The Jane Austen Society

by Natalie Jenner

This is the first book by this author and it is a gem. 

It is about a group of people who are Jane Austen fans and it reads very much like an actual Jane Austen story, quite and accomplishment.

The story takes place during the end of WWII.  A young American woman comes to an English village and asks a young farm worker if he can point out the house in the town where Jane Austen lived.  The young man tells her and is so inspired by her enthusiasm that he starts reading the books and gets hooked too.

The book moves ahead in time and we learn about the Knight family who are descendants of the Austen family.  The father of the family is very ill, his daughter, a recluse.  When the old man dies he bequeaths the house to the eldest male relative rather than her, because she never married and produced a male hire.  He leaves her a precarious hold on a small cottage on the property and a very small monthly income.  The estate is in poor financial shape.  The father never confided anything in his daughter.  We learn that the father actually interfered in some potential suitors for the woman including the man who is currently the family lawyer.  The lawyer still has feelings for the knight daughter.

Other characters in the town include a young woman who was a progressive teacher who got dismissed.  She married, her husband was killed in the war, leaving her pregnant.  She is sad about the death of her husband but looks forward to the baby.  Unfortunately the baby dies at birth.  The local doctors realizes there is a problem and gets her to a hospital.  He is devastated that the baby has died and feels responsible.  The doctor and the teacher both adore Austen.  They also have feelings for each other which they will not admit.

The last major character in the book is a young servant who works for the Knight family.  She spends her evening reading the Austen books and eventually takes on the task of cataloguing the entire library including any annotations by Austen.  She stumbles about a very important letter written by Austen tucked in one of the books.

Another character is a young man from Sothebey's who is eager to get the contents of the house for auction.  He is also an Austen fan and helps the group appraise and later sell some of the books to get funds for the purchase of a building for the society.

Just prior to the death of Mr Knight the young farm worker suggests that a tribute museum should be created in the town.  A Society is created including the young American woman who arrived early in the book.  She is now a successful actress with  money and agrees to bankroll the start of the society including the money to purchase the library at the knight house.  The fiance of the actress is a movie producer who is used to getting his way and is a bit of a criminal.

As in all Jane Austen books things all fall into place for almost everyone.  The Lawyer marries Miss Knight who was going to become homeless because the Actress's finance was part of a group that bought the family estate including the house she was supposed to get.  The young farmer is identified as the illegitimate heir to the estate but he doesn't want village scandal.  Somehow he does get enough money to buy a small farm and sets up a home with the Sotheby's fellown.  The lawyer marries Miss Knight, the doctor marries the teacher and the the young servant goes off to college for a degree.  The actress has left her fiancee at the altar when she finds out his role in the land purchase.