“Part of the comfort they derived from rereading was the satisfaction of knowing there would be closure—of feeling, each time, an inexplicable anxiety over whether the main characters would find love and happiness, while all the while knowing, on some different parallel interior track, that it was all going to work out in the end.”–Natalie Jenner, The Jane Austen Society

What do a farm worker, a doctor, a movie star, a young widow, and a maid have in common? A love of Jane Austen. After the end of WWII, they along with a few others, come together in the small English village of Chawton to try and preserve Austen’s home and legacy. Each of them has endured significant trauma and tragedy yet they find strength, purpose, and healing through their membership in the newly formed Jane Austen Society.

Natalie Jenner’s debut novel is a sweet and tender anthem to the connecting and healing power of books.

Content Advisory: Addiction, death, miscarriage, grief