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kelly_inthe419's review against another edition
5.0
All the bright shiny stars for this tender, charming story about a group of seemingly disparate characters who join forces to save a landmark known to be the last home of the beloved Jane Austen. I enjoyed learning about each and every one of them along with how they came to treasure Austen’s works.
It will definitely help if you’ve read some Austen. I’ve read Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, and Persuasion. Now I want to run out and read Emma, which also is featured prominently in the story.
This is a very leisurely stroll through the English countryside, not a race to the finish, with lives and love lost and found. If you love Austen and well developed characters, this one’s for you!
Thank you St. Martins Press for the gifted copy!
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It will definitely help if you’ve read some Austen. I’ve read Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, and Persuasion. Now I want to run out and read Emma, which also is featured prominently in the story.
This is a very leisurely stroll through the English countryside, not a race to the finish, with lives and love lost and found. If you love Austen and well developed characters, this one’s for you!
Thank you St. Martins Press for the gifted copy!
.
kmthomas06's review against another edition
4.0
It took me a while to get into this book - in some ways, I think I would have enjoyed a nonfiction book about how the Jane Austen House Museum actually started - but once I was invested in the characters, and wanted to see what would happen, I read through the rest of it fairly quickly. It does make me want to visit Chawton again badly though - a rushed visit as a student was not enough to fully appreciate it in my opinion.
amcaslow's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
bsmith27's review against another edition
3.0
It took awhile but in the end I liked this book. There were too many characters and the author skipped around in time, so it took me awhile to begin to know each character. A woman, Francis lives on an estate, Owned by her elderly father. On the estate is a cottage that Austen wrote in. A small society has been formEd to purchase this cottage and put some Austen relics in it for a museum. The father dies and leaves the estate to his closest male relative, leaving his daughter out of it. One of the members of the society is Mimi, a Hollywood starlight. Her fiance is in the board of a golf club who uses insider information to purchase the estate from the heir. The society manages to purchase the library from the heir and then sells it at a large profit. They give some of the money to Francis and some to Adam, who was revealed to her half brother and the true heir, although he did not want to claim it. Also Francis marries the lawyer, and the doctor marries another widow.
batsinthecastle's review against another edition
3.0
*3.8 stars* December Brown Bag Book Club. Excellent audiobook, surprisingly engaging historical fiction for someone who hasn’t read a lot of Jane Austen!
42thursday's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage
Minor: Addiction, Homophobia, and War
camillareadsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed the world of this book. The village, the characters, their stories were all delightful. My disappointment was how rushed the ending was. So much of the book was spent building up our understanding of the characters, I was really looking forward to discovering how their stories came together. That happened so quickly, I was left underwhelmed.
chimique06's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
tapnem's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0