If you are a Jane Austen fan, and even if you aren’t (but especially if you are), you don’t want to miss this one. Sure, a book about Jane Austen and time travel sounds dicey, but The Jane Austen Project is smart, fun, and unputdownable.
What would you give up so she could live?
Not only do we get to time travel to 1815 to meet Jane Austen, but the time travelers are also from our future, adding another layer of interest. Going back to 1815 is quite a shock for them, but they have been preparing for this trip for a long time. Their mission: to steal the finished manuscript of The Watsons, and to try to determine the cause of Jane Austen’s death.
But how prepared can you really be for a world so different from your own? It was fun watching Rachel and Liam negotiating with each other and with this new world; trying to fit in seamlessly, but doubting their ability to do so along the way. For Rachel, it was hard for her to allow the men to act and think first while staying demurely in the background.
But how ghastly to be a woman here, I thought, as I realized that even I, who should know better, was thinking of them only in reference to men: those they would marry, or those they might wish to.
When Rachel asks Jane what she thinks of Mary Wollstonecraft’s ideas, she responds…
“She said only what everyone already knows… Yet if she was expecting men to snap our chains, I cannot but regard her as vastly naive. Why would anyone ever willingly surrender such advantages as birth and nature have bestowed on them? You might as soon ask me to go down into the offices and insist that my housemaid let me scrub the floors.”
As well as being on top of their game all the time, and never letting their guard down, they also have to be careful not to do anything that might significantly alter the future. But how to know what will be significant and what will not? They will have to wait and see what damage they’ve done when they get home… if they ever get there.
I thought how our cells are constantly dying and being formed anew, and that the longer I stayed here, the more I was becoming a product of 1815.
Further reading:
If you’re interested in learning more about The Jane Austen Project or about Jane Austen’s abandoned book The Watsons, see Kathleen A. Flynn’s guest post on Sarah Emsley’s blog.
A thorough review of the book on Austenblog – “We enjoyed getting to know this Jane Austen, who is fiercely intelligent and keenly observant, and has a tremendous sense of humor and a heart as big as the sky.”
A lovely review at Transactions with Beauty – “I love Flynn’s first line because it references the sort of mania, obsessive enthusiasm, of Austen lovers, who are really always travelling back in time.”
Have a look at Kathleen A. Flynn’s Jane Austen Reading Project. I’m especially interested in the “somehow relevant fiction” section. Have you read anything from this list?
What are your favourite Austen-related books?
Consumed by Ink 
Sounds fun! The best Austen spin-off I’ve read is Longbourn by Jo Baker, which is P&P from the servants’ perspective.
I have that one – just haven’t read it yet! I’m glad to hear you liked it!
This is on my TBR. I’m so glad you think it’s worth it! Austen spin-offs can be iffy sometimes.
I know! I was lucky enough to have Sarah Emsley read it first and tell me that she loved it. 🙂
I read The Jane Austen Book Club, which is on the Somehow Relevant Fiction list. It was a fun book, and an Austen fan will appreciate the smart way that Austen’s different books are brought up. And I just recently found a copy of Dinner with Mr. Darcy, a cookbook that promises to be much fun. Now I’ll be on the lookout for a copy of Flynn’s book…
I forgot about The Jane Austen Book Club! My mother gave that one to me right after I had baby #3. It was a good time to read it. 🙂 Now I kind of feel like reading it again…
I liked the film of that one too: quiet, like the book, but I liked it just as well. I”m not a huge spin-off reader. Does reading her letters count? No, I didn’t think so. I do remember considering reading one of the spin-offs by Joan Aiken. Does that count? *looks hopeful*
I’m not a big spin-off reader, either, but this one already came recommended by a trusted source. This one is worth the read! Really. 🙂
I must have this book! Love the cover 😊 And time travel! And Austen!
Go get it! 🙂
I have followed Flynn’s blog but not read the book yet. It sounds exciting, no doubt.
I’m not one to jump into any Jane Austen related book there is, but this one is a winner!
With the 200th anniversary fast approaching, it must be the season for all things Austen. I doubt whether this is for me (I’m too much of a pursuit for spin-offs), but I can think of a couple of people who might like. Thanks for the tip. 🙂
This is good for anyone who likes Jane Austen, historical fiction, or time travel.
It’s amazing to think that a writer from 200 years ago is still so popular!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this! I loved it. Fascinating to watch as Rachel and Liam discover how inadequate their preparations were. I’ve read several of the books on the “Somehow Relevant” list; one of my favourites is Tracy Chevalier’s Remarkable Creatures.
I loved Remarkable Creatures! There are a lot of books on the list that I wouldn’t have thought were related, but I also haven’t read them, so… 🙂
Really, it’s surprising that Rachel and Liam were as prepared as they were, because there were so many things to consider – things I never would have thought of. I was nervous the whole time about their money. It was so much fun!
Have you read Curiosity, by Joan Thomas? (Maybe we’ve talked about this before. I can’t remember. Another wonderful novel about Mary Anning.)
I haven’t yet… but it’s on my list! (I can’t remember if we’ve talked about this before.)
I don’t know. This sounds sort of intriguing and doubtful all at the same time. It would depend on how good the author is at depicting Austen’s world, I guess.
I thought the author handled all of it well – the time travel, the characters, Jane Austen, 1815. I’d love to hear your opinion on it!
OK, I’ll put it on my list. Might be a while, though.
This sounds great 🙂
It is! 🙂
Thanks so much for this lovely review! And for the shoutout to my reading list!
My pleasure! And I think I will be visiting your reading list for quite some time. 🙂
Brilliant post! Jane Austen is my favourite author! I’ve read all her novels many times! You’ve convinced me that I need to read this too!
I hope you love it!!
This one reminded me of “The Eyre Affair” by Jasper Fforde
I haven’t read that one. Would you recommend it?
I would. Very funny. The Eyre in the title is Jane Eyre. The writing was much like Douglas Adams. This one is the first of a series featuring Thursday Next. He also has a series based on nursery rhymes. What got me hooked was I saw him in an interview. Very entertaining for a writer.
I’ll have to check him out!
This sounds like a fun read! I’m going to have to check it out! (I agree that it sounds a little bit like “The Eyre Affair,” but just different enough that I’d love to dive into that world).
Now I’m going to have to read The Eyre Affair. 🙂
Aw, fun! I haven’t read a ton of Jane Austen related books, but I did read a terrific book called What Matters in Jane Austen that was really enlightening — it talked about death in Jane Austen in a way that I really hadn’t thought about before. I also have this book called Jane’s Fame that’s about how her reputation changed and spread throughout the centuries, which looks super interesting, but I haven’t read it yet.
The author of What Matters in Jane Austen was just in Halifax for a Jane Austen conference, and I went to hear him speak a few nights ago! He was a great speaker. I’m glad to know you recommend his book!
John Mullan’s What Matters in Jane Austen is a splendid book. So glad you enjoyed his lecture last week, Naomi! I did, too.
I loved it!
I liked The Jane Austen Book Club and have Mullan’s “What Matters” on my wish list, too. Apart from that, I don’t really like sequels etc – but this looks like FUN!
It is fun! Perfect for those of us who are wary of spin-offs. 🙂
I like Flynn’s “somehow relevant fiction” section. Wow she has great lists on Austen. I didn’t realize A Wrinkle in Time is relevant. Off her list, I really enjoyed Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld. Funny!
Makes me want to read some of them to see how they’re relevant!
Back to the Future meets Jane Austen. Cool!
Kind of like that, except that in The Jane Austen Project they were better prepared for their trip. 🙂