Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this advanced copy to read and review!

I really enjoyed this charming multi point-of-view story about different characters who were brought together first by Jane Austen's literary work, but that'st just the surface of their connection. Mostly centered in the town where Jane Austen lived, the likable characters come together to create a Jane Austen society when her home and legacy are threatened, but in forming their group, they become a support system for each other. A doctor, a widow, a movie star, and others might not seem to have a lot in common, but themes of loss and healing, growth and change bind them together.

The love of literature and the power it has to bring people together are explored in this lovely read set just after World War 2 in a small English village where Jane Austen once lived. Villagers and a Hollywood actress combine efforts to save the home where she lived and thus the village. Also, themselves along the way.

Where are my fellow Jane Austen fans? This book is perfect for you!

Summary

In the mid-twentieth century, a farmer in the small English town of Chawton decides he would like to preserve Jane Austen's memory in a way more tangible than a statue or a plaque. An unlikely group of people—a doctor, a school teacher, a house girl, a movie star, and a few others—join him to form The Jane Austen Society, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Jane's legacy.

Review

The Jane Austen Society is a wonderful read, especially for Austen fans. It's heartwarming to see this group of people bond over their love for an author and eventually their love for each other. The book displays what community means and how people can help each other through their struggles and victories.

I loved this book for the characters but also for the setting. Jenner gives a glimpse into village life in England after WWII, and her writing paints such a lovely picture of Chawton and the surrounding countryside. We get to see how both world wars have affected the characters and what their lives look like in the aftermath.

The narrative is also written quite like an Austen novel, which adds even more appeal for Austen fans. The story involves class differences, marriage plots, and inheritance struggles. And, of course, what would an Austen novel be without some swoon-worthy romance? This book does not disappoint.

The only reason I didn't give the book five stars is that I felt it ended too abruptly. I just want more of these characters.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Publication Date: May 26, 2020

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGally for the ARC!

It’s just after WWII and eight lives are on a collision course in Natalie Jenner’s THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY. Readers and lovers of the works of Austen are in for a rare treat as they become immersed in the lives of the well-developed and intriguing members of the FIRST Jane Austen Society.

Among the diverse cast of characters are a movie star, a farmer, a maid, a doctor, and a young widow just to name a few. While all are from different walks of life and possess varying levels of wealth, they are all intent on purchasing and preserving a cottage in the town of Chawton, England where their beloved and prolific Jane spent her final years.

Love, lies, intrigue, selfish motives and long suppressed desires are exposed as the eight band together in their love of all things Austen in an attempt to fulfill their dream of preserving Austen’s legacy for future generations. While in pursuit of their ultimate goal the group engages in discussion of the work revealing to not only the characters in the narrative, but to the reader as well, the clever way in which Jane disclosed the trials and tribulations of her own life through her writings.

Aficionados of the Austen novels will not only fall in love with Natalie Jenner’s group of characters but with Ms. Jenner’s light, magical touch as she allows you to see, to feel and to think.

"The Jane Austen Society" is a must read for lover's of all things Austen, and fans of historical fiction. The story is set in the English countryside, in the small village of Chawton. Austen fans will recognize this village as the final home of the great author, where she revised, and wrote her novels. We follow the lives of a farmer, a doctor, a spinster, a lawyer, a widow, a teenager, and a movie star whose lives become intertwined because of their love of Jane Austen's novels. Despite loneliness, tragedy, and the aftermath of both World Wars, this group bans together to save the Chawton Cottage and ensure that is rightfully remembered for years to come. This is based on the real Jane Austen Society that still operates to this day.

That there might be a place where people were not constantly competing against each other for their very sustenance, but were instead helping each other survive through war and injury and poverty and pain, seemed as much something out of a Jane Austen novel as anything else she could have hoped to find.~from The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

Natalie Jenner's The Jane Austen Society delighted this Janite reader!

The village of Chawton after the war is filled with diverse, lonely individuals.

Frances Knight no longer leaves the grounds of the Knight estate. Her father is dying upstairs but still rules with an iron fist.

Adam Berwick's dream of university was ended with the deaths of his brothers during the war, leaving him his mother's soul support. She presses him to find a suitable wife, but love eludes him, and if found, would be dangerous.

Dr. Gray is not coping with the early loss of his beloved wife, even to the point of self-medicating. Adeline Lewis is pregnant and widowed, her childhood sweetheart killed in the war.

And even the visiting Hollywood star, a fading beauty, wonders about the unreliability of her fiance and the future of her career.

Bookended by the two worst wars the world had ever seen, they were ironically the survivors, yet it was beyond him what they were surviving for. ~from The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

A character talks to another about Jane Austen, and then another pair open up about the books that inspire them. Books and reading and Jane Austen feed their souls. Friendship--and love-- blossoms on what had been thought barren ground.

Their readings are insightful and deep, some even surprising this old reader of Austen. Huh. Why didn't I think of that? It's all delivered through the action and dialogue and a part of the characters opening up to each other.

The idea of saving Austen's legacy gives them a goal and brings something positive and hopeful into their lives. They become a community bound by a common love.

The love stories are inspired by Austen's novels, the quarreling pair who resist their mutual attraction, the couple past their prime rekindling a love squashed by their separation of class.

Reading this book during a COVID-19 lockdown was balm for the soul. These war-wounded people who discover reasons to go on are inspiring.

They turn to books for healing, to "disappear into fictional worlds of others' making," "hoping to find some answers." As we do today, isolated in our homes and searching for community, turn to books.

Books are bridges. In Jenner's story, they bring solace and community and wholeness.

I was given a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

I quite enjoyed this book! It was a fun story with nice nods to Jane Austen both in style and substance. It kept you interested throughout with a plot that kept you wondering throughout. A wonderful summer read!

Jane Austen Legacy

In the small town in England where Jane Austen lived and wrote her books, a group of Jane Austen fans form a society to keep her legacy alive. The propose to purchase books and the cottage she lived in to keep as an attraction for Jane Austen fans that visit their small English town.

First there is a young farm boy, Adam Berwick then he recruits Doctor Benjamin Gray who recruits the young widow Adeline Grover. Adeline then recruited Eva Stone who recruited Frances Knight. The lawyer Andrew Forrester was recruited next. The last to be recruited were Yardley Sinclair an auction dealer and Mimi Harrison a movie star. The made for quite an assortment of diverse people for the Jane Austen Society.

Old relationships are rekindled, new relationships grow, and secrets are revealed in this story built around the works of Jane Austen. It has an amazingly happy ending...several of them actually.

It was a delightful book to read, I really enjoyed reading it and I think you will as well. I recommend this book.

Thanks to Natalie Jenner, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read and advance copy of the book for an honest review.

So many of us love Jane Austen. Her books are classics and her stories have found their way to the movie screen so many times that her characters now feel like old friends. If you are a fan, there is so much to enjoy in The Jane Austen Society.

Set in Chawton, the Hampshire village where Austen lived out her short life, a group of lonely and sad people come together in 1945 to transform a cottage on Austen’s brother’s family estate into a museum as a tribute to the author’s legacy. The people who come together form the heart of this touching story. We meet a doctor who is grieving over the loss of his wife. He serves the entire village yet who is helping him? A Hollywood actress is a huge fan of Jane Austen. While a huge star, she knows that she is aging and younger actresses will soon replace her. The daughter of the owner of the estate has given up her life to care for her father, who cruelly sabotaged any hope for love and happiness. A farmer who had to give up his dreams of college when his brothers were killed in the war. An incredibly smart 16-year girl who works at the estate. A young English teacher who has faced a series of losses. A lawyer handling the estate’s affairs and a man from Sotheby’s who is entranced by all things Austen.

Throughout the book, many favorite Austen characters are referenced and parallels are drawn to the members of the group and their own lives. Author Natalie Jenner, in an impressive debut, paints a perfect picture of the setting. You can fully envision the surroundings of Chawton. Enjoy.

A clever novel set in the late 1940s, with characters of all walks of life, who entered with their own life experience and tragedies, to form a society that brought them together. In Austen fashion, there was angst and romance, and so many references to her works that it made you want to reread them as well. I thoroughly enjoyed this charming story, its plot, characters, and a nod to the literary and historical life of Chawton, UK.

As a fan of Jane Austen, I love to read about anything Austen-related, so I was excited to check out The Jane Austen Society. Though it took me a while to get lost in the story, in the end I found that I truly enjoyed this read. It had an unexpected depth to it. The personal, inner challenges the characters faced were well-crafted and well-written, relevant to the story-era and poignant for today.
If I had a complaint, it would be that the villains weren't quite as villainous as they could have been; or maybe that the stumbling blocks thrown out by the villains were too easily defeated. The tension would start to build and the suddenly it was no big deal.
But I loved how the author had the characters adoring Austen's stories, while their lives mirrored those great tales. If you are a fan of Jane Austen, I would definitely recommend you read Natalie Jenner's The Jane Austen Society. It was a lovely homage to the classics.
Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the digital copy of this novel for review purposes. I was not required to give a positive review. All opinions are my very own.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐉𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞-𝐀𝐑𝐂 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
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In a small English town, grieving and slowly recovering from the Second World War, a group of unlikely individuals band together. Their one commonality? A love of Jane Austen and desire to create an organization that will preserve artifacts and create a memorial in her honor. ⁣
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This was a very unique story; cute and quaint. I loved the back story of each character and it was interesting how they all came together. Each character had a different story line, which helped to add variety to the plot. However, to truly enjoy this story, I think you must be a Jane Austen fan. The more avid, the more enjoyable the story will be for you. I’ve read a few classic Austen stories, but don’t remember them thoroughly. I wasn’t able to really connect with this book and their discussions of the Austen storylines as I would have liked to. This is a must read for all Austen fans, for sure. ⁣

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¹1The story takes place in Chawton. Hampshire, the village of Jane Austen. It blends historical facts weaving conversations about the Jane Austen Society, her books and eight fictional characters. There is genteel romance and descriptions throughout of the village.

Entertaining book.

5+ stars

This is an amazingly perfect story!

It's mostly set immediately following World War II in Chawton, England. As anyone familiar with Jane Austen's life story is aware, this is the sleepy rural village where the author resided during the last years of her life.

There's no single protagonist; there are eight. Six are residents of Chawton. They bear emotional wounds and find comfort escaping into Jane Austen's stories. The reader gradually gets to know them all (albeit some more than others):

Dr. Gray, a discreet country doctor, eases everyone else's pains but is helpless in the face of his own.
Adelaide Lewis Grover, formerly the village schoolteacher, suffers a succession of devastating personal losses.
Adam Berwick, a simple farmer, lost two brothers in World War I, and the perennial bachelor is cursed with a termagant for a mother.
Frances Knight is agoraphobic, and she's the last of the family line that traces back to Jane Austen's brother (Edward Austen Knight). Her father, James Knight, is openly dismissive of her.
Andrew Forrester, Mr. Knight's solicitor, is torn between his professional responsibility to his client and his disgust for the old man's attitude toward Frances.
Evie Stone, a young woman whose intellect is wasted in her menial job as a maid in the Knight estate, takes inspiration from Jane Austen's humble origin and yearns to make her own mark in the world.
Mimi Harrison is a successful American actress lost in the shallow competitiveness of Hollywood. Her girlhood obsession with Jane Austen becomes the means by which a rich entrepreneur (Jack Leonard) wins her heart.
Yardley Sinclair, an estate sale expert of Sotheby's in London, is especially interested in items directly associated with Jane Austen.

The gentle pacing of the novel matches the leisurely pace of life in this little village. As the story begins, it's hard to imagine how the lives of these disparate characters will intersect. But things slowly progress, and three of them establish The Jane Austen Society when it appears that crochety Mr. Knight will die soon, hoping to preserve artifacts related to the author's life. Over time, the others are invited to join. They encounter more obstacles than expected, and the storyline moves in some very surprising directions.

The characters change as a result of, first, reading Jane Austen on their own; second, finding someone else who also loves her books; and third, working with other Austen-lovers on a project that has personal meaning to them.

Several insightful discussions the characters have about Jane Austen's books are integrated into the storyline. They're little nuggets of book club-ish reflections that make the characters feel real, confirm how much they love her work, and provide the reader with some food for thought.

Jane Austen storylines clearly influence some subplots. Persuasion seems the most apparent to me. Two of the characters are inspired by Sense and Sensibility and another by Pride and Prejudice's narrow-minded Mr. Collins. I can see elements of both Pride and Prejudice and Emma in another couple's relationship. These parallels and echoes suggest the universality of Austen's stories in ordinary lives.

In keeping with the rest of the book's understated tone, none of the romance is presented in a dramatic or passionate fashion. In fact, the reader doesn't learn about many of the pairings until the Epilogue, which is set one year later. (There is one sexual attack, but the scene is delicately worded and the victim pushes off her attacker.)

This is a moving, richly layered novel. The author does a wonderful job of starting with surface introductions to the characters that's misleadingly bland, and then returns to each character to dive just a little deeper, and then deeper, and deeper. It moves from character study into a surprisingly tense stuggle for the future of Jane Austen's legacy and the futures of the characters themselves.

What a tour de force! Every Austen-lover should read this!

A perfect combination of history and fiction with an endearing cast of characters, THE JANE AUSTEN SOCIETY is a lovely and thoroughly enjoyable read. It is not a book to be rushed but instead savored, like the books of Jane Austen herself. The writing is poetic and the descriptions of both places and characters filled with emotion and depth.

If you are a Jane Austen fan you will find much satisfaction in the number of times the author pays homage to her books and her legacy. But that doesn’t mean you have to be an Austen fan to enjoy it. This wonderful debut novel stands apart from the history it refers to with a strong plot and clear stakes that keep the reader invested to the very end.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advance reading copy.

The Jane Austen Society explores the power of community to help us heal from our individual traumas and losses. A heartwarming story of second chances.

Recommended for lovers of Jane Austen, WWII fiction, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

This is one of those books that you can’t rush, it’s not filled with fast action, mystery or intrigue, but what it does have is lots of love, some heartache, caring for each other and a whole bunch of characters that loved Jane Austen’s books. The writing is done very well and you just have to sit back and enjoy the ride. I loved the way the author built each character’s part and how they were all brought together for one cause, to save Jane Austen’s estate and works.
My favorites were Dr. Gray and Adeline, they created a special connection and I enjoyed their banter. It’s been many years since I’ve read any of Ms. Austen’s books but they are referenced so many times in here, you can certainly remember them. This was a very enjoyable laid-back read.
I was allowed an ARC from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for my honest unbiased review. This one earns 4 stars.

This book is a sweet hat-tip to Jane Austen. The community of Chawton works together to preserve Jane Austen's heritage and legacy by creating a Jane Austen Society. This is a slow-moving, character-driven story that is a cozy read. The characters are so gentle and kind to each other that it is reminiscent of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Recommended for fans of Jane Austen, of course.

Love, love, loved The Jane Austen Society! Comforting and uplifting, such a welcome respite from the challenges in the world today. The characters were vivid and likable, the plot is engaging, the writing is captivating. There are, obviously, many references to Jane Austen and her work, but I'm certain you will enjoy this even if you don't consider yourself a huge Austen fan. Thrilled to see what Natalie Jenner does next.

Most sincere thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Having visited the Jane Austen house in Chowton...twice... I was so excited to read this book. My last visit was this past July, and I had a lot more time than the first visit. I explored the town and had tea right across the street. I think each fan should make the pilgrimage. This was a delightful book with great characters. I saw myself back in Chowton easily with the vivid pictures painted in the book. I could just see the characters there. Wonderful!