Amazingly well researched biography of the Jane Austen she was as opposed to the Jane Austen most think they now due to her time of birth and circumstances? It’s written by a female regents university professor of English? The professor is also a Jane Austen scholar? Say no more and sign me right up.

I really appreciated this book - I found it to be a fascinating read and I learned many new things about one of my favorite authors.

*Wild for Austen* is a love letter to Jane Austen and the author’s sincere feelings about Ms Austen and her work shine though, making this a joy for for Janeites (or Austenites) to read along with anyone interested in learning more about the JA’s life and works.



Thank you to S. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the DRC

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book. As someone who is an avid Austen fan, I found this hard to read. It felt like a series of book reports, and I wasn’t compelled to keep reading.

This book focused more on overanalyzing Jane Austen's text to suggest she was "wild" rather than talking about Jane Austen herself. It then breaks into what feels like anecdotal family stories to tell around the table that don't offer much of a perspective on Jane Austen or what her world is like historically at the time. I found myself unable to finish it because it became an infuriating read that rambled on with summaries of books using them as evidence about her life. While there is a lot of influence from one's writing, this felt like it wasn't coming together, argument-wise.

This was a very good book. It was well-written. I would highly recommend it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

In Wild for Austen, Devoney Looser has chosen the theme of “wildness” to examine Jane Austen’s works and life. I would hazard a guess that the majority of readers familiar with Jane Austen probably think of her as a timid wallflower, a proper and impoverished country woman who knew little of the world outside her family and close acquaintances. It is Looser’s goal to dispel this myth by analyzing each novel through the lens of “wildness” and then branching out into the lives of those in Jane’s family and circle of acquaintances, and finally by examining different ways that the novels have affected our culture. And yes, there are some wild stories! Jane was most definitely not a sheltered woman as portrayed by her family in the Victorian era after her death.

This is an academic book and I would recommend it to readers who are interested in literary criticism, or who are extremely interested in Jane Austen, or in the Regency period. Looser has written it in a very modern tone, with colloquial expressions that I (old fashioned curmudgeon that I am) sometimes found jarring. I don’t know if it is a good choice to use words like "mansplaining" in a scholarly book, but this does make it feel as if Looser is a cool professor who is presenting a series of informative and entertaining lectures, so if you read it that way, it makes sense that she would choose this writing style.

A very fascinating addition to the scholarship of our beloved Jane Austen!

This is a VERY thorough, very detailed look at Austen's writings - the famous and the lesser-known - and at the non-traditional, "wild" and untamed elements that permeate their language and characterizations. It was fascinating and enlightening, although also very long and involved. I'm not a literature professor or theorist so must confess that I had to read it in fits and starts as, despite an engaging writing style, it also felt very academic and that meant I needed occasional breaks for something lighter.

The book is organized around her writings, with each analyzed in its own chapter. I am familiar with the major novels, yet interestingly found the chapters on some of the works I was not familiar with to be the most interesting - particularly the Juvenilia, which I'm definitely going to have to track down! I found some of the analysis to reflect my own opinions on her characters and writing style, and some to be a surprise (in a very good way), offering up perspectives I had not considered but that resonated with me as a woman and a reader.

I liked this one a lot - it just took me longer to read than I anticipated.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was interested in this book because I love not only reading the original works of Austen but learning about her as an author and examining her work on a deeper level. Looser's work in this book covers all of those points of interest. Looser's writing is not only informative but funny and it is easy to understand the complexity of analysis that Looser is trying to get the reader to engage in.

My two favorite portions of the book were Part I, which focused on Austen's works, and Part III, which focuses on the legacy of Austen's work. While the third section (Part II) was interesting it did feel a bit weighed down in details that I wasn't necessarily interested in (i.e., other members of Austen's family). While I do see the value in this section and did enjoy the court case of one of her aunts (I might be mistaken it might have been a cousin) overall for me that section captured my interest less.

Looser's examination of Austen's earliest works including juvenilia and potential news stories was very interesting because although I am an Austen fan, I did not give much thought to her works outside her novels and short stories. Learning how Austen may have gotten started was fun to learn about.

I also really enjoyed the discussion of how Austen's works were subversive and may say something about her political opinions. Looser's discussions on Lydia Bennet made me view the character in an entirely different light which is always fun when you learn something that changes your point of view. The discussion about Mansfield Park was also incredibly interesting.

The discussion of Austen's impact on popular culture was also very intriguing to learn about. The musical with Judy Garland that never was and the ways that the movies/television shows either highlight or shy away from the themes Austen discussed in her book were interesting. Also, it showed just how much of an impact Austen's work had on popular culture.

If you are a lover of Austen's work, I would recommend this book. Looser has a deep love of Austen and her works that shines through on every page. It also helps lovers of Austen's works to gain a deeper and more nuanced understanding of her works.

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Classism

Moderate: Death, Racism, Xenophobia, Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Terminal illness, Grief, Alcohol

Very enjoyable read for Austen enthusiasts; the book draws from a variety of sources to support the book's premise. Well researched and presented, it upends some of the prevailing assumptions about Jane Austen. In spite of being a fan of her work, I found insights in the book that made me rethink some of my understanding of this celebrated author. Highly recommended!

A very well researched look at Jane Austen's work and life. I enjoyed the sections on the people around her and the impact of her work through time.

The author of Wild for Austen, Devoney Looser, is a college professor and a specialist in Jane Austen. This book examines whether Austen was the mild-mannered woman as espoused by her brother and nephew in their accounts of her life. Alternatively was Austen "wild": living and writing in a manner more suited to the present than 200 years ago. I am a fan of Jane Austen's novels, the movies and other literature surrounding her life and works. This book has chapters that discuss each of her books, her family, as well as her influence over the centuries. Ms. Looser is an excellent writer and the book is very well annotated. It will be a great addition to the libraries of all Austen fans.
I received a complementary advanced copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

As a Pride and Prejudice fan I loved getting to read more about Jane and see more facts about her. If youre a Jane Austin fan, this is a interesting read to learn more about what her life with her family was like.

Wild for Austen is a fresh take on Jane Austen just in time for the semiquincentennial (250th) anniversary of her birth on December 16th, 2025.

The author, Devoney Looser, is an English PhD, English professor, and expert on Jane Austen and literature written by women. Wild for Austen is divided into three parts, the first on Austen's works, both published and unpublished novels and her other writings. The second part deals with Austen's colorful family members, both contemporary and descendants far removed from her. In the third part, Looser covers interesting bits in Austen's enduring legacy. Looser brings a lovely enthusiasm for the subject of Jane Austen, navigating through all that is known of Austen and her legacy. I appreciated Looser being frank about what current readers and appreciators project onto Jane Austen and what we actually know to be true about Austen centuries later.

Some anecdotes' and details' connections to Austen were a little thin, but I had fun nonetheless reading Looser's narrative. The writing was mostly very engaging and in a very easy to read style. I don't think I was quite convinced Austen was the illustrious byline of this book (rebellious, subversive, and untamed), but Austen was undeniably one of a kind, a literary genius, and groundbreaking in style and substance. I have an even deeper appreciation for her (if possible) after reading this book.

It's pretty amazing new material, discussion, and analysis of Austen is being written 250 years after her birth. I think Janeites, readers who have little familiarity with her beyond the masterpiece 2005 Pride and Prejudice, or even those heretics who dislike Austen will find the world of Jane Austen interesting.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press, for the arc!

This year is the celebration of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday and "Wild For Austen" is focused on Austen’s legacy. In the era of Tradwives, Looser is arguing that viewing Austen as a sheltered “Aunt Jane” is to not understand Jane Austen or her novels at all. The book is split into 3 sections: wildness in Austen’s writing, her family and friends circle, and in the afterlife of her books. The book is very academic in structure, but fairly accessible and entertaining in its writing style.

4 stars - Very interesting, informative and different non-fiction about Jane Austen. The author is an academic and did quite a lot of research and had quite a varied look here - some biography, literary analysis, looks at retellings, movies & other Austen pop culture references (could have done without the erotica!) I do agree with the overall thesis that Jane was not the “quiet spinster” conformist, and she would have likely hung with the BlueStockings if she’d had the opportunity. Glad I read this - my thanks to Net Galley & the publisher for the advance readers copy.

I love Jane Austen, and I loved Wild for Austen! This book takes a fresh perspective on Austen's writing and life, and Looser presents her meticulous research in an approachable, fun way. I really enjoyed the analysis of Austen's less famous works too, and the evidence to support that she began writing at a very young age, even more so than previously thought. The research and analysis of not only Austen's works but also her family, personal life, and major events during her life paint a more complex and playful picture than I would have thought. Would absolutely recommend for anyone who loves Austen's novels, and anyone interested in literary authors in general.

What a fun and informative book! As always, Devoney Looser provides a brilliantly researched, fresh take on Jane Austen's writings and cultural context. I loved the wide range of citations from other works on Austen, as well as the addition of insights and commentary to provide a new look at how Austen's works have been influential in the years since she wrote them.

Whether you already love Jane Austen or you just want to find out if she really was wild, this is a valuable and interesting perspective.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to read an eARC!

Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane is probably a must-read for any fan of Jane Austen who wants to know more about the writer, her works, and the context in which her books were written. It's hard to categorize this book other than generally referring to it as nonfiction. It's part literary analysis and criticism, as the author (an academic who specializes in Austen) examines all of Jane's works of fiction for clues they might hold about their writer. It's part biography, giving background on Jane Austen's immediate family and her wider circle and speculating on her views about controversial subjects. And it's part cultural commentary, with examples of how Austen has influenced popular culture in ways she never could have imagined. Throughout, it's well researched and entertaining, and it most definitely challenges the notion that Jane Austen was a sheltered and mild-mannered woman with little life experience to influence her writing.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a digital ARC in return for an honest review. This book will be published September 2, 2025.

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This is a fun and special book, well-written and generally well-supported. I enjoyed learning new things about one of my favorite authors in this mix of literary analysis and biography. Some of the analysis is a reach and less supported by evidence, and some readers will likely wish to skip the chapter on Austen-inspired erotica. Overall, however, I enjoyed this book and its fresh interpretation of Jane Austen's life and work. I applaud Devoney Looser for careful research into some never-before-known writings related to Austen, and I was particularly fascinated by her discussion of abolitionism in the Austen family. I give this book 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Thank you to St. Martin's and NetGalley for the free eARC. I post this review with my honest opinions. This review is cross-posted on Goodreads, and will be posted on Goodreads and Amazon within one week of the book's publication date.

I’m of two minds about Devoney Looser’s WILD FOR AUSTEN.

On one hand it’s extensively researched and I learned a number of new things about Austen’s extended family and what may (or may not) have been her connections to them, as well as the literature she may have been aware of before, and as, she wrote her own juvenilia and novels. [As this is the 250th anniversary of Jane’s birth, a spate of Austen tomes are slated for publication, or recently published, so a nod to the recent JANE AUSTEN’S BOOKSHELF would be a good companion read for WILD FOR AUSTEN.]

It is currently a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen was no recluse and that she was far more socially active and locally travelled than formerly believed; and that the Victorian view of her life (even the versions penned by her relations) was of its era, written for those senses and sensibilities, wherein spinsters were expected to chastely stick to their own domestic spheres.

The problem lies with Ms. Looser’s shoehorning the word “Wild” into every chapter and verse, hitting each mention in Austen’s texts, including correspondence by and about her—and then to describe it, as if to prove her point that Jane Austen (and a number of her heroines) were “wild.” Yet Looser omits salient discussions of truly “wild” supporting characters such as Mary Crawford and Lydia Bennet) when it would serve her better than stretching her theme past plausibility. If every character bears some kernel of an author’s personality, might those women in her “wild” supporting casts not be worth an examination?

WILD FOR AUSTEN seeks to find its footing tonally as well. Some sections are quite academic with lots of names and dates tossed at the reader, while others veer into colloquialisms (“fangirling”). And perhaps the e-book offered through NetGalley is an ARC still being reviewed for edit; but I had to re-read a few sentences more than once to understand what was being stated, as they were not full, grammatical sentences.

While “Wild” might be the hook that sells the book, it does the actual contents a disservice. On the whole, I found myself wishing for a different title as WILD FOR AUSTEN sets up great expectations that the author too often strains to fulfill. Yet her book discusses family connections not previously explored and provides a wealth of fascinating detail about Jane and her distant relations (some of whom were also aspiring or published authors). WILD FOR AUSTEN is really a study of Jane: smart, snarky, observant, and irreverent, within her own wider world.

[I received a complimentary e-book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest, uncompensated review. My review, thoughts, and opinions are entirely my own.]