♡ Thank you for the free book, audiobook, and goodies, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio.
Synopsis
In Boston, 1865, Charlotte and Henrietta Stevenson, daughters of a Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice, have accomplished as much as women are allowed in those days. Chafing against those restrictions and inspired by the works of Jane Austen, they start a secret correspondence with Sir Francis Austen, her last surviving brother, now in his nineties. He sends them an original letter from his sister and invites them to come visit him in England.
In Philadelphia, Nicholas & Haslett Nelson—bachelor brothers, veterans of the recent Civil War, and rare book dealers—are also in correspondence with Sir Francis Austen, who lures them, too, to England, with the promise of a never-before-seen, rare Austen artifact to be evaluated.
The Stevenson sisters sneak away without a chaperone to sail to England. On their ship are the Nelson brothers, writer Louisa May Alcott, Sara-Beth Gleason—wealthy daughter of a Pennsylvania state senator with her eye on the Nelsons—and, a would-be last-minute chaperone to the Stevenson sisters, Justice Thomas Nash.
It’s a voyage and trip that will dramatically change each of their lives in ways that are unforeseen, with the transformative spirit of the love of literature and that of Jane Austen herself.
Thoughts
Mention Jane Austen, and I’m in! This was a delightful and quick historical fiction story. The writing was exquisite. I found it a touch slow in the middle, but I won’t complain too much about that. Pick this up if you enjoy Jane Austen, literary references, romance, and historical fiction focused on women’s issues.
★★★★☆
☊ 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭. 𝘕𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘙𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘫𝘰𝘣.