This is a really lovely book for a Jane Austen fan, and one I would recommend. It didn't feel too contrived and didn't offend a true Austenite such a myself;-)

I am very pleased to say that this was a good book, which is a difficult challenge when dealing with fictionalizing real people. While I haven't done a lot of study on Jane Austen or her family to compare this book to the truth, I enjoyed it. I think it stands on its own well because it illustrates the difficulty of being a single woman in the 19th century, but the joys as well.

The main premise of the novel involves Jane Austen's sister Cassandra traveling to visit a family friend whose parent's recently passed away. Isabella's mother owned letter's written by her sister Jane and Cassandra is the protector of her sister's letters and reputation. Cassandra searches for and finds the letters and begins reading them to make sure that nothing about Jane is revealed in them that would be damaging. As Cassandra reads them, the book flashes back to the years Jane and Cassandra were growing up and spending their lives living together with their parents.

There was a lot that I liked about the book, most especially the glimpse into an untraditional life for a woman in the 19th century. So many people in the novel feel sorry for Cassandra, but as we get to know her, we see that she is living the life she wants to live. The books starts a bit slow, but as I got to know the characters and Cassandra better, I became more and more invested in the story . By the end, I was so glad I got to spend time with the Austen sisters.

I did get a free copy of the book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

A well imagined tale from Cassandra Austen’s perspective. I’ll always read anything Austen, however this was just ok. Never really felt like I understood what the big deal was with the letters that Cass was so eager to recover.

I enjoyed this book. I learned a few new things about Jane Austen and her family. The writing was pleasurable. We will have patrons who will really enjoy this book..

For me MISS AUSTEN was a charming, enjoyable reading experience. I like the idea that the story features Cassandra and takes place some years after the death of her beloved sister Jane. This fictionalized version of events allows author Gill Hornby to present her own stamp of imagination on this pair of fictional characters who are so familiar to me. I've read quite a bit of factual and fictional information regarding these two well known women and am pleased to say I was well satisfied with this personal interpretation of what may have gone on in their lives.

Cassandra is in the act of finding, reading, and perhaps destroying personal correspondence written by Jane which might show her or the family in a less than appealing way. This visit to Kintbury in March 1840 is Cassandra's chance to search for any letters between Jane and Eliza Lloyd Fowle. What Cassandra had not been expecting was to find letters concerning herself. The letters are all fiction so this is the area where each reader will react according to their own notions of what type of personality Jane Austen might have had.

Because Cassandra Austen did such a good job of destroying anything she thought might present her sister Jane as being involved in any drama during her lifetime readers and scholars put their own interpretations on what everyday life with Jane Austen might have been like. This book seems to be a balanced look at how trials, misfortunes and physical illness might have had an impact on Jane. If you don't want to think of Jane as anything other than someone approximating one of the heroines in her novels, then this book may not be completely enjoyable for you. But it is good to remember that this is all fiction even though it is woven skillfully around the historically accurate dates and locations in the lives of these two women. Cassandra is presented here as a lovely, thoughtful woman who only had the best interest in her sister's legacy when she consigned those letters to her special bonfire. How I can wish she hadn't been quite so determined, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy a book that gives me a lot of possibilities to think about.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for an e-galley of this novel.

*Disclaimer: I received a copy of Miss Austen by Gill Hornby from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review*

Miss Austen by Gill Hornby is a highly anticipated book and with good reason. The author takes on the perspective and story of Cassandra Austen, a sister of the famous Jane Austen, and derives a tale of their presumes lives. The premise is there, the story could have gone anywhere, and yet it just didn't quite live up to my standards and hope. Ultimately the book was a bit of a let-down. The story takes so long to be told and the characters weren't developed enough. This was almost a dnf for me. That being said, I did appreciate the effort the author went through to ensure historical details were there and accurate. That's extremely vital in a story such as this, even of it's pure fiction. I would have rated it 2.5 if I was able.

This was a slower paced story but I loved all of the detail that was included and the incredible character development. I would recommend this book!

Gill Hornby's Miss Austen gives us the story of Jane Austen's life from her sister Cassandra's point of view. The premise is that Cassandra (Cassy here. Was Cassandra Austen ever referred to in this way? I can't remember ever coming across that before.) goes to stay with the family of her own dead fiancé in search of letters from Jane that might be too revealing. (It's a complicated premise, and the family tree is hard to keep track of, despite a guide at the beginning of the book.) We know that Cassandra was extremely protective of her sister's legacy and destroyed many of Jane's letters just before her own death in 1843. Hornby's novel imagines those letters and how Cassandra went about collecting them. Alternating between 1840, when Cassandra is scouting out letters to keep from the public, and earlier years when Jane was still alive, the novel imagines the conversations and letters that are (as far as we know) lost to history.

This is an intriguing premise, and who doesn't want to speculate about what Austen *really* wrote in candid moments? Unfortunately, though, Hornby has done what I would have thought impossible: She's made Jane Austen seem unappealing as a person. The Jane Austen of Hornby's novel comes across as moody, self-absorbed, and difficult to satisfy.

Likewise, I have seen other reviews that suggest that this novel is very sympathetic to spinsters. I'm not sure that I see that. Hornby presents both Cassandra and Jane Austen as a little perverse in their rejection of proposals. They wind up happy enough, but Hornby's version of the proposals sets them up as though they are consciously deciding to perpetuate their desperate financial situation.

Of course, it's likely true that Jane Austen had bad moods and may have been "in low spirits" for long periods of time, but I'm not convinced by Hornby's imagining of these moments and what might have been in the letters.

Miss Austen
A Novel

by Gill Hornby
Flatiron Books
Historical Fiction
Pub Date 07 Apr 2020


I am reviewing a copy of Miss Austen through Flatiron Books and Netgalley:


By 1840 Cassandra Austen, Jane Austen’s sister lives alone spending her days visiting friends and relatives, while working purposely to preserve her sisters reputation. By now Jane has been gone for two decades and Cassandra is in her sixties, and is going increasingly frail so Cassandra goes to say with the Frowles of Kintbury the family of her fiancé that died years before, while there she looks for Jane’s letters. She dodged her hostess and a nosy housemaid while she hunts for her sister letters. The letters bring to light secrets not only about Jane but about Cassandra as well. Will Cassandra allow the most private details of her life to come to light or will she burn her sisters legacy.


This novel moves back and forth between the vicarage and Cassandra’s vibrant memories of her years with Jane, interwoven with Jane’s brilliantly reimagined lost letters, Miss Austen is the untold story of the most important person in Jane’s life.


If you are looking for a novel that tells the story of the most important person in Jane’s life her sister Cassandra.


I give Miss Austen five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

"He closed the garden door behind her and gestured toward the Elm Walk. She pulled her shawl close and drank a deep draft of the new, green air. The year was 1795, and the day seemed to assume itself to be the first of that spring." ~ "Miss Austen"

Finally a novel about Cassandra Austen! While I love Jane, I've always wanted to know more about Cassandra's life. Jane overshadows her sister in history, even though ironically it was Cassandra who took great pains to preserve her sister's memory. This delightful little books pays tribute to that friendship, that sisterhood. I love how the author makes it clear that if Cassandra hadn't worked so diligently to preserve her sister's work, we as readers wouldn't know as much detail about Jane Austen today.

The premise is lovely. Cassandra reconnects with distant relatives in order to find more letters and writings belonging to her sister. Cassandra works to protect her sister's writing no matter what. Cassandra is a noble, though distant heroine in this book. I applaud her efforts, but Cassandra is a stagnant and emotionless narrator. She's so honorable that she seems to have no flaws. This made it difficult for me to connect with her at all. Cassandra's love for her sister borders on adoration in this depiction. It is a one-sided relationship, since Jane is dead during the current events of the story, so it's difficult to get a sense of their relationship especially if this is the first time a reader has learned about the Austens.

The idea behind this book is stellar. It's a new twist on the typical Jane Austen retelling, but I wanted Cassandra to have agency outside of her relationship with her sister. She's so focused on Jane's legacy that she disregards her own. I know the point of Cassandra's character is that she's meant to take care of others, but that's a lonely heroine to read about. I was looking forward to Cassandra taking charge of her story! I had hoped for a less stale ending. Specifically, since this was a historical fiction novel, the story had room to be spontaneous and fun. It didn't have to stick to the real facts of Cassandra's life. Ultimately this was a historical fiction novel that could've taken advantage of its genre, but it didn't.

I tried to like this story but I could not get interested in Cassandra at all. The time hops were annoying and neither time period was very interesting. It’s all sort of plodded along, more like a faint idea of a story that was never brought to fruition and just wanted to hop on the Austen bandwagon.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Since her sister's death, Cassandra Austen has quietly and persistently done her best to preserve the reputation of Jane Austen. Despite the weariness of age, she travels to the home of her friends in search of letters her sister had written. In doing so, memories come to mind when Cassandra was the heroine of her own story.

This was an enjoyable read. It was interesting following Cassandra as she does her best to unobtrusively find letters in the home of her long-dead fiance. The story bounces between 1840 and when Cassandra was young. It shows how Cassandra may have viewed her talented sister.

I will admit I found the jumps between time to be a bit annoying. Mostly because I found what was happening in 1840 far more interesting than the "secrets" of Cassandra's past. However, I did enjoy how fact was so expertly woven with fact.

For readers looking for a fictional look at the sister who survived Jane Austen, this would be an excellent choice.

If you love Jane Austen, but already read all of her works a few times and are always a little disappointed with the "fan fiction" from various authors, you will not be disappointed with this one!
The protagonist is Jane's beloved older sister, Cassandra. It is a fictional account of her later years, after Jane is long dead, when visiting extended family members and helping to clean out their house after a death, Cassandra finds a huge stack of letters written by Jane and other family members and pieces together alternate versions of events written by other people, but also personal letters that Jane has written to a dear friend about Cassandra herself.
As usual, no great action, adventure or mystery is solved, but the author's deep understanding of personalities and of Jane Austen's writing made it so enjoyable that I looked forward to reading it each day and got a little teary eyed when I finished.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

It is impossible to describe this book. While it is largely set in a country village it does not involve 3 or 4 families. There are no rogues, no villains, no real high plot points, just a gentle story about 19th-century spinsters who were devoted to their families in different ways. The story opens in 1840 when Jane Austen's sister Cassandra, now in her 60s and frail, travels on her own, unannounced to visit Isabella Fowle, family friend and niece of Cassandra's late fiance. Isabella's brother, the country clergyman in Kintbury, Berkshire has recently passed away and by church rule Isabella must vacate her home. Feeling lost and unhappy, Isabella doesn't know what to do and is not thrilled to have to entertain this elderly woman on top of everything else. Cassandra has a mission and won't leave until she's accomplished it. Her mission is to ostensibly help Isabella pack and move. She also seeks to convince Isabella that the very best thing for her would me to move in with one or both of her sisters, something the three Fowle women are reluctant to do. It worked out for the best for Cassandra to stay with her mother and devoted little sister Jane. Cassandra's real mission is to search for letters written by her famous sister and destroy any that show Jane in a negative light. Cassandra wants people to remember her sister as always calm and happy, to have had smooth sailing all her life, nothing to ruffle her calmness and creativity.

In 1840 people weren't yet interested in the obscure Jane Austen who had some literary success at the beginning of the century and then died. Only the family is beginning to take an interest in that long ago past and Cassandra can not let them shape the narrative the way they want. Cassandra knows her sister-in-law Mary will make herself out to be a heroine and Jane a villain. If only Cassandra can find those letters. It isn't as easy as she hoped. She's thwarted by the lazy maid Dinah, sister-in-law Mary and niece Caroline as they help with the hustle and bustle of moving. Each night Cassandra reads from Persuasion with Isabella listening for the first time. In this small way Cassandra can keep her sister's memory alive.

The story shifts from 1840 to the past when Cassandra's loved ones are alive. Each letter she reads brings back memories Cassandra had long buried as she faced numerous hardships with a stiff upper lip. Beginning in 1795 when Cassandra was a young woman engaged to her father's former pupil Tom Fowle and ending in 1817 with the event we all know happened and none of us want to have happened, the story shifts back and forth in time sharing Cassandra's story as well as Jane's. Cassandra's past has the power to shape the future if she can recognize what needs to be done.

I enjoyed this different take on Jane Austen's life. It's more about Cassandra and how her life always intertwined with her sister's even after death. It's about the choices women have and must make, duty to family, love romantic or familial, which is more important? What stories do we tell while we are alive? How do we want to be remembered when we die? How do our loved ones remember us or want us to be remembered? This story asks those questions revolving around Jane and Cassandra. Jane's story is well-known, or we think we know her story anyway but in destroying her letters, Cassandra also erased part of her own story and Gill Hornby plausibly brings it back.

As an unmarried woman of a certain age myself, certainly a middle-aged spinster by 19th-century standards, I find myself more drawn to the Miss Bates characters and of course Cassandra and Jane Austen. This story gives us several single women, all of whom make choices that shape their lives. Let me start with Isabella and get to Jane and Cassy later. Isabella is unable to cope without a man. Her father was a bully and made his wife and daughter subservient to him. Isabella spent her whole life catering to him and caring for him in his final illness. She would not have dreamed of going against his wishes. Her story is quite sad and one of the usual themes of this time period. Many authors today like to point out how difficult it was for women, especially single women, without rights, to do what they pleased. Gill Hornby takes a different approach. While Isabella is lost without a man, her two sisters have been able to make their own lives. Elizabeth runs a one-woman daycare center caring for the babies of working women and has found fulfillment that way. Mary-Jane married and traveled, was widowed and returned to Kintbury. She's eccentric to be sure but she seems content with her choices and I admire that.

Cassandra and Jane are a different matter. They found happiness and contentment with each other but it wasn't the easiest path to take or really a matter of choice. This story shows Cassandra's fears about marriage- not the usual ones but her fears of being away from her lively, intellectual family and especially her sister. Tom seemed like he was a simple, uncomplicated young man who never stopped to think about what Cassandra wanted. Her fears seem justified for a MODERN woman on the brink of marriage but in the Georgian period, you married someone you liked well enough and hoped it worked out. As we know, Tom died young and Cassandra was left a grieving widow without having had the pleasure of actually being married. Fiction fills in the blanks.

Gill Hornby imagines a reason why Cassandra never married but I think even if she didn't have that big reason, she wouldn't have left her family, especially Jane. Jane and Cassandra were like two halves of a whole. Their devotion to each other is very sweet and touching but also tinged with sadness. These two bright young women were everything to each other but what history doesn't tell us is why Cassandra felt duty bound to stay with her family and never marry. Aside from Cassandra's secret, Jane has a secret. (view spoiler) Jane's secret makes the story more heartbreaking.

Cassandra becomes the dutiful daughter, nurturing aunt and loving sister supporting everyone through the years. Cassandra doesn't come across as saintly though. She has moods based on her feelings. She makes decisions that affect her future and they weigh heavily on her mind. As a woman, she is in a difficult spot. Still, even today, women are expected to be caretakers of their ageing parents and of course in the 19th-century, women didn't have any outlets for their hurt or frustrations. Cassandra CHOOSES her fate and that sets her apart from many other spinsters. Martha Lloyd is the real saint, uncomplainingly moving around with the Austen women and helping to care for her family. She keeps smiling through and I found her goodness a bit hard to take. I like Cassandra better even though she's always annoyed me for coming across as perfect. Jane, with her clever mind and sharp wit appeals to me more.

Mary Austen is the villain of the story. Mary was born a Lloyd, sister to saintly Martha and friend to Jane and Cassandra. She's the Charlotte Collins of Jane's real life. Mary needs to marry and sets her sights of Jane and Cassy's widowed brother James. Mary turns into a different person around him, a person James expects a woman to be. After her marriage, Mary turned into a frenemy. In this novel, she's clearly the prototype for Mary Bennet, Mrs. Elton, Mary Musgrove and the other insufferable female characters. I HIGHLY doubt it was that obvious or people would have noticed! Jane may have taken some of Mary's characteristics but surely she wasn't stupid enough to earn her sister-in-law's hatred that way. Mary Austen is not bright. She doesn't have the cleverness of her Austen in-laws and doesn't seem to have a mind of her own. Mary is truly awful but she isn't really a villain. Perhaps she would have given us a more complete picture of Jane if she had been allowed.

Supporting characters in the present 1840 setting include Dinah, the maid who is a terrible maid but turns out to be a good friend. Personally I would have given her the sack long ago. Isabella doesn't have the inner strength to make Dinah do her job but Isabella is lonely and in need of a confidante so she seems to keep Dinah around for that. I don't know why Isabella didn't feel she could confide in Cassandra except perhaps because Cassandra is an old old lady. There's also a Mr. Lidderdale, a country doctor who treated Isabella'a father. He isn't a man of breeding or fortune but he's good at what he does and has a calming manner. That subplot was painfully obvious. Cassy should have known. Caroline Austen, daughter of Mary and James, apparently doesn't like her Aunt Cassy for whatever reason. Caroline is also a single woman of a certain age who must care for her widowed mother. The two have that in common and should have a bond of sisterhood. Caroline is too much like her mother for Cassandra's liking but she doesn't seem as spiteful.

In the past we get to know Eliza Lloyd Fowle. Like her sister Martha, she is sweet and kind. She endures a pompous, bullying and perhaps physically abusive husband with good grace. The light went out of the household when she died. The Austen parents are portrayed much like the Bennets. Mrs. Austen is constantly complaining about her ill health like Mrs. Bennet and trying to marry off her daughters and their friends. Mr. Austen also tries to pay matchmaker. Cassy and Jane's brothers are lively and fun-loving in their youth. Cassy reflects on the difference between her family's love of literature and intellectual pursuits, their good humor and loving nature with that of the Fowles more somber and less intellectual household. When the Austen men grow up they fall victim to their wives. James always comes across as egotistical and pompous in history and here he's like John Dashwood, letting his wife do all the talking and thinking. Edward isn't much better but Elizabeth is more naive and lacks empathy than the cruel Fanny Dashwood. Frank and Charles are mostly mentioned and George is left out of the narrative, not living with the Austens.

Also in the past we meet that mysterious gentleman from the seaside whom Jane supposedly fell in love with. Cassy has no memory of telling this story to Caroline and what she remembers differs greatly from the family narrative. I had never thought of THAT but it surely seems plausible, even possible! This storyline was tough to read though, knowing that real life is not the same as a novel.

My only major quibbles with this novel are that it is difficult to tell who is writing Jane or Cassandra. Their voices sound too much alike. My other, major complaint, is that I don't think the Austen sisters would have revealed private information about the other to a mutual friend. Because we don't have existing letters or diaries to go on, Gill Hornby needed some way to tell the story and she chose letters to a friend rather than family.

I really enjoyed this thoughtful novelization of Cassandra Austen's life and how it was so intertwined with her sister's. I highly recommend this to Janeites new and old.

4.75 stars
and almost as many hankies! 5 hankies for July 1817! I silently cried out "NO!" as if I could somehow change the past. It's such a tragedy that such genius died so young- the same age I am now, nearly exactly. It seems extra unfair if she died of something that can easily be treated or cured today.

Quietly pleasant, but, I'm afraid, not much of a standout. This would, nevertheless, be good for anyone who enjoyed Longborne.

An enjoyable tale told from the perspective of Jane Austen’s sister Cassandra. Party mystery, part love story and part women’s fiction, this story takes historical fiction to a new level and delivers a story of sisterly – and family – love, beautifully..

A totally delightful and often moving look at the life of the lesser-known Austen sister - recommended for Jane Austen fans and women's fiction/historical fiction fans alike.

Kintbury, 1840. Cassandra Austen arrives unannounced at a vicarage where the Fowles had lived for three generations. Isabella’s father has just passed away. Now, she has two month to vacate the house for the next incumbent.

Why Cassandra arrives in such hurry? With the slow moving story, it seems as it takes quite some time to find out. Eliza, Isabella’s mother, was Cassandra’s dear friend. Both sisters, Cassandra and Jane, wrote many intimate letters to Eliza and they could still be here. As Cassandra is the executor of her sister’s estate, she feels responsible for protecting her sister’s legacy. She needs to find those letters and destroy them.

When the story alternates to 1795, revealing Jane’s letters and Cassy’s relationship with her fiancé Tom, I hoped the story would become more engaging. But I continued to struggle to be fully connected with this story.

At times, Cassandra is an interesting character. She likes order and efficiency. She does sewing to sooth her in difficult situations. And of course she likes novels. But when her thoughts become overdrawn, then I felt disconnected.

The story touches upon interesting subjects including the view of “male presence somehow made a household more desirable, superior.” Cassandra found happiness without a man. Isabella sees happiness only with a man.

Overall, the plot is fairly simple and with slowly progressing story for most of the time I felt disconnected. Those who like slow and detailed stories may appreciate this book. Therefore, don’t let this review influence your decision.

This is a wonderful story about the love between sisters. Cassandra Austen is on a mission to find the letters she wrote back and forth to her sister Jane. I fell in love with another Austen and I shed tears with her as she discovers more than just the letters.

Miss Austen by Gill Hornby is a delightful jaunt into the world of Jane Austen and her family told through this historical fiction novel.

The author takes what little we know in regards to the correspondence between Jane and her sister Cassandra, and weaves a lovely tail imagined of the interactions and love felt between sisters, family, and friends.

I love anything Jane Austen, and I was not disappointed in getting insight from a different angle into Jane’s life through her sister.

Excellent.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am submitting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.