The Jane Austen Society by Natalie JennerMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I really do enjoy Jane Austen, but I am not a superfan-- I can't quote her and I don't read her every year. Perhaps you have to be the latter to really enjoy this ode to Austen. A eclectic group of fans in Chawton, just after WWII band together to save Austen's legacy. They have all been inspired and consoled by Austen and as they work through legal paperwork and personal problems, they grow closer and help each other out. They quote Austen regularly and argue motivations of characters, which is interesting (but would have been more if I was a superfan and could recall every character like they do). But it is a plodding novel, that deals too much in the minutiae of the Society--calling meetings to order, who voted and who didn't, etc. --which I bore because I thought this was based on a real Society--but although the Austen home is preserved in Chawton, the Society and its members are also fictionalized. The story was not compelling enough to be entirely fictional in my opinion. But if you are a Jane superfan, or enjoy mild small town drama maybe you will enjoy this.
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