even worse--traveling from relative to relative hoping to be "of use."
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review. Janeites will love this book.
The first part of the novel is charming, with a jolt of great sadness when Cassandra's fiance dies in the West Indies, leaving her future uncertain. More than perhaps any other I've read, this novel brings home the frightening situations of unmarried woman who cannot work and have no money of their own. Jane never wanted to marry but Cassie's marriage would have secured her own future--a home to live in.
The story toggles between 1840 and late in the last century. Cassie shows up at the home of her friend Eliza. Eliza is long dead, but her daughter is about to lose the house that has been in the family for generations. With no vicar in the family to take the living over, it will go to a stranger. Cassie wants to find the letters Jane wrote to Eliza and other friends, to keep them from being discovered and published, revealing how different the real Jane was from the adored author she now is.
"Miss Austen" is a wonderful imagining of what the lives of Jane, Cassie, and their other friends who didn't marry were like as they grew older. It's filled with love and sisterhood, but the friends can only hope that a male family member will provide them with enough money to live.
Throughout the book we see women marrying men who are stupid, thoughtless, or cruel because the alternative is even worse--traveling from relative to relative hoping to be "of use."
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review. Janeites will love this book.
_luxpins's review
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5