A review by slelswick
Jane Austen, the Secret Radical by Helena Kelly

4.0

As much as I adore reading Jane Austen again and again, I've come to enjoy reading literary criticism about JA's novels even more. I share Helena Kelly's notion that Jane Austen's novels aren't quite what they seem on the surface. I enjoyed the way Helena analyzed the text, infusing historical data that enriched my understanding of the novels. However, as the book progressed, I found myself objecting to some of Helena's ideas; she made quite a few inferences based on circumstantial evidence. In the chapter about "Persuasion", Helena included a rather long discourse on fossils and Mary Anning--all of it really not necessary. In the end, there's a lot we don't know about JA because her sister destroyed a lot of Jane's letters and quite a bit that we do know about JA are details funneled through the point of view of her male relatives who very much crafted a wholesome image of JA. Overall I recommend this book to all JA fans.