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The Bennet Women is set in an American university residence hall amongst a diverse cast of women – Black, Asian and Trans. One of the lovely things about this representation is that these identities do not define the characters. Nor are their experiences used to traumatise the character or reader – we are all aware who they are, it’s constantly in the back of their minds. There is a very satisfying scene where EJ (Lizzy) clearly articulates exactly what life is like as a female engineering student; she views this speech as a failure but I wanted to applaud.

Adaptations, fanfiction “based on” and “inspired by” stories give us an opportunity to wonder “what if?” What if Lizzy was a black woman? How would this identity influence her life, her character, her actions? It’s a delight to revisit characters and plot points with the authors new twist. Lady Catherine seemed to be absent, I only recognised her when she confronts EJ.

A lot of the conflict from Pride and Prejudice is avoided and I like that. I’m not a fan of conflict. The characters actually communicate, they go to therapy, they assess situations maturely (most of the time). It’s a relief to escape the boring trope of characters not being able to be together because “reasons.” This awareness means that Wickham’s grooming young vulnerable women goes from sub text to text, these women are equipped to recognise a predator.

Two plot points were left to drift. EJ and her family don’t deal with the borderline eating disorder she had when she was younger, it’s mentioned then brushed off. They do deal with other reasons she gave up dancing which was a wretch to her younger self. EJ and Will (Darcy) agree to take down Jordan (Wickham) but never follow through, he does get his comeuppance but we don’t get to witness it. The ending drags a little but is necessary to tie up other loose ends. But it must be pointed out that everyone knows Dr Who is not filmed in London (read the book to find out why that’s relevant).

I was lent this book by a fellow romance writer from the Wellington-Kapiti branch of Romance Writers of New Zealand (thanks Lisa!).

Who wants an up close and personal experience with Jane Austen? Me, says every Austen fan ever. This book will give you that promised experience. You’ll get to see how Jane thought, how she felt, what her daily life was like, and then, what she thinks of her popularity and the advancements in technology since her time.

This novel takes some liberties with Jane Austen’s life, but hey, it’s fiction. In fact, it’s fantasy. Time travel isn’t real people, no matter how much we wish it were. While it’s true that Mrs Austen and Jane didn’t necessarily get along all the time, there is no evidence to suggest that her mother was ever outright opposed to Jane’s writing career as she is cast here.

After a disastrous incident with a potential suitor, and a nasty gossip, Jane takes a chance and discovers a path to find her one true love which lands her in modern Bath. Here her fate is linked to that of former Hollywood darling, Sophia Wentworth (sound familiar?), who is in Bath shooting an Austen adaptation. She at first thinks Jane’s appearance is a prank pulled on her by the show for interesting behind the scenes footage.

Sophia and Jane’s stories are wound together, showing the difficulties of love and being an independent woman in any timeline. As Jane’s views widen, her life in the past begins to disappear, creating ripples into her future timeline. In the end it comes down to what is more important – her love or her art?

To start off you need to know this is a work of fiction. It’s unclear why this was created rather than researching and telling the real story about the formation of the Jane Austen Society. Especially as now this will be taken as fact rather than the history. It’s evident from the notes in the back that the author did some research about places and names, the latter to avoid naming actual individuals.

The author wanted to “write about a group of people traumatised … who came together over their shared love of … Jane Austen.” She did this very well, all the characters are leading miserable lives in what appears to be a pretty miserable time (post WWII), making this a difficult read. There is an attempt to make Chawton feel like “something out of a Jane Austen novel.”

The position and treatment of women was particularly bleak. “Austen saw what lack of money meant for the women in her life, and this consuming fear was … telegraphed most loudly in all her books.” I was glad the characters discussed Jane Austen with each other or it would have been too much to bear.

One of the characters observes; “we love Jane Austen because her characters … are no better or worse than us. They’re so eminently, so completely, human.” But the characters in this book didn’t seem very real. Perspective jumped from one to another between paragraphs though each had their own section.

Despite a couple of twists and turns Chawton cottage is secured for the society and all the characters get their happy endings, they are rushed into them in the last two chapters.

I finished this book more because I felt I should rather than from any enjoyment of the text.