Natalie Jenner clearly loves Jane Austen’s works. This title, along with The Jane Austen Society, make that abundantly clear.
This year marks the 250th anniversary of Austen’s birth so it is an auspicious time for the publication of Austen at Sea with one of its characters being Austen’s brother Francis and another his daughter, Fanny.
The story opens in the 1860s in America. Two sisters, nicknamed Harry and Charlie, live with their father, a state justice; their mother is deceased. Harry and Charlie want more independence than is easily on offer. They definitely challenge the powers that be.
Harry and Charlie’s father loves Austen fiction as did their mother and as do they. He even has a book club with other justices in which they discuss Austen’s works (see the opening scene of the novel).
The conceit of the book is that Harry and Charlie reach out to Admiral Austen who invites them and two brothers from Philadelphia to visit him in Portsmouth. At 91, the Admiral is thinking about his sister’s legacy and ephemera. While the two young women are fans, the young men, in addition, own a bookshop, and have an American first edition of Emma.
The Admiral thinks that it will be fun to put these four together. He has dreams of romance (is this like in Emma when she plays matchmaker?) hoping that he is forming two couples. Read the book to see what happens in this regard as well as with the Austen memorabilia .
These four and others, including Louisa May Alcott, share a passage to England. It was enjoyable to see Alcott (and her love of Dickens) in these pages.
I very much enjoyed this novel. It offered me a lovely escape. The pace, characterizations and story all kept my attention.
Highly recommended to those who love Austen and/or historical fiction.
Note that reading the author’s afterword will clearly show a reader how much Austen means to her. I hope that Jenner’s Austen themed novels will continue.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this title. All opinions are my own.
Pub date: 06 May 2025
A note on the audio book:
The narrator (male) gave life to the story and its characters. I enjoyed going back and forth between the text and audio versions and was sorry to come to the end. Those who are looking for a good listen of a good book, cannot go wrong with this audio book.
The author’s other titles
The Jane Austen Society
Bloomsbury Girls
Everytime We Say Good-bye
Reviews for all of these are on my blog.
From the Publisher
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 