Six Weeks by the Sea by Paula Byrne (Austenprose PR Book Tour)

 

Do you like to vacation by the sea?  Do you have any favorite seaside vacation spots?  I don’t really vacation by the ocean, but by the Great Lakes. I live in a Lake Michigan community in Wisconsin with a seasonal view of Lake Michigan.  I love to walk by the water.  Growing up in Michigan, I loved South Haven and Holland, also on Lake Michigan. 

In Six Weeks by the Sea by Paula Byrne, Jane Austen has just had to leave her beloved family home in Steventon after her brother takes over as the rector.  Before her family settles in Bath, they spend six weeks by the sea in Sidmouth, Devon, England.  There with her mother, father, and sister Cassandra, they are reunited with her beloved brother Frank who has a brief break from his naval adventures in the Royal Navy.  He has also brought along his friend, Captain Parker.  While sparks begin to fly between Captain Parker and Jane, Jane also feels herself very annoyed by a new young lawyer in town, Samuel Rose.  As she gets to know Mr. Rose and Captain Parker better, will she find true love?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This was a short, but beautifully written novel.  It had almost a dream like quality to it as I read it.

·       I was intrigued to discover that Paula Byrne had written the nonfiction book, Belle:  The Slave Daughter and the Lord Chief Justice.  I had watched the movie Belle in the past and just recently rewatched it.  Six Weeks by the Sea had elements in it that reminded me of Belle.

·       Reverand Swete’s son has returned home with his child, a daughter who doesn’t speak and who is half black.  Jane is intrigued by the girl and uses her skills as an aunt to get to know her better and draw her out.  She also notices the kind behavior Mr. Rose has towards the young girl.  This also had shades to me of Miss Georgiana Lambe, Austen’s biracial character in her unfinished novel, Sanditon.

·       Jane has prejudice against Mr. Rose at first because he is a lawyer, and she hates lawyers.  She learns over the course of the novel just what types of cases that Mr. Rose works on, and it aligns with her own opinions on the fight against slavery.  I loved how Jane’s feelings on Mr. Rose changed through the course of the novel.

·       I loved the inclusion of William Cowper’s poetry.  I didn’t know that he had written anti-slavery poetry.

·       This time period has always been a mystery in Jane Austen’s life.  Did she have a mysterious love who died?  I loved how this story filled in the gaps.  I would love to imagine that even though she never married, she had a great love of her own.

·       I always enjoy a good love triangle.  I also love thinking about Austen finding love with someone who could match her wit. 

·       This novel had small moments with the family getting together for meals, going for walks, balls, etc.  The pacing and these small moments reminded me of a Jane Austen novel.

·       I enjoyed quotes showing up from Austen’s letters and novels within this book.  Even the fictional conversations carried the same sparkle and wit one sees in an Austen novel.

·       There is a great author’s afterword at the end of the book that delves into what was real and what was fictional.  Captain Parker was a fictional character, while Samuel Rose was a real person.

Overall, Six Weeks by the Sea by Paula Byrne was a fascinating novel and look into a period of transition and change for Jane Austen that may have also included love.  I enjoyed the look into social issues at the time that Austen cared about and wrote subtle about in her novels.

Book Source: Thank-you to @paulajaynebyrne @pegasus_books @austenprose for a review copy of this novel as part of the Austenprose PR Book Tour.