I really enjoyed this! As a fan of all things Austen i couldn’t help but fall in love with a captivating story about other people’s love for Austin too. If you appreciate a slow but warm hearted read that loves Its characters then you will likely fall in love with this story like i did. To begin with we are introduced to all of the characters and get to know them, wondering how this group of very different people could have something in common. The story weaves their lives together in a satisfying way that leaves you feeling like you’ve been on a journey with them.

It’s such a shame that so much of Jane Austen’s legacy has been lost forever but I will continue to enjoy stories like this which remind me why I love what we do have available to us still so much.

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

The Jane Austen Society is the story of friendship and love surviving difficult times and a community coming together during their time of need. It is a wonderful story told among the backdrop of post war Britain.

When a cultural sight that the celebrated novelist Jane Austen has links to comes under threat, the Jane Austen Society get together to preserve her legacy. Through the trials and tribulations and the lingering presence of the ghosts of the past relationships develop and subsequently become strained. Can a mutual love of Jane Austen bring the characters together.

The Jane Austen Society is a lovely story. At times it can feel a little slow paced but then that fits with the time period. It would seem at odds with the story if the pace was elevated. I think because the story is character that this also impacts on the pacing. I did enjoy reading it though. It was fascinating learning things about Jane Austen and her legacy. You can tell that Natalie Jenner has a deep passion for all things Austen. When a writer lets you feel her passion for a subject it makes the story more enjoyable.

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner is available now.

For more information regarding Natalie Jenner (@NatalieMJenner) please visit www.nataliejenner.com.

For more information regarding Orion (@orionbooks) please visit www.orionbooks.co.uk.

This dazzling debut novel from Jenner, opens just after WWII, in the small English village of Chawton, Hampshire; which 150 years ago was the final home to one of England’s finest novelists: Jane Austen. Sadly today it is only home to a few distant relatives and a diminishing estate, and this threatens the last bit of Austen’s legacy, so a like-minded group of Austen fans band together to attempt something remarkable: to save Austen’s home and family heirlooms from a slovenly heir and greedy investors.

This disparate group is made up of a quiet farmer, a young teacher, a bachelor lawyer, a widowed doctor, a young maid, a flamboyant auctioneer, an American actress and the last living relative of the Austen family. They really could not be more different and yet Jenner shows beautifully how they are united by their mutual love for the wonderful work of Austen. Each of them endures their own quiet struggle with loss and trauma, some from the recent war, others from more distant tragedies. They rally together to create the Jane Austen Society, through which they also find friendship, love and hope.

Now I do need to make it clear that these are all fictional characters, even though the setting and society are both real. Choosing not to use real characters from the group may be a little controversial for some, however it does give Jenner the freedom to completely create from scratch their histories and personalities, without any need to worry that living relatives could be upset or angry. I personally ended up loving and being really invested in all of these characters as if they were real!

This links into the one negative review I saw of this novel, where the reader was upset with a long list of historical inaccuracies they had spotted. If I am honest I didn’t spot or was bothered by any glaring inaccuracies. But then again I was so invested in the characters, if there had been any maybe I wouldn’t have noticed. Because at the end of the day if you are looking for an accurate history of the real Jane Austen Society this is probably not the book for you. Instead this is a character driven drama, that eloquently explores how the love of books can bring people from across society together and give them hope and purpose.

Overall I thought The Jane Austen Society was a very moving English yarn, that made me smile, made me cry and made me remember why I love Jane Austen so much. It was the perfect antidote to today’s troubling times and inspired me to immediately start a re-read of Austen’s Northanger Abbey. I look forward to seeing what Natalie Jenner will write next.

As I love books written by Jane Austen I was keen to read this novel and I wasn’t disappointed. A little slow at times but that didn’t matter, it didn’t spoil the flow.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for a review. I will be putting this review on Amazon too.

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

As a lover of Jane Austen I so wanted to love this book but alas I’m afraid I found it very wanting.

It was a very confusing book it flitted all over the place with the characters I was more interested by the actual Jane Austen parts than the story.

Given the timeline of the story it was very slow I get that life followed a different pace then but I have read many books in that setting that have not had such a slow pace.

Sorry Natalie this was not the book for me .

Thank you so much for gifting it to be through NetGalley. There were many things I thoroughly enjoyed about this book, such as they way it was written and the characters but the book just was not for me. I wish I could have connected with the characters just a little bit more than I did. This is no way was a bad book just not not my typical read.

The Jane Austen Society

Absolutely loved this book. There is nothing I would change about it. Natalie Jenner is hugely talented and her writing is absolutely beautiful.

Adored all the characters, and thought they were beautifully flawed and very human characters....I thought they were all fantastic and there wasn't a single character whose point of view I was rushing though to get back to my favourite as I was interested in them all.

Really enjoyed all the reference to the books and how Austen linked into what was happening. This is definitely a love story to Austen and I thought that was wonderful. There was discussions of characters and it was very enjoyable.

I really want to visit Chawton now.
If you love Jane Austen and love quaint interesting and beautiful books then you will love this. Highly recommended. Loved it.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautiful gem of a book. The premise, characters and plot gripped me. It was a slow burn, delicate novel. At times the fabrication of the history surrounding the society was a bit uncomfortable and I think if the author note was moved to the front it would have stopped me going off to google a lot of the book, which turned out to all be untrue. But that was my only criticism because I fell in love with this book and the characters and will def look out for the next book by this author. Can’t wait to see this one do well.

I am a huge fan of Jane Austen and felt like I had found a group of like-minded friends in this novel. I have read other reviews which mention that it is a little slow and at times I would to a certain extent agree but I think that the pace reflects the inhabitants of Chawton in the 1940s themselves.
That being said I found the American anachronism rather jarring. I would recommend it to true Austen devotees but anyone who doesn't continue to experience a sense of nostalgia for her novels might find this book a little hard-going.

My thanks to the Orion Publishing Group for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Jane Austen Society’ by Natalie Jenner in exchange for an honest review.

Set during and just after WWII in the little Hampshire village of Chawton, where Jane Austen and her family lived during the last eight years of her life. Yet now with the death of the current owner, the Chawton estate is in danger of being sold off including Chawton Cottage where Jane lived.

Eight people, most of them locals, are brought together by their love for the famous author's novels, and create The Jane Austen Society to try to preserve her legacy.

Jenner makes it clear in her closing Historical Note: “The people and events described in this book are completely fictional and imaginary; the places are not. In wanting to write about a group of people traumatised to varying degrees, who come together over their shared love of books and of Jane Austen in particular, I chose not to base the characters on anyone real in order to enjoy full artistic freedom.”

This came as a bit of a surprise and yet makes sense given that these are quite recent events. Still I was a little sad that the delightful 1940s Hollywood movie star, Mimi Harrison, wasn’t a real person. Yet aspects of her story rang very true given the nature of the studio system during the period.

Overall, this was a delightful story, very much in the tradition of Jane Austen’s novels. It’s an ensemble piece with quite a large cast, though I felt Jenner did well in presenting them and I never felt overwhelmed.

It’s the kind of novel that will likely appeal to lovers of Austen’s writing as it is packed with interesting details about Jane’s life and possessions. It is clear that a great deal of research went into creating it.

It also is the kind of novel that I expect to be popular with reading groups that are looking for well written period fiction with strong characterisation, a gentle pace, and the kind of universal themes that infused Austen’s works.

The sleepy village of Chawton in Hampshire, once home to the famous writer Jane Austen, seems set to remain pretty much unchanged for another century. That is until the direct line of the Knight family still living on the estate runs out. Now destined to be sold off to developers, an unlikely group of people come together to try to buy the stewards cottage where Austen wrote the majority of some of her most celebrated works, with the aim of creating a museum and preserving her legacy. Thus The Jane Austen Society is born.

Natalie Jenner’s novel pays homage to Austen herself and the generations of admirers she has accumulated over the centuries. The complex characters and emotional undercurrents are tenderly written and the characters individual journey’s of love and self discovery unfold beautifully across the pages. The historical setting of the early to mid 20th Century and the emotional backdrop of both the First and Second World Wars, gives weight to the power of reading and it’s ability to bring people together. The relationship parallels with Austen’s own literary romances are subtle enough to remain unique yet satisfyingly discernible to any lover of Jane. An exquisite handling of language and a heartfelt respect for all she describes made it a joy to read.

I would thoroughly recommend this book for both Austen and non-Austen lovers alike. Perfect reading - offering the chance to slip into another time while reminding you there is always hope.

I saw Austen and I was desperate to read this, unfortunately I was sadly disappointed, the description filled me with joy, but it was so slow, I think it was nearly halfway before anything really happened. I also found the characters a bit flat and one dimensional and the format of the story just feels a bit off and awkward, unfortunately this wasn’t one for me

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This was a charming read. If you love Jane Austen, it'll make you be nostalgic and go back to those lovely moments.
I enjoyed the comforting writing style, and the story.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

I think my love of Jane Austen made me just grab at this book - and the lovely cover. But somehow I just din't get along with it the way I thought I would.

There were times I really didn't care to read it and then at other times I could not put it down. Analysing this I think the parts that drew me in the most were the discussions around the Austen novels by the characters in the book. The back story of the characters themselves didn't really flow that well for me and it felt a little stilted. Also I unfortunately found that some phrases did not ring true for the period just after the 2nd world war and had at times a North Americanism to them. There were also some legalise terms used that were not correct, but I don't want to be a pedant about them! The average reader would probably not notice, but this detracted from the book for me. One of the nice things about the book was the way that at times the lives and actions of the characters resembled those in Austen.

Although the Society does exist this book is a work of fiction and not based on how the society was formed. A pleasant read overall with a nice ending.

I was invited to be part of the blog tour on this book. It was an audio tour. I have to say, I didn’t know if I was going to like this, given that I have never read a Jane Austen novel. This didn’t matter at all.

I felt like characters were all dear friends by the end. The imagery of each one and the environment that had been described. The characters, are all very different but it just shows you the closeness of a small town as well as not to judge someone by how they look or what they do.

I loved the voices in this book, it really helped to distinguish who was who. It added an extra layer to this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would relisten To this book.

Such a lovely book!
This book follows the lives of a group of people in the village of Chawton. All linked by their shared history in one way or another and their love of Jane Austen. I must read for anyone who is a Jane Austen fan. I’ve never read any Jane Austen but thoroughly enjoyed this book so it’s not a must to be an Austen fan.

Such a pleasure to read, especially for an Austen fan. It had just the right balance of referencing Jane's life and works, along with new characters and their lives. I loved that the group of eight characters wouldn't let Jane be forgotten in Chawton and were so determined they made such personal sacrifices. The creation of the society was interesting because it was so interwoven with the characters' personal stories. I particularly loved Dr Gray and Adeline's story, it was moving and romantic.
A lovely, heart-warming historical romance. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This novel was charming. I very much enjoyed being swept away to another time and place to read about others who love Jane Austen as much as I do. The various characters endeared me and kept me guessing, and I think Jane Austen would be pleased to see how much she's affected the world (both real and fictitious)!

The village of Chawton has a deep history with Jane Austen, the cottage that she lived in and wrote her famous novels sittings in the village. With visitors from all over coming to take in the place that inspired Jane's writing.

The story follows eight different characters all of whom are fans of Jane Austen and her novels. Set across different dates in the 1940s I did find it a little confusing jumping between characters and times. I was drawn to this story as I too am a Jane Austen fan, however, I struggled to get to grips with this story.