A lifelong fan of Jane Austen, I took it to a whole new level in 2017 on the heels of a devastating medical diagnosis for my husband. Reading and rereading only Austen, and about Austen, for a year of my life, I found unique solace and comfort in the genius of her prose and the hopefulness of her text. When life’s little curveball swung back at us with more stability and hope for the future than we’d initially been given, I found myself wanting to write again after a decade’s break from trying to get published. Deciding to write specifically about Austen became the perfect way to thank her for getting me through such a traumatic time in life, and to share with others how her words, and how books in general, can comfort and connect us.
The Jane Austen Society is about a ragtag group of villagers at the end of the Second World War who band together over a shared love of Austen and decide to try to save the cottage where Austen wrote or revised all of her major works. A powerful and moving novel that explores the tragedies and triumphs of life, both large and small, and the universal humanity in us all.
I owe such a debt to Jane Austen for the wise and witty Pride and Prejudice: what I call the “gateway drug” to the rest of her canon, and the sole reason I am a published author myself today. Thank you, Jane, for pretty much inventing the hate-to-love trope behind a gazillion screwball and romantic comedies. Thank you for showing us all of humanity: the good, the bad, the foolish, and the self-glorious. And on a personal level, thank you for rocketing me into adolescence with the creation of Mr. Darcy.
Jane Austen's best-loved novel is an unforgettable story about the inaccuracy of first impressions, the power of reason, and above all the strange dynamics of human relationships and emotions.
Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is illustrated by Hugh Thomson and features an afterword by author and critic, Henry Hitchings.
A tour de force of wit and sparkling dialogue, Pride and…
If Pride and Prejudice is the gateway drug, Persuasion is the apex of Austen’s powers and second for that reason. While coping with an illness that would kill her a year later, Austen created in Anne Elliot a non-traditional, non-scrappy heroine who will, despite her own grief and the mendacious efforts of those around her, find the happiest of endings. Persuasion is elegiac, thoughtful, consuming, and sometimes despairing, and the love letter at its end has all the heft and thunderclap of a thousand thrillers.
'In Persuasion, Jane Austen is beginning to discover that the world is larger, more mysterious, and more romantic than she had supposed' Virginia Woolf
Jane Austen's moving late novel of missed opportunities and second chances centres on Anne Elliot, no longer young and with few romantic prospects. Eight years earlier, she was persuaded by others to break off her engagement to poor, handsome naval captain Frederick Wentworth. What happens when they meet again is movingly told in Austen's last completed novel. Set in the fashionable societies of Lyme Regis and Bath, Persuasion is a brilliant satire of vanity and pretension,…
A very close third is Emma, often called the world’s first detective novel. The title heroine is a terrible matchmaker and unintentional detective, constantly sifting through social cues and clues in an effort to manipulate her environment and those in it. Emma also brilliantly mirrors the human capacity for cluelessnessin us all: in fact, it personally took me at least two dozen immersive reads to finally detect one of its most critical clues to what the heck is really going on. But most of all, Emma is a hilarious, thought-provoking study in community and the moral obligation we have to help raise each other up, not down. For that reason alone, it is a gift to humanity.
'Her masterpiece, mixing the sparkle of her early books with a deep sensibility' Robert McCrum, Observer
Although described by Jane Austen as a character 'whom no one but myself will much like', the irrepressible Emma Woodhouse is one of her most beloved heroines. Clever, rich and beautiful, she sees no need for marriage, but loves interfering in the romantic lives of others, until her matchmaking plans unravel, with consequences that she never expected. Jane Austen's novel of youthful exuberance and gradual self-knowledge is a brilliant, sparkling comic masterpiece.
Things here get tricky, but for me, the next best book by Austen is Mansfield Park. Fans are divided, and as you read, you will be, too. You will either have to overlook the piety and passivity of heroine Fanny Price or embrace her as an example of what Austen is most often writing about: the need to be authentic to one’s unique self, in all its flawed humanity, and resilient enough to go after what one really wants. Mansfield Park pulls no punches: the characters fail each other just like in real life. But this being Austen, they also get exactly what they deserve, and the example of someone triumphing who isas unfavoured by lifeas Fanny gives hope for us all.
'Full of the energies of discord - sibling rivalry, greed, ambition, illicit sexual passion and vanity' Margaret Drabble
Jane Austen's profound, ambiguous third novel is the story of Fanny Price, who is accustomed to being the poor relation at Mansfield Park, the home of her wealthy plantation-owning uncle. She finds comfort in her love for her cousin Edmund, until the arrival of charismatic outsiders from London throws life at the house into disarray and brings dangerous desires to the surface. Mansfield Park is Austen's most complex work; a powerful portrayal of change and continuity, scandalous misdemeanours and true integrity.
My final book pick is Sense and Sensibility. A surprisingly interior early novel from Austen, this is the story of two very different sisters at a time in society when choices for women were notoriously thin. There is so much grief, fear of poverty, hopelessness, and unrequited love buried in the traditional marriage plot, but Austen still gives us hope for the capacity of all humans to grow through love and loss. Sense and Sensibility is a primer on seeking balance in all aspects of life, while also engagingly romantic in the best of ways.
'The wit of Jane Austen has for partner the perfection of her taste' Virginia Woolf
Jane Austen's subtle and witty novel of secrets and suppression, lies and seduction, brilliantly portrays a world where rigid social convention clashes with the impulses of the heart. It tells the story of two very different sisters who find themselves thrown into an unkind world when their father dies. Marianne, wild and impulsive, falls dangerously in love, while Elinor suffers her own private heartbreak but conceals her true feelings, even from those closest to her.
When Lara was four years old, her father moved from Rochester, New York, to Anchorage, Alaska, a distance of over 4,000 miles. She spent her childhood chasing after him, flying a quarter of the way around the world to tug at the hem of his jacket.
Now that he is in his eighties, she contemplates her obligation to an absentee father. The Truth About Unringing Phones is an exploration of responsibility and culpability told in experimental and fragmented essays.
When Lara was four years old, her father moved from Rochester, New York, to Anchorage, Alaska, a distance of over 4,000 miles. She spent her childhood chasing after him, flying a quarter of the way around the world to tug at the hem of his jacket. Now that he is in his eighties, she contemplates her obligation to an absentee father.
The Truth About Unringing Phones: Essays on Yearning is an exploration of responsibility and culpability told in experimental and fragmented essays.
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