Reviewer: Amy Lignor
Title: Just Jane
Author: Nancy Moser
Publisher: Bethany House
ISBN-13: 978-0-7642-0356-5
Release Date: September 2007
Genre/Sub-genre: Historical Fiction
Year/Setting: England, 1800’s
Overall Rating: 4.0
Sexual Content Rating: None
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: None
Violent Content Rating: None
Nancy's Website:
www.nancymoser.com
Dear Readers…It’s no surprise to anyone, if ever reading my reviews, that I am an extreme fan of the incomparable Jane Austen. I have always believed this woman was the "end-all and be-all" of fictional works, so I really desire any author who embarks on this subject to do this lovely woman justice. I am happy to report that this author has done just that.
In this realistic and emotionally moving portrayal of Jane Austen’s early life, the author takes us through the circumstances that molded this young girl into the prolific author that she would become. This story sees Jane venturing out from her own small corner of the world. Following her life’s journey, growing up in a clergyman’s house with her many siblings, she embarks on many moves – good and bad – that make the reader see where and when Jane’s enduring characters were first born. We see Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett formed from Jane’s vivid circle of friends and acquaintances. We understand Marianne and Eleanor – the charming Dashwood sisters from Sense and Sensibility – and we can truly see their creation through Jane Austen’s eyes.
We learn that Jane’s family supported her choice to write with a devotion that is unparalleled and unseen in most family units. Jane certainly has romantic tendencies and harbors, like all authors, the longing to be a true heroine who finds her hero among the masses. However, in her circles, ‘grandness’ seemed to impress far more than ‘thinking,’ and Jane finds herself focusing on her work and her desire to create. There are wonderful lines in this novel such as when Jane remarks that, ‘a person content to be bland will never be anyone’s choice as a companion for an idle afternoon.’ This is what Jane most likely believed, for she was anything but bland. The author also offers up dialogue where Jane states that, "Life goes on with or without a published work by Jane Austen." True. But I am certainly among the many who believe that life is much better ‘with.’
Read This. Enjoy it. I’ve had the supreme pleasure of reading more than one novel recently about this talented woman; this author certainly shows that it’s a ‘universally acknowledged truth’ that Austen was a lady to be remembered.
Amy
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