"Miss Austen" by Gill Hornby

Miss Austen is a fictionalized story about Jane Austen's elder sister Cassandra. The narrative alternates between two timelines. The first one is in the spring of 1840 when a 67-year old Cassandra visits the home of her relatives in Kintbury in the hopes of recovering the correspondence that both she and Jane had sent to their sister-in-law. The second timeline includes some of the old letters Cassandra reads and her reminiscences about her youth.

It is a well-known fact that Jane and Cassandra Austen never married and lived together until Jane's untimely death in 1817. Cassandra was devoted to her sister and to her memory. So profound was her desire to preserve Jane's legacy, that she meticulously purged Jane's private correspondence and destroyed the majority of letters authored by her. The novel allows us a glimpse into Cassandra's thoughts, and lets us see her reasoning for trying to keep Jane's private letters and feelings hidden from the prying eyes of posterity.

In many ways, Cassandra's actions were prophetic. Jane died in relative obscurity. Even though her novels were moderately popular when first published, they did not gain in popularity until well into the 19th century. Cassandra never stopped believing that Jane's works would live on and did everything in her power to preserve a lady-like image of her sister.

The book presents a very believable account of events and characters. Reading this novel, I was struck anew with how difficult and unfair life was for women at the time. As single unmarried women, Jane and Cassandra struggled with poverty and were forced to move from place to place until their brother Edward allowed them to stay in one of the cottages that he owned. There were very few options for women: marry or live out your years as a spinster, shut up in a back bedroom of a relatives' house. Cassandra believes that hers was a happy life. She spent her best years in the company of her intelligent literary sister.  She could not think of a better companion, or a closer friend to spend her life with.

The only plot line in the book that I thought was weak is Cassandra's relationship with Mr. Hobsday. She met him in her late 20s, and at least in the novel, both he and Cassandra feel instant attraction towards each other. Yet, Cassandra stubbornly refuses to marry him. Her reasons were not convincing, and I was particularly surprised that Cassandra did not even have a trace of regret about turning him down.

Overall, 4 out 5 stars. I think this book would appeal to all readers interested in Jane Austen and her books.

An e-ARC was provided by NetGalley.com.