What a perfectly fitting end to my reading year: Spry-yet warm, Strange-yet familiar, Clever-yet wholesome...enough. Lol

This is a wonderful book for Jane Austen fans. It tells the story of women in England who come together to save Jane Austen's house. It is a nice read and one that will be read again.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

The fascination with Jane Austen continues in Jenner's novel. The premise is interesting, the characterization appealing, and it immediately engages the reader.

I fell in love with the people in this story. Despite disappointments and tragedies they manage to survive and eventually to thrive, thanks to their common love for the works of Jane Austen. I enjoyed watching this story unfold with all its twists and turns. When it was done, I wanted more.

Having never read Jane Austen I was surprised I liked this book as much as I did. A charming tale of Austen fans in a quaint English village who all overcome love and loss by coming together to honor her memory. I want to see the movie!

United by a love of Jane Austen, a group of people come together in the small village of Chawton, the final home of Jane Austen, to preserve Jane’s Austen’s home and legacy. Along the way, they’ll discover friendships, love, and a deep connection to one another that will last a lifetime.

This was such a lovely, lovely book! The characters were wonderful. They were vividly drawn and so strong and unique. They were a group of intelligent, hard working, serious, and introspective people who not only loved to read Jane Austen, but who have internalized her lessons and philosophies.

I loved the parallels drawn between the books and the characters and their relationships. My favorite, as ever, was the Persuasion reference, because I love me some love letters and this book delivered that with a vengeance. While not quite as romantic as Captain Wentworth’s to Anne Elliot, it was a near thing. I also really enjoyed the Emma story line and the interplay between the two characters all the way through. None of the relationships came as a surprise (well, one did, but that’s because I misread a situation early on), but that was fine. Being familiar with Austen and her stories and seeing the parallels made the journey a delight.

This is a very gentle book with an easy flow. Once I started, I didn’t want to put it down. I felt I knew the characters intimately and that I’d be seeing them in real life. I could picture what was happening and felt quite swept up in it. It’s just a wonderful story with beautiful characters and a very satisfying ending.

If you love Jane Austen and like stories about people working together for a common cause, I think you’ll like this story a lot.

Jane Austen did not travel far from her roots, yet her characters have delighted and influenced readers throughout the world. Her insights about relationships are analyzed by critics and fans alike. She has left an indelible mark on literature. Natalie Jenner introduces a small group of such fans who are dedicated to establishing a permanent monument to the woman and her works in the village of her family home. They are a disparate group of post World War II professionals and villagers who share an appreciation of their beloved author and her philosophy. Similar to Austen’s novels, the pace is slow and the characters contemplative. During the course of their project, secrets are revealed about both Jane and themselves. A knowledge of her novels can be helpful, but not required. This novel is a loving testimony to a literary great.

What a good story! Full of endearing characters and an interesting story line, this book was a great read!

A “lovely” read filled with quaint references to all things Austen. I guess this is pretty obvious, but you need to know a little bit about Jane Austen to read a book entitled the Jane Austen Society. I have read several of her novels and have seen the movie adaptations of them as well. There are many references to the characters from those books throughout this novel. If you have never heard of Mr. Darcy, for example, you will be a little lost but it’s not imperative that you know all of the characters and storylines of Austen’s books to enjoy this novel. It is sweet and innocent and felt a bit like an Austen novel itself.

I was not expecting much from this book, new story and new author and all but I was pleasantly surprised at how well written and interesting the story turned out to be. A great book for Jane Austen fans.

This book is beyond incredible, special, and magical! It is truly a book for book lovers. Whenever I picked up "The Jane Austen Society" to read, I felt like I was whisked away back to 1940's England, and truly felt like I was there with everyone in the story.

This is Natalie Jenner's debut novel, and I cannot wait to read more by this incredible author. Her writing style is so visceral and vivid. I could really envision every single place and location she described, and I feel like I got to know each and every character. Their personalities flew off of the page, and I truly found myself feeling what they were feeling, and wanting everything to work out for the best. Their relationships were beautifully written, so clear, authentic, and their ups and downs had me turning chapter after chapter to see what happened next.

This book has so much in it: it is heartbreaking at times, yet absolutely heartwarming in others. It really shows the power of literature to bring people together, and I truly enjoyed the journey of this novel!

If you love Jane Austen, historical fiction books, literature in general, or are just looking for an absolutely amazing read, I HIGHLY recommend this book. It is such a treasure that is going to stay with me for a very long time!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book, and to St. Martin's Press for sending me a physical ARC as well! I absolutely love this book and story! It will hold a very special place in my heart.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a historical fiction set just after WWII in Chawton England the same village of hand Austen. The novel was a bit slow to start but built nicelt at the 30% mark. The journey of characters like Dr. Grey and others who use Austen's works for a discussion group was wonderful. Each had an emotional hurdle that the group helped to master. Great read!

**Disclaimer: I received an ARC of The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.**


Do you ever aquire something new in life and then wonder how you ever lived without it in the first place? This is how The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner made me feel. I never knew I needed it until it was over. It's the perfect combination of fanfare for Jane Austen's work and a group of people coming together to keep Austen's legacy alive. The setting takes place during and after WWII in Chawton, England, one of the last places where Miss Austen had lived. The lives of seven extremely different people from all walks of life come together to celebrate Austen's work. The story is lovely and so wonderfully written. I love everything about it. I'll cherish this book for many years to come. It's a must read if you're a fan of Jane Austen....and if you're not a fan, what are you really doing with your life?!

Inspired by the real-life historical event of the formation of The Jane Austen Society to preserve the legacy of one of the greatest writers of all time, Natalie Jenners debut novel is set in the post-war era of 1945 onwards and centres around the village of Chawton (where Austen herself spent ten years living with her brother, Edward Knight), eight fictional trustees from a variety of social backgrounds including: a lawyer, a doctor, a farmer, a servant, an auctioneer a teacher, an heiress and an American film star band together to protect Jane Austen’s legacy.

Each of these characters are searching for some kind of meaning in the aftermath of the war and the narrative centres around the bonds of friendship, the grieving process and the healing power of love. As a confirmed Austenite, I enjoyed the author’s attempt to interweave selected quotations from Austen’s novels but I often found the characters’ conversations about the motivations of classic characters like Emma, Fitzwilliams Darcy and Fanny Price to be somehow lacking. The use of words like ‘fall’ instead of ‘autumn’ on a 20th century English advertisement were jarring and the vernacular of a middle-class doctor would definitely not have included ‘figuring it out’. Setting this aside though, it is still an enjoyable read with charming moments which made me want to read more about the real-life story behind the formation of the society. This story would also lend itself to the possibility of a feel-good film adaptation in the future. Thank you very much for the advance review copy.

A lovely novel that is truly enjoyable. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of the story is very endearing; people coming from different backgrounds, influenced by different situations in life, and what they all have in common is the love for books. The solace it gives them.

Adam, a farmer, who reads literature, is the most interesting character and had me hooked from the first pages. And he continued to awe me with his character. He falls for Jane Austen’s character of Elizabeth Bennet. It’s the way she spoke her mind. Loved his thoughts and how he craved to discuss it with someone, but “could only imagine what the villagers would say about him if they suspected” him reading books by Jane Austen.

But with each character the story gets less and less interesting. Dr. Gray, whose cottage is situated across from Jane Austen cottage and always open to patients, he admires the women who continue to come and “pay homage to the great writer.” I didn’t feel anything unique about him. And I didn’t find his conversations with Adeline over Jane Austen characters interesting.

Mimi Harrison, an actress, made me disconnect from the story the most. With her character I felt a big shift in the time period, like she didn’t belong there. Did not blend well with the story.

I did not care for all the details, especially Dr. Gray doctoring his patients. The thoughts of the characters were most interesting. Also, the plot seems to be a bit weak. With lots of characters, something stronger is missing to connect it all. But above all, the biggest problem for me were some characters being flat and some conversations not being engaging.

Thanks so much for the ARC for The Jane Austen Society. This is the perfect book for Jane Austen fans. I loved all the characters and learning their motivations, joys and pains. I sighed when I finished it, Just lovely.

The Jane Austen Society tells the story of a disparate group of people in the small town of Chawton who band together to form a committee to save the few remaining books and relics from the house of Jane Austen's ancestors and create a museum in her honor. These individuals include a reclusive farmer, a widowed doctor, a stubborn school teacher, an agoraphobic spinster, a strict lawyer, a Hollywood starlet, an antique collector, and a brilliant custodian.

I absolutely loved the premise of this book and the historical context, but unfortunately it fell short for me. Much of the book was spent in narrative on this group of characters and the actual society that was advertised in the book's description wasn't formed until a third of the way through the book. I did love all of the different characters and their shared love for my favorite author, and I loved the way that some of the romances in the book mirrored Austen's beloved heroines. However, the story moved slowly and much of it was caught up in legal jargon and a little too much exposition for my taste. While this book wasn't the slamming success that I hoped for, it was still a three star read that I enjoyed!

In the small English village of Chawton, there are those who have no use for the avid readers of Jane Austen who come into the village to see where the author once wrote. Others, on the other hand, of diverse backgrounds and views, become determined to save the legacy of Jane Austen in any way they can. This is their story.

I will admit it took me some time to really get into this story. The first few chapters didn't interest me and I found the narrative style disconcerting. We would be with one character and then suddenly we would know what a different character was thinking. Once I adjusted to that, I enjoyed the story much more.

What we are presented with is a group of individuals who love the works of Jane Austen. Each one has their own favorite novel and character. As they become aware of each other, they debate and talk about what life lessons they have learned. There are many quotes from the novels which were a fun addition.

I would have liked this to be more based on reality, but it is a work of fiction and none of this happened. Still, it is a lovely book I would recommend to readers who love anything related to Jane Austen.

The Jane Austen Society is a lovely book that celebrates the power of literature to bring people together. Shortly after the end of World War II, a group of disparate people come together to try to preserve a cottage that Jane Austen once lived in.

The small British village of Chawton is best known for being the last place Jane Austen lived, in a cottage on her brother’s estate. After World War II, the people of the village are picking themselves up after the long horrors of the war. There's a lot of quiet desperation in this town. There's a young war widow, the town doctor who lost his wife many years earlier, the spinster daughter of the local estate, whose horrible father has kept her downtrodden, a laborer whose dreams of education was stymied by World War I, a teenage maid who had to leave school to support her family, and a Hollywood star who may be a bit past her prime.

This is a lovely, gentle book. All of the characters are a little bit broken in various ways, but they all find solace in the works of Jane Austen. I think anyone who's an Austen fan or who has found solace in reading will enjoy this book. My only quibble is that the ending wraps everything up perhaps a bit too neatly, but on the other hand, I cared about all the characters and I wanted happy endings for them.