Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a historical fiction set just after WWII in Chawton England the same village of hand Austen. The novel was a bit slow to start but built nicelt at the 30% mark. The journey of characters like Dr. Grey and others who use Austen's works for a discussion group was wonderful. Each had an emotional hurdle that the group helped to master. Great read!

**Disclaimer: I received an ARC of The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.**


Do you ever aquire something new in life and then wonder how you ever lived without it in the first place? This is how The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner made me feel. I never knew I needed it until it was over. It's the perfect combination of fanfare for Jane Austen's work and a group of people coming together to keep Austen's legacy alive. The setting takes place during and after WWII in Chawton, England, one of the last places where Miss Austen had lived. The lives of seven extremely different people from all walks of life come together to celebrate Austen's work. The story is lovely and so wonderfully written. I love everything about it. I'll cherish this book for many years to come. It's a must read if you're a fan of Jane Austen....and if you're not a fan, what are you really doing with your life?!

Inspired by the real-life historical event of the formation of The Jane Austen Society to preserve the legacy of one of the greatest writers of all time, Natalie Jenners debut novel is set in the post-war era of 1945 onwards and centres around the village of Chawton (where Austen herself spent ten years living with her brother, Edward Knight), eight fictional trustees from a variety of social backgrounds including: a lawyer, a doctor, a farmer, a servant, an auctioneer a teacher, an heiress and an American film star band together to protect Jane Austen’s legacy.

Each of these characters are searching for some kind of meaning in the aftermath of the war and the narrative centres around the bonds of friendship, the grieving process and the healing power of love. As a confirmed Austenite, I enjoyed the author’s attempt to interweave selected quotations from Austen’s novels but I often found the characters’ conversations about the motivations of classic characters like Emma, Fitzwilliams Darcy and Fanny Price to be somehow lacking. The use of words like ‘fall’ instead of ‘autumn’ on a 20th century English advertisement were jarring and the vernacular of a middle-class doctor would definitely not have included ‘figuring it out’. Setting this aside though, it is still an enjoyable read with charming moments which made me want to read more about the real-life story behind the formation of the society. This story would also lend itself to the possibility of a feel-good film adaptation in the future. Thank you very much for the advance review copy.

A lovely novel that is truly enjoyable. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of the story is very endearing; people coming from different backgrounds, influenced by different situations in life, and what they all have in common is the love for books. The solace it gives them.

Adam, a farmer, who reads literature, is the most interesting character and had me hooked from the first pages. And he continued to awe me with his character. He falls for Jane Austen’s character of Elizabeth Bennet. It’s the way she spoke her mind. Loved his thoughts and how he craved to discuss it with someone, but “could only imagine what the villagers would say about him if they suspected” him reading books by Jane Austen.

But with each character the story gets less and less interesting. Dr. Gray, whose cottage is situated across from Jane Austen cottage and always open to patients, he admires the women who continue to come and “pay homage to the great writer.” I didn’t feel anything unique about him. And I didn’t find his conversations with Adeline over Jane Austen characters interesting.

Mimi Harrison, an actress, made me disconnect from the story the most. With her character I felt a big shift in the time period, like she didn’t belong there. Did not blend well with the story.

I did not care for all the details, especially Dr. Gray doctoring his patients. The thoughts of the characters were most interesting. Also, the plot seems to be a bit weak. With lots of characters, something stronger is missing to connect it all. But above all, the biggest problem for me were some characters being flat and some conversations not being engaging.

Thanks so much for the ARC for The Jane Austen Society. This is the perfect book for Jane Austen fans. I loved all the characters and learning their motivations, joys and pains. I sighed when I finished it, Just lovely.

The Jane Austen Society tells the story of a disparate group of people in the small town of Chawton who band together to form a committee to save the few remaining books and relics from the house of Jane Austen's ancestors and create a museum in her honor. These individuals include a reclusive farmer, a widowed doctor, a stubborn school teacher, an agoraphobic spinster, a strict lawyer, a Hollywood starlet, an antique collector, and a brilliant custodian.

I absolutely loved the premise of this book and the historical context, but unfortunately it fell short for me. Much of the book was spent in narrative on this group of characters and the actual society that was advertised in the book's description wasn't formed until a third of the way through the book. I did love all of the different characters and their shared love for my favorite author, and I loved the way that some of the romances in the book mirrored Austen's beloved heroines. However, the story moved slowly and much of it was caught up in legal jargon and a little too much exposition for my taste. While this book wasn't the slamming success that I hoped for, it was still a three star read that I enjoyed!

In the small English village of Chawton, there are those who have no use for the avid readers of Jane Austen who come into the village to see where the author once wrote. Others, on the other hand, of diverse backgrounds and views, become determined to save the legacy of Jane Austen in any way they can. This is their story.

I will admit it took me some time to really get into this story. The first few chapters didn't interest me and I found the narrative style disconcerting. We would be with one character and then suddenly we would know what a different character was thinking. Once I adjusted to that, I enjoyed the story much more.

What we are presented with is a group of individuals who love the works of Jane Austen. Each one has their own favorite novel and character. As they become aware of each other, they debate and talk about what life lessons they have learned. There are many quotes from the novels which were a fun addition.

I would have liked this to be more based on reality, but it is a work of fiction and none of this happened. Still, it is a lovely book I would recommend to readers who love anything related to Jane Austen.

The Jane Austen Society is a lovely book that celebrates the power of literature to bring people together. Shortly after the end of World War II, a group of disparate people come together to try to preserve a cottage that Jane Austen once lived in.

The small British village of Chawton is best known for being the last place Jane Austen lived, in a cottage on her brother’s estate. After World War II, the people of the village are picking themselves up after the long horrors of the war. There's a lot of quiet desperation in this town. There's a young war widow, the town doctor who lost his wife many years earlier, the spinster daughter of the local estate, whose horrible father has kept her downtrodden, a laborer whose dreams of education was stymied by World War I, a teenage maid who had to leave school to support her family, and a Hollywood star who may be a bit past her prime.

This is a lovely, gentle book. All of the characters are a little bit broken in various ways, but they all find solace in the works of Jane Austen. I think anyone who's an Austen fan or who has found solace in reading will enjoy this book. My only quibble is that the ending wraps everything up perhaps a bit too neatly, but on the other hand, I cared about all the characters and I wanted happy endings for them.

I liked this book so much! A fan of Jane Austen myself, I was happy to read more about the places she lived in, and her life and novels.
I enjoyed seeing how the characters reacted and adjusted to the events in their lives. I also liked the author's humor. The final chapters managed to surprise and amuse me, giving this book a perfect ending.
I can hardly wait for more books written by Ms. Natalie Jenner!
Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an e-book copy in exchange for my honest review!

This book snuck up on me. As I was reading it, it felt a little slow and meandering and I kept waiting for it to get to the point. By the end, however, I was thoroughly engrossed and enamored with the characters (which is not unlike how I feel when reading Austen herself).

Conceptually, this sounded very sweet. In practice, I abandoned it after reading the first chapter. The writing is clunky and overwrought, and everything is just a little too awkward to make for smooth reading.

I became a Jane Austen fan when I read Price and Prejudice at 13. I thought this was just a book about a group who probably read her books and held parties. It's not. I loved the history of her family discussed. The characters in this book were well thought out. I found myself comparing them to Austen' s characters. The ending was not what I expected. I thought secrets would lead to a different ending. I was happy with the outcome. If you are an Jane fan, it is an enjoyable book. If you are not, this might make you curious.

Jane would love this story! With so many books recently written about the subject, it's hard to imagine something new and fresh. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find such engaging and charming characters within its pages.

The plot begins in the late 1930's. The villagers of Chawton are still recovering from the losses they experienced, both on a personal level and as a result of WWII.

The one thing they have in common, however, is the power of Jane Austen's books to heal their emotional wounds. The plot introduces several different storylines, and we develop a real connection with each and every one. I can easily imagine this becoming a movie!

What a lovely book! I can already imagine this would be a wonderful movie also. The author did a marvelous job of painting a picture of the village of Chawton. As an American like Mimi, I found myself, much like Mimi, enchanted by the village and the people who lived there. If you are a fan of Jane Austen, you may see mirrors of some of her characters throughout the book. If you're not, you'll still find a lovely story about a group of people working through various forms of grief and bonding over a love of Jane Austen.

This book was sweet and interesting, but I do wish it were a bit longer so the author could have dived deeper into some of the characters. While on the surface the book was about the appreciation of Jane Austen, it was the characters and their stories that really drove me to keep reading, and I would have loved to learn more.

I would (and already have) recommend this book to fellow Jane Austen fans, as well as readers of fiction in general.

There are a few books I would like to teleport myself into and The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner is one of them. It follows 8 people and 7 of whom are traumatized by personal losses. They come together over their shared love of books, specifically that of Jane Austen. For a few hours or more they become mentally and spiritually transported into the times and worlds of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma. The other three books (Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion) are honorably mentioned, too.

However, they are drawn to the characters of the three main books more. They find themselves re-reading their favorite ones over and over again and talk about the characters in them as if they were real; possibly because they remind them of either themselves or the persons of their affections. They seem to discover new information or clues each time they re-read them. They feel contend. It is as if Jane Austen had figured out life and understood what each of them is going through.

That is the genius of Jane Austen, creating ordinary people of everyday life and interjecting social commentary into them. Natalie Jenner brilliantly and effortlessly show how time has not changed when it comes to social issues affecting women living under patriarchal society and the matter of the heart. She mirrors her characters with that of Jane Austen’s.

The Jane Austen Society is a debut novel set after World War II, in a small village of Chawton, Hampshire—a place where Jane Austen settled with her mother and older sister in their brother Edward’s cottage in 1809, 4 years after their father’s passing and after having been moved around many times.

In The Jane Austen Society, Adam Berwick, a lonely, forty-six-year-old self-taught carpenter and farmer of Chawton, Hampshire, lost his older brothers in the battle in the Aegean Sea in 1918 and his father to the Spanish flu less than a year later. Adam loves Elizabeth Bennet and is annoyed with Fitzwilliam Darcy. He loves the way Lizzie speaks her mind with humanity, intelligence, and humor. He wishes he can be like her so as to assert himself against his overbearing mother. He sees Lizzie as a savior. Like her, he wants to save himself and save others. But at the end (not to spoil who he actually is), his love for Jane Austen and her books pushes him to save her legacy; thereby saving himself and other people in his society.

Mary Anne “Mimi” Harrison is a thirty-five, strong-minded Hollywood movie star. She had met and introduced Adam Berwick to Jane Austen, specifically the book Emma, thirteen years earlier when she came to visit the cottage of Jane Austen. She lost father to suicide. Realizing what men in Hollywood are like, she has been untrusting of them. As picky as she is, unfortunately, the man she falls for turns out to be a cad and a scoundrel. Mimi enjoys Sense and Sensibility. But Emma is her favorite character, bold and yet oblivious to her surrounding. At the end, her life mirrors that of Marianne in Sense and Sensibility. She has her heart broken by the seductive and persuasive Jack Leonard who uses her to get what he wants. It was her fellow members of The Jane Society who reveal what kind of person he is, much like John Willoughby. However, she is a strong and sensible enough person to walk away from that horrible relationship.

Adeline Grover’s favorite character is Emma who Dr. Benjamin Gray sees as high-spirited and selfish. But Emma is also confident and charismatic, which Dr. Gray sees in Adeline. Andrew Forrester and Dr. Gray were school mates who used to compete for the affection of Frances Knight, the “agoraphobic spinster” and only child of James Edward Knight, the descendant of Jane Austen. Though in love with their respective women, Andrew and Dr. Gray maintain their rigid and unyielding nature until it is almost too late.

I like how The Jane Austen Society pays homage to the genius author by incorporating 3 of 6 of her books into the characters of Adam, Mimi, Adeline, Dr. Gray, Andrew, and super passive Francis. Moreover, it takes place in Chawton, Hampshire, where the Great House as the backdrop. The environment does not appear to change much since Austen’s time.

I can see this novel turning into a movie.

‘The Jane Austin Society,’ is written in a similar mannerism as a Jane Austin novel. If you are unsure if you like Jane Austin's novels, you may have liked "Clueless" or "Bridget Jones' Diary," which were modern-day movies based on Jane Austin's novels. The Jane Austin Society was created by a group of local townspeople, to keep the legend of Jane Austin alive in the small town of Chawton, Hampshire. As you read the story, you will eventually learn there is an underlining purpose to the creation of the Jane Austin society. The eight members of the Jane Austin Society are (1) Adam Berwick: the creator of the Jane Austin Society, ironically a quiet and shy handyman that lives in a small cottage in Chawton with his aging mother. (2) Mimi Harrison: a famous Hollywood movie star, whose age is making her more of a Hollywood Legendary, therefore, Mimi escapes to Chawton. (3) Frances Knight: has hidden her whole life behind the walls of the Knight’s mansion. (4) Andrew Forrester: the town’s lawyer, who is intricately intertwined with the Knight family. (5) Evie Stone: the fourteen-year-old chambermaid, who is wise beyond her years. (6) Adeline Grover: a former school teacher, who recently lost both her husband and daughter in the small year. (7) Dr. Gray: the town’s doctor that copes with his wife’s death by taking prescription drugs. (8) Yardley: Mimi’s best friend and solicitor, who becomes a critical member of the Jane Austin society. Other relevant characters are Colin Knatchbull-Hugesson, the heir to the Jane Austin estate. James Knight, the France Knight’s father, a cruel and bitter man. Jack Leonard, Mimi’s finance, a Hollywood producer who would sell his mother to the highest bidder. ‘The Jane Austin Society,’ is a beautiful homage to the late Jane Austin.

A fun, heartwarming story about life in a small town that is perfect for a cold snowy day in front of the fireplace (or a warm sunny beach:) Something about this book and some of its characters reminded me of It's a Wonderful Life - it's a completely different story but it still made me think of that movie. It might be most enjoyable to those who have read Jane Austen's books and have a strong grasp of her characters but even without any prior knowledge of Jane Austen I think this story can stand on its own.

It's a bit confusing in the first few chapters; I was having difficulty following the different characters and timelines but if you keep reading it will all come together and make sense and it will have been well worth your time.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an early release in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I found this book to be very interesting and captivating. I asked to get an advanced copy because I am a Jane Austen fan, but even those who are not fans of her would enjoy it, I believe, as it mainly centres on the lives of the people in the town of Chawton. It definitely had a lot of similarities to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, but not in a bad way at all. My only "complaint" is that a letter was talked about often that one of the characters had found and was written by Jane Austen. As far as I can remember, the contents of the letter were never shared, which was disappointing. Maybe I missed it and it was in there, but to have them allude to this letter and talk about how important it was, only to have it not written out at all (even at the very end of the book as an Epilogue or something) was frustrating. Otherwise I found it very charming and a diverting read.

I simply could not have enjoyed this book more. It’s not a book to be read quickly, but instead one to savor and read slowly with a cup of hot tea in front of a fire. The author’s passion for Austen shines through in the entire novel.

I enjoyed seeing how a group of people in a small English village (and a Hollywood movie star no less) come together over their shared love of Jane Austen to try and save and promote her connection to their village. Not only did I love seeing how Austen affected each of their own lives and how healing her works can be in personal tragedy, I loved seeing the dawning awareness that Jane Austen didn’t just belong to them but to the world. They began embracing the responsibility of that so completely.

I cannot wait to see what this author writes next. This book evoked the feel of reading an Austen novel, and I enjoyed getting to know each character in it. Lovely writing, excellently written characters, and a unique plot make this book one that I think will be very popular once it’s publication date arrives.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for my free digital copy.