Novel written by Ada Bright and Cass Grafton
There’s something meta about this book mentioning truth is stranger than fiction; Jane Austen appears at the museum dedicated to her, characters are linked across time and bloodlines. If you missed the first book (like me); Jane Austen has a necklace that lets her travel through time! Now you’re caught up.
It’s written by a pair who’ve produced several Austen inspired books. I’m working on a partnership myself – glad to see they work!
Rose (with her new beau) is pulled back in time by Jane Austen. The difficulties of daily life for a modern person dealing with lack of plumbing and electricity are brushed over, focusing instead on the emotional journey of the characters. Lack of medicine does play quite a large part in the plot but its the constant little annoyances, the minutiae, that are missing.
Austen family members make an appearance and are drawn in broad strokes; Mrs Austen, difficult; Cassandra, helpful; Edward, upright; Charles, mischief maker. Jane Austen herself is more difficult to pin down, a lot relies on the friendship established in the previous book.
It’s very readable, has a little bit of chemistry, but may only be interesting to those who are already fans of Austen.
It’s not clear if this sequel was planned, but a third was (the end points to it); an outline existed in July 2020 but it hasn’t been mentioned since. Let’s be fair though, the pandemic derailed a lot of plans. If it’s ever published, I’ll read it.