Book review
A Jane Austen Year Celebrating 250 Years of Jane Austen
Published In Partnership with the Curators of Jane Austen's House
This lovely coffee table book was published in March 2025 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth (Dec.16, 1775). The book’s chapters are divided into the 12 months of the year as experienced at Chawton Cottage, Jane Austen’s home in Hampshire from 1809 until her death in 1817. The book was researched and written by the staff at the Jane Austen House and proceeds from the book’s sales will support the continuing work, projects and programs of the house.
The Jane Austen House museum attracts tens of thousands of visitors from all over the world every year. The book has beautiful full page photos of many items from the museum collection including: Jane’s writing table; sheet music hand copied by Jane; family portraits; topaz crosses given to Jane and Cassandra by their brother Charles (an officer in the Royal Navy); a patchwork quilt sewn by Jane, Cassandra and their mother; letters written by Jane; and first editions of her novels.
The book also contains black and white photos showing how the building looked in the early 1900’s and before it was purchased in 1948. The Jane Austen Society was founded in May 1940 and their first goal was the purchase and restoration of the house. It was first opened to the public in 1949, though only the drawing room was open as tenants were still living in the building.
A Jane Austen Year has full page displays of letters written by Jane to Cassandra and other family members and extensive passages from all of her novels. The color photographs show the house in all seasons — from snow fall in January through Christmas decorations in December. The book has 203 pages and is available from amazon.com
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To accompany the book and enhance readers' enjoyment, a podcast entitled “A Jane Austen Year,” is released every month during 2025. It is created and recorded by staff members at the Jane Austen House in Chawton and covers a seasonal journey through Jane Austen’s novels, the story of her life and the world she lived in.
Merry Toups is the Literary Advisor to
JASNA Louisiana Region
Book review
Miss Austen
Written by Gill Hornby (Published 2020, 265 pages)
The Book Has Been Adapted Into A 4 Part Series By The BBC And Will Premiere On
PBS’s Masterpiece On May 4, 2025.
The Miss Austen of the title is not Jane, but her older sister and best friend, Cassandra. The novel opens in the year 1840 as Cassandra, now a spinster in her late 60’s, arrives at the vicarage in the village of Kintbury after a long journey from Chawton. Cassandra had first been to Kintbury vicarage following her engagement to Tom Fowle whom she had met when he was a student of Mr. Austen’s in the rectory at Steventon. Tom’s tragic death at the age of 28 is recounted in one of the book’s early flashbacks. We later learn a possible reason why Cassandra never married even though she had other opportunities.
The novel moves between the year 1840 and earlier years in the life of Jane and Cassandra as well as other people in their family and circle of friends. The fictionalized story weaves together the lives of three families: the Austens (parents and children), the Lloyds (sisters Eliza, Martha and Mary) and the Fowles (Tom and his brothers and 3 sisters).
Cassandra has a specific purpose in going to Kintbury in 1840. Tom’s brother, Fulwar, has just died and the vicarage must be vacated for the next vicar. Since the Fowles have been living there for many decades, Cassandra is determined to retrieve letters written to and from Eliza Fowle (nee Lloyd) and Jane. Eliza’s death preceded her husband’s, therefore the letters must still be in the house. The story seeks to answer a question that has long plagued Austen scholars: Why did Cassandra burn so many of her sister’s letters? The author makes a convincing case that Cassandra needed to make sure the letters did not disclose anything that would tarnish Jane’s reputation or reveal anything about Cassandra’s personal life.
The book is especially compelling when describing the peripatetic and financially precarious life of the two sisters and Mrs. Austen after the death of Rev. Austen. This was a difficult time for all of three women, but hardest of all for Jane. Her spirits were at a low ebb, and her writing suffered. Through all their trials, Jane and Cassandra drew closer and formed a lasting bond that endured beyond Jane’s death. Combining known facts with fiction, the author skillfully constructs letters written by Jane that Cassandra finds and reads, giving her new insights into her sister’s state of mind.
The author, Gill Hornby, lives in Kintbury, England and includes a map of the village, circa 1840, at the beginning of the novel. This book is sure to interest Janeites who wish to learn more about the relationship between Jane and Cassandra and ways the family tried to present the author’s life as serene, peaceful and without drama in spite of evidence to the contrary.
Merry Toups is the Literary Advisor to
JASNA Louisiana Region
