I might be kicked off of the internet for saying this but... I've never read Jane Austen. Maybe I should, but I've never been able to get in the "classics" and enjoy them.

That being said, I liked this book and the characters. Maybe I would have loved it more if I had a soft spot in my heart for Jane Austen and wanted to learn more about her. It was still a great story, though the first 30% or so was spent introducing characters before we really got into the plot and that was a little hard to get through. Once we got running though I enjoyed how the characters came together. I would have liked a bit more of the society and what they created, but overall I liked the story. the location was also a huge plus as the little town sounded so charming.

A lovely story with wonderful well developed characters. If you love Austen, you will want to make the journey to see the cottage after reading this book!

THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY was sweet, endearing, and nostalgic in the best of ways. A group of avid Jane Austen lovers come together, form a family, and hold hands through some really hard life stuff. It's the perfect story for our tumultuous and unpredictable COVID-19 summer. My only complaint about the story was that the point-of-view was confusing at times with its rather abrupt shifts between the main characters (particularly because there are quite a few). Overall, I highly recommend this book for Jane Austen lovers and readers of historical fiction. I have to say that THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY really did make me want to do some Austen rereading!

Content Warnings: sexual assault, infant loss, spousal loss, parental loss

The Jane Austen Society: Natalie Jenner
Published: May 26th, 2020
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
4 Stars!
I loved this one! Way more than I ever thought I would!
Chawton was the home of Jane Austen one hundred and fifty years ago. Now, all that’s left is a diminishing estate and a few distant relatives that seem completely uninterested in Jane Austen. With Austen’s reputation and legacy threatened, a group of individuals ban together to attempt preserve both her home and legacy. Connected by solely their love of Austen, each individual in the Jane Austen Society comes from a different background and livelihood. As each member has their own personal struggles, they come together to form a formidable society.
Thoughts:
I enjoyed this book WAY more than I thought I would. I have never really been a Jane Austen fan but now, I am definitely going back and reading them! I loved the setting of this story, how well the era was depicted and how easy, and light, this read was. It wasn’t a page turner but it was enjoyable none the less! Very much a non-controversial read.
Along with posting on Net Galley, I will be posting my review to Goodreads, Amazon (when it becomes available), my Instagram (which has over a two thousand book review followers) and my blog. Please find the link to my blog post below. I am very grateful for the opportunity to review such a inspiring and archetypal memorial. All opinions and thoughts are my own. Thank you very much.

I was so excited about this one because of the history I thought it would include. However, the pacing was not good and I almost DNF halfway through. I don't think the characters were well fleshed out and I often wondered why somethings were put randomly in this story. There was also the rough transition from one charcter to another in a chapter. I found myself lost on who I was even reading about. The ending finally came together a little better, which bumped my rating to a 3 star.

Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet, Emma, Mr. Nightly, Fannie and Mr. Crawford...fans of Jane Austen know these names well. Step back into Austen's world through this group of people who's sole connection is all things Jane Austen. Jenner introduces the reader to the town of Chawton where Jane spent the latter portion of her life and where her relatives still live in 1946. Not much has changed...it's still a small town, slow moving. As the book unfolds, each character is revealed, causing the reader to understand how they come together and to wonder how these characters connect to Jane's.

This e-ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a warm cup of tea on a chilly night to anyone who loves Jane Austen. The characters frequently have discussions on characters and plot points of Austen's novels (I may even reread Mansfield Park even though I do not like it just to compare their notes) and it's delightful, insightful, and on point. It is a bit of a slow start as the first quarter of the novel is setting up the characters and their lives, but it's still good, and the novel really hits its stride when the Society is created. It's a classic novel in the sense that it's about getting inside heads and inside homes, and I love that we're able to pop into each of the members' perspectives. I was also so incredibly delighted by the twists (yes, there's 2!) in the last sixth of the book, and the occasional clues where you are able to figure out a detail right before the characters do. The prose also has moments of real loveliness, but the book really shines in its depiction of healing from trauma.
I had no idea when I picked up the book that this would be a main theme (I stopped reading the description pretty much after the title), but found myself highlighting some passages about resilience, healing, and coping, and I RARELY use that Kindle feature. I think this book would provide more comfort than triggering someone going through a hard time, but I think it's most clearly for an audience who loves Austen (the only reason it's 4 instead of 5 stars for me).
If you adore Jane Austen, pick this up!! You will love it. And then probably reread all of Austen.

If I had to pick one word to describe The Jane Austen Society, it would be charming. It's sweet, engaging and a loving tribute to my favorite author. Being a big historical fiction fan already, the setting in Chawton, Hampshire from 1932 to 1947 was a draw as well. Although the book starts in 1932 before WWII begins, most of it takes place in the aftermath of the war in 1945 and 1946. The war has left its impact on the small town and the five main characters of the novel. There is Adam, a farm laborer who gave up schooling when both brothers were killed in The Great War, Mimi, an American film star, Dr. Benjamin Gray, the widowed town physician, Adeline, former teacher and young war widow who also lost her unborn child, Evie, a promising young student who must become a house servant when her father is injured in an accident, and Francis, wealthy descendant of the Austin family and a spinster shut off from much of society. What draws this group of dissimilar people together is a love of Jane Austen and they decide to form The Jane Austen Society to protect the final home of the author in Chawton.

I think if you are an Austen fan at any level, you can't help but like this book, and if you are not a fan or familiar with Austen's work, this book will make you want to be. You can feel the passion the author has for Austen radiate from every page and I love how each character describes how they came to love Jane Austen over the course of the book. And having read and reread (and in the case of Pride and Prejudice reread at least once a year) Austen's books I love how accurately Jenner describes why so many of us do:

"Part of the comfort they derived from rereading was the satisfaction of knowing there would be closure--of feeling, each time, an inexplicable anxiety over whether the main characters would find love and happiness, while all the while knowing, on some different parallel interior track, that it was all going to work out in the end. Of being one step ahead of the characters and one step behind Austen on every single reading."

I am currently rereading all of Austen's books for an online buddy read starting with Sense and Sensibility and covering a chapter a day, and I love the discussions we are having and hearing people's' impressions whether they have read a book twenty times or are reading it for the first time. Along with the books, we are reading adaptations and other Austen-related books and I am recommending this book to all of them. Lest I scare you away with my Janeite fanaticism, I feel like it's an enjoyable book regardless. There's romance and friendship, small town doings, history, and a general feeling of hope in the pages. It's a delight! My only complaint is that it ended too soon--much like I feel when I read Jane Austen's books, I wanted much more time with these characters.

This book is a delight. I am a huge Jane Austen fan and direct mentions of Jane Austen, as well as, hidden parallel plot lines between the characters in this novel and those of Jane Austen's abound. The plot is very tight with colorful characters and humor. I will highly recommend this title.

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence my review.

You don’t have to be a Jane Austen fan to love The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner, but if you are, you’ll love it even more.

In this gentle, sweet historical novel, set in the small English town of Chawton during the second world war, a group of six Jane Austen fans come together to preserve the legacy of the famous author.

Chawton is the one-time home of Jane Austen and of the Knight family, who adopted her brother Edward in order to have an heir. Austen’s works fell out of favor after her death. By the time interest in her life and works revived, many Austen artifacts and much memorabilia had been discarded or disbursed. Nevertheless, a trickle of diehard fans made pilgrimages to Chawton to try to connect, in some way, with the woman.

Dr. Benjamin Gray is the village physician, a man of young middle-age, who lost his wife to an accident several years before. Adam Berwick is a farmer, slightly younger, who lost his two elder brothers in WWI. Adeline Grover is a young schoolteacher, whose husband dies in the war shortly after their wedding. She’s pregnant, but miscarries the baby and nearly dies. Francis Knight is the last in the Knight line, living in the old house, waiting for her cruel, miserly father to die. Evie Stone is a whipsmart schoolgirl, forced to leave school when her father is injured in a tractor accident and can no longer support the family. She takes a job in the Knight home. And finally, Mimi Harrison is a beautiful Hollywood movie star, involved in a trainwreck of a relationship, whose love of Jane Austen brings her to Chawton first as a tourist and later as a member of the “Jane Austen Society.”

The lives of the Chawton villagers are intertwined. They’ve grown up with one another and know many, but not all, of each other’s secrets. Sometimes they understand each other better than they understand themselves.

As in Austen’s novels, the romances between various characters give the novel its heart. The goal, preserving Austen’s home as a museum, is secondary in importance to bringing hurting people together to heal. They will often break into discussions of their favorite characters or scenes, which grounds the book delightfully in its Austen-ian roots.

It’s a beautiful book. Highly recommended.

This is definitely for fans of Jane Austen! Set in the 1940s and bringing together a cast of unexpected characters, there are so may references to Austen's works that makes this such a fun read! It's lighthearted and well-written, feeling much like a comfort read.

The Jane Austen Society tells the story of various residents of Chawton, (the town where Jane Austen lived at the end of her young life) in post war England who are all brought together by their love of her books. Prior to reading it I kept seeing people describing it as charming and now that I’ve read it I fully understand why, as charming is just what it is. I loved each of the characters in this story and how, despite their differences and their own sorrow and heartbreaks they came together over a shared love of books. While you wouldn’t necessarily need to be an Austen fan to appreciate this book, I think it definitely helps. I really didn’t want this one to end, thoroughly enjoyed it! Thanks so much to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advance copy of this book.

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner is an interesting book that I really enjoyed. This book takes place just after World War II in the small English village Chawton, the last home of Jane Austen. The home is run down, and in need of repairs, so a group pull together, Jane Austen Society, to preserve Ms. Austen home and her legacy. I enjoy this book and will be reading more books by Natalie Jenner. I highly recommend.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

What a lovely book! I love Jane Austen, and many of the offshoot books related. This one I thought was very charming and it makes me want to go visit the village of Chawton when the world is open to travel again! I found the characters to be delightful and their idea to found a society to preserve Ms. Austen’s legacy was wonderful.

What an absolute delight this book was! It was charming, heartwarming, and wonderfully geeky in a way that all book nerds will love. So much of Jane Austen is in this novel through references to her works, her personal life, and her long-lasting legacy. I think she would love this novel and its approach to her and the canon.

Natalie Jenner clearly has a love not just of Jane Austen but of reading, of classics, of history. Her gift for prose and character work truly made this enjoyable. It was beautifully written and at times the descriptions of Chawton gave me shades of Thomas Hardy. She had a group of characters, all with tragedies in their pasts and all dealing with the aftermath of WWII, come together to do something extraordinary; preserving Jane Austen's legacy in a town where she lived for ten years.

I think Jane Austen fans will really enjoy this. Not only does Natalie Jenner paint a portrait of her and her readers wonderfully, I think the book itself is very reminiscent of Austen's writing and character work too.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an eArc of The Jane Austen Society.
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I love this book! I loved it so much that when I finished I preordered the paperback. I loved this cast of characters and that a love for Jane Austen brought so many different types of people together. It was so nice to see how a love of reading was able to create an immediate connection for them. There were so many characters that I grew attached to and I felt like there was a lot of character growth for all of them. This novel discusses heavy themes but it was also hopeful and I felt so warm and comforted while reading it. Wonderful characters, a good plot, some romance, historical fiction, and lots of Jane Austen discussion? Pretty much the recipe for a perfect book for me!
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If you’re looking for an audiobook I also highly recommend this one - Richard Armitage does an amazing job!!
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The Jane Austen Society is out June 26!
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TW:Rape, Loss of a spouse/siblings, loss of baby/late term pregnancy , dependency on medication

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

I enjoyed The Jane Austen Society a lot more than I thought I would! I was hesitant when I started it, since I'm not a huge fan of classic literature in general (it's hard for me to feel immersed in a story when I don't understand half of the references and phrases, haha). They're just not for me! However, I was swept away by the story, the characters, and the love for Jane Austen. I really liked the little snippets from Austen's books, the detailed information about her history, as well as the character's reflections and perceptions.

If you're a fan of Jane Austen, this is definitely a book you need in your life. The author subtly weaves Austen's stories into her own, and shows readers how various people can all look at the same story and get something completely different out of it. Everyone has lived a unique life, and their individual situations played a role in how Austen's stories related to them (they do agree on some points, but debated many others). It was interesting to see how one author's stories impacted the lives of so many people, and how their love of Austen brought them all together. Her words helped them through some of the hardest moments in their lives, and they found solace in her characters and their circumstances.

The Jane Austen Society does take several chapters to get going. There are a lot of characters, and their lives are intricately connected (in ways they're not even aware of yet), and it takes some time to introduce all of the players. They each have a backstory, and details are slowly revealed over time. Additionally, the chapters skipped ahead by days, weeks, and years, so it often required several paragraphs for me to adjust to where they were in the story. Yes, the chapter headings provided dates, but I would have to flip back to a previous chapter to remind myself where I was in their timeline, and then do the math to determine how much time had passed. It was hard to stay fully immersed in the story when I kept having to backtrack (and mentally calculate dates).

This is also a book that needs to be savored and read with a sense of purpose. There are a lot of little details that shouldn't be missed, and it just felt like it needed to be read slowly. I don't know how else to explain it! Nothing ever felt rushed within the story; not the character's lives nor their conversations. Everything was discussed over tea, or on long walks, and the author's writing reflected that. Her words matched the pacing of her characters. It was truly exceptional! I felt like I was there with them, sitting by a fire, or bundled up against the winter wind.

Unfortunately for the characters, their lives are filled with turmoil and sadness. They're struggling with missed opportunities, the deaths of loved ones, feelings of inadequacy or failure. Some are afraid to be their truest selves, and some are just trying to survive until the next day. There are moments of happiness peppered in, and those seemed to revolve around their shared appreciation of Jane Austen, but for the most part we see real people struggling to live their lives. They continue to put one foot in front of the other, show kindness in the face of adversity, and give their all to preserve one woman's legacy in their small town.

The Jane Austen Society likely isn't a book I will read again, but I really enjoyed the experience. The characters and their lives, their love of Jane Austen (makes me want to try Pride & Prejudice again), and their resilience as people really resonated with me. If I hadn't known beforehand, there's no way I would've guessed this was Jenner's debut novel. The details and conflicts were so authentically portrayed, it felt as if the author had been telling stories for years.

My Interest

Everything about this book drew my attention! Throw in a decently-on-target comparison to the Gurnsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society and I knew I’d like it!
The Story

“Adam felt as if he could hardly save himself, let alone anyone else. Yet on his loneliest days, he sometimes felt as if he was being saved by Jane Austen.”

In Jane Austen’s hometown, Chawton, in Kent, a lonely farmer reads and rereads the novels of Jane Austen. A descendant of Jane’s lives a lonely spinster life with her demanding elderly father. The town doctor, a widower, is in love with Austen’s Emma. A lawyer, a teacher-turned-war-widow, her former student, and a Hollywood movie star all love Jane Austen’s books–all feel pretty much like Adam does in the quote above–that they are being “saved” by her. So, why not save HER? You get the story, don’t you?

“Reading, she now understood, had been her own choice of rebellion.”

These people are so wonderful! Their lives are pretty dreary with the war just over and rationing getting even worse, but Jane Austen sustains them. The war has given them the fortitude and courage to work together, to want to make change, and to want that change to be lasting and purposeful.

“Something about her favorite books gave her tremendous comfort, and even a strange feeling of control…”

“Reading is wonderful, but it does keep us in our heads. It’s why I can’t read certain authors when I am in low spirits.”

“They say that certain books can really help patients with trauma, and for some reason Jane Austen is one of the ones they recommend.”

(All quotes are from the Net Galley Kindle version of the book)
My Thoughts
I ADORED IT
BUT….

It was clear that no matter how truly wonderful her writing is, (and it is wonderful) that the author was very young. I’m guessing her editor–if she truly was assigned to a real editor in the traditional sense of guiding, and forming the book, and not merely spell-checking it, was as young or younger.

Later this week I’m doing a post on a book with problems that I still loved and one I did not love. This book could be added to that post–admittedly as one I truly loved.

The Problems From Not Researching the Period Well Enough or Ignoring What The Author Learned in Her Research

How the heck did they get all the stuff to do all that baking?? Minced pies and sugar buns and….for a whole VILLAGE? Every part of that was so severely rationed! Even if every village had donated their butter, margarine, bacon fat, egg (1 per week unless they raised their own) it wouldn’t have been enough! And where did the get the dried fruit for those pies? The war ended, but rationing only got worse.
It was war-time. How did they not have people billeted with them? Kent is very close to bombed-out London.
I really do not think Miss Knight, who was 50-something, the child of the “big house,” her father the town aristocrat, would have ever gone to the local school except possibly for a prize-giving in which she was the honored guest giving the prizes.
#metoo didn’t exist in 1945. It was called “business as usual” then. Many women truly and sadly believed they “earned” this behavior while others were just as furious as modern women but knew they’d be blamed in court if they pressed charges. Why? Women’s liberation was way into the future yet. Empowerment hadn’t yet been thought up.
“Extremely old” pictures from the Edwardian era. I snorted tea here. Most of the characters were ALIVE then since the Edwardian Era was 1901 to 1910–or even up to WWI starting in 1914.

It is fiction–the author can write whatever she wants, but a REAL EDITOR would have caught this stuff. This happens so often in historical fiction today–they ignore essential details. I see that the author has degrees in literature and law from one of Canada’s finest universities, but neither she nor her editor spotted these problems.

Then there is the other problem of historical fiction today: Modernizing attitudes, speech, and behavior.

No, she was not a “house girl” (whatever THAT is?). Evie Stone was a MAID. This is not profane, it’s a job title. That was silly.
I don’t think anyone, anywhere looked at literature or anything else “through the lens of X”.
It was POSSIBLE to fly from the U.S.A. to the U.K. in September 1945 and a Hollywood studio likely had the pull to get tickets, but it would have been nearly impossible for a woman to just buy one at that moment.
Like with “lens” I don’t think in 1945 people outside of the few psychologists spoke of “projecting” on to others.
“It’s all good,” I can promise you, MIGHT, have been uttered somewhere, but it was not common usage back then. Way too slangish, and way too American for a British story.
No one was “informed by” anything back then except the radio and the newspaper. Their choices were not “informed” by things in their past or whatever.
I can’t believe anyone would say “This God-awful war” even in October 1945 to anyone outside the immediate family. Why? They’ve just gone through a war in which uttering things like that could be heard and reported as “defeatist” though reporting in England wasn’t that big. Still.
I truly laughed out loud at the idea of someone sending “holiday” cards then!
Please! NO ONE in the Western world of 1945 had a “mantra.”

Sadly, this is just from the earliest part of the book. I won’t list them all. This is becoming such a problem in historical fiction that I want to scream.
My Rating
Nevertheless, I LOVED IT!

The characters were wonderful, the town had the right stuff going for it, and Jane Austen would be smiling. I can’t wait for the author’s next book and for the movie of this one.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Laurel Ann Natress for providing me with an audiobook to review in exchange for an honest review!
Full review will be up on the blog on June 7th!

4.5/5
I adored this book. As someone who is usually rereading one Austen novel or another, I love getting lost in the world of Janeites, and Jenner has done a wonderful job of creating that world at Chawton. There is a rich cast of characters- they aren't directly comparable to Austen's characters but rather composites of sorts. There was real growth with the main characters- you can see that they are real people, and they grow and change throughout the novel.

What really grabbed me though was Chawton itself. I was lucky enough to spend time in Bath but I haven't had a chance to visit Chawton yet. However, I felt like I was actually there and present, which doesn't often happen for me. The house and the village really filled out the novel, and made it a lovely and rich reading experience.

This book is just as lovely inside as it is out- the story about a few villagers coming together from different walks to preserve the legacy of Jane Austen. There was some melancholy heartbreak in the story- none of the characters lives have been free from sorrow- but they all find joy in Austen's books. This was a really satisfying read that reminds me of my feelings reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (though if memory serves this one is overall lighter in tone).I think all book lovers will really relate to this story of connection over a shared author passion!