THE LOST MEMOIRS OF JANE AUSTEN

Author: Syrie James ISBN: 0061341428 12/2007 HISTORICAL Publisher: AVON
Time Period: Up to 1817, England

In this newly discovered Memoir, Jane Austen reveals the love affair that inspired her return to writing, and influenced every one of her beloved novels. Jane Austen, left nearly penniless after her father's death, has long since given up writing when she meets the handsome, well-read and charming Mr. Ashford, a man who is truly her equal in intellect and temperament. Inspired by their burgeoning romance—as well as the people she encounters and the events unfolding around her—Jane begins revising Sense and Sensibility, a book she began years earlier, hoping to be published at last. The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen seamlessly weaves together fact and fiction in a tale that is as witty, heartfelt and suspenseful as one of Jane Austen's own novels... a tale that will introduce new readers to the delights of Miss Austen, and reward her legions of fans with just the kind of romantic relationship they might wish for this much-loved author.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS: ^Plus

Rarely have I read a book that I have enjoyed as much as THE LOST MEMOIRS OF JANE AUSTEN. I honestly believe even Jane herself would have loved this book. It's almost impossible not to take this as truth, although I know it is fiction. It is written so well, and stays so true to form for the historical period, that it feels uncannily like a real memoir.

The book is based on the premise that Jane Austen's hidden memoirs are discovered in Chawton Manor House in an old seaman's chest, behind a bricked up wall in a dark corner of the attic, by a workman who is hired to repair the roof. The house was once owned by Edward Austen Knight, one of Jane's brothers,and the memoirs tell of Jane's secrets. Her innermost thoughts and actions are spilled onto the pages by her own hand. Romance, love found and lost, is spoken of in an honest, emotional voice that is hauntingly like the one every Jane Austen fan imagines the author herself spoke in.

I laughed at parts of this book, especially when Jane scoffs at the idea of August in London being akin to being in Hades, then goes on to relate the magical moments she spends during August 1810. I admit that I choked up while reading this book. More than once, but at one particularly heartbreaking event during her secret love affair, which I won't divulge but readers will recognize, I'm sure, by the lump in their own throats when they reach that same passage.

THE LOST MEMOIRS OF JANE AUSTEN by Syrie James is witty and wonderful, and fans of Jane Austen will find this book utterly delightful. I've read it twice already, and I'm sure I'll read it again and again. I loved it!

Kay James