What would Jane Austen choose,
love in the future or becoming a successful writer in her own time?
Jane in Love tells us the
story behind this choice. In 1803 Bath
England, Jane Austen is 28 years old and becoming a spinster. She longs to be able to have her own
independence without everyone trying to push her into marriage. After a visit to a mysterious woman, she
finds herself in present day Bath. She
meets Sophia Wentworth. Sophia is an actress playing Mrs. Allen in a new film version
of Northanger Abbey. She was once a major
Hollywood star married to a famous director, but as she nears the end of her
thirties, her career and marriage are in shambles. As Sophia helps Jane find her way in modern
England, will she also be able to find herself?
I always love time travel
novels. I thought it was an interesting
concept to bring Jane Austen to the future and to see if she would choose love
over her career. I enjoyed her meeting
Fred and their romance, but I never really felt the love connection between the
two as I feel that I should have. Part
of it may be that I didn’t feel the character of Jane fit with the Jane Austen
I know and love. Persuasion is my favorite
Austen novel and I loved how it worked with this novel.
My favorite part of this
novel was actually Sophia. I loved the
details of her rise to fame, her marriage, and her trials of being an actress
nearing forty in Hollywood. The making
of the movie was fascinating as well. I
would love a spin off novel on Sophia and her future adventures in film and
love.
I kind of hope future
versions of this book will change the year to 2019 or 2021. The story didn’t fit in the 2020 setting as there
weren’t movies being made that year. It’s
hard to have a story set in 2020 without mentioning COVID.
This is our August selection
for the JASNA Northwoods Book Club and I can’t wait to discuss it with our
group this weekend.
Favorite Quote:
“She was too old to act
so childishly, gripped by juvenile longing, but then love never aged. She’d feel the same at eighty.”
Overall, Jane in Love is an
interesting time travel novel that looks at the impact of Jane Austen on our
time.
Book Source: Review Copy from William Morrow. Thank-you!
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