The Jane Austen Society
Chawton, Hampshire, England. As World War II wreaks havoc upon their lives, a group of villagers fights to preserve their beloved local author’s home, aspiring to create something beautiful and lasting in the face of the devastation they experience. United by their love for Jane Austen, a farmhand, a doctor, a teacher, a lawyer, a maid, and a descendant of the writer form a society dedicated to her memory, setting out to turn the cottage where she resided into a museum.
At first, it appears that fate is not on their side. When the owner of Chawton House alters his will shortly before his death, he destroys not only his daughter’s belated chance at happiness but also the society’s grand dream. An American actress offers to help, but it soon looks likely that her greedy fiancé might spoil any attempt at salvaging the project. With the organisation desperate for funds, could its salvation lie in the hands of its youngest, humblest member, a natural-born literary sleuth who might have discovered a bibliophile’s treasure plus solved the mystery behind Austen’s cherished novel Persuasion?
As the Jane Austen Society struggles to realise its goals, its devotees find time to discuss the writer’s work and to fall in love and get married. Although Chawton and the surrounding countryside are faithfully portrayed, the afterword explains that the novel is a historical fantasy, rather than a retelling of the founding of the real Jane Austen Society. Even so, this modern fairy tale is utterly delightful and bound to enchant legions of Jane Austen fans.
