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

2.0

While I found many of the points made in this book interesting, especially those surrounding the idea that Austen *wanted* her readers to keep the issue of slavery in mind while she wrote Mansfield Park, I disagree strongly with much of the premise of the book. Primarily, I do not think "not as conservative as we have been led to believe," qualifies someone as radical. As someone who loves Austen books both in a recreational and an academic sense, I found many of her arguments flawed, and her review of the books influenced based on how much she liked the male protagonists (for instance, see her intense dislike of Colonel Brandon based on her belief he's not to be trusted for no other real reason other than Kelly doesn't like that he marries Marianne, which was baffling and distracting from some of her much more well-founded points in the Sense and Sensibility chapter). Another contention I had with many of her points is she is so hesitant to take Austen's words in her novels for what they are, and as a former English major the lack of clear textual evidence was annoying. Many of her ideas would be interesting as alternative retellings of the books, but as a compelling academic argument, I found it lacking.