Category: Austen

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.

Charlotte is a picture of domesticity. The bulk of the book is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice from Charlotte’s perspective but it takes us a while to get there. From Charlotte’s view we hear that “Mrs Bennet would be in danger of expiring with joy” when considering Mr Darcy’s proposal to Elizabeth. This is the best of the book, the new storyline isn’t as enchanting.

Charlotte maintains her sense, for at least some of the novel, and she observes that “Mr Darcy spoke too little, and Mr Collins too much.” It’s amusing to see how Mr Darcy’s visiting Elizabeth at Hunsford threw the peaceful household into “minor storms of domestic havoc.”

There are echoes of Emma as Charlotte realises that “it was poverty only that made celibacy contemptible in the eyes of the public,” something her new friend Anne de Bourgh as a wealthy woman will never have to worry about. As so often happens in adaptations Anne emerges as an entirely different character with a backbone.

It is comforting to see Charlotte really find her place in her marriage. She was “safe, appreciated and occupied” and that “while her husband did not often speak sense, he always spoke kindly” although she did sometimes suffer “a tax of mortification” for his words.

This story is really a continuation of Pride and Prejudice allowing us to see how Charlotte and Elizabeth cope with married life. It veers strongly from the characters in the original when it comes to Anne and later Charlotte, which feels like such a shame after getting to really appreciate her.

“In the midst of so large a family, (Mary) was utterly alone” and after the inevitable death of her father she is adrift in the world still attempting to find her place. I’ve often felt Mary was hard done by but this author manages to make me feel sorry even for Mr Collins and dislike the sweet Mr Bingley when they point out he only likes Jane because she’s beautiful. The book is something of a study in relationships. Charlotte becomes Mary’s confidant and they are so well suited you wonder why they weren’t friends before. Caroline Bingley rears her ugly head again as does Lady Catherine but it’s Mrs Bennet and her lack of affection for her daughter who is the real villain.

It’s a massive book, separated into five parts but it’s about half way through that it begins to feel like a different book. The first half is a continuation of Pride and Prejudice then at the half way mark it becomes your typical regency romance – a very drawn out one. The book is mostly told from Mary’s perspective (in third person) but we slide quietly into other characters thoughts and motivations reasonably regularly. At the start of the book there’s a sadness about her, a worry about finding her place which I identify with but makes it at times painful to read but don’t worry she has her happy ending.

The last we hear of Kitty Bennet in Pride and Prejudice is that she “spent the chief of her time with her two elder sisters. In society so superior to what she had generally known, her improvement was great.” Carrie Kablean takes us on Kitty’s journey of improvement in What Kitty Did Next. It’s inline with her fate as envisioned by Jane Austen, but I won’t spoil the ending by telling you!

As Kitty matures she’s able to see where she was led astray and why. Carrie agrees with a hypothesis I’ve long held, that Kitty was sick as a child. Lydia was not only the stronger character but also the stronger sister. Lydia remains “a force to be reckoned with” that threatens Kitty’s “peace and enjoyment” putting her “on her guard.”  It’s a shame Lydia is never allowed to grow up – not in the epilogue to Pride and Prejudice or in fanfiction.

Carrie does a fine homage to Austen’s writing with a few gems Austen could have written herself. Some so good, you’ll laugh out loud:

What Katy Did Next is a children’s book from the late 1800’s, published about 70 years after the events in What Kitty Did Next (published 2018). It makes the title of this novel have a familiar ring that you can’t quite place, a little like Carrie’s writing reminds you of Austen’s.

I read several reviews of Jane Austen The Secret Radical before reading the book itself. Reviewers Abigail Bok and John Mullan agree that there isn’t much new. This is amusing as Mullan’s What Matters In Jane Austen* has even less original material. I agree with him that Edward Ferrars and Catherine Moreland’s behaviour is unlikely to have Freudian undertones. But those who view Austen’s novels as romances may be surprised (“Jane’s novels aren’t romantic. But it’s become increasingly difficult for readers to see this.” p. 31); readers who know about Austen herself won’t be. 

Kelly (the author) points out that much of what we take for fact is hypothesis or family tradition. The book includes a lot of historical fact, not all of it solidly tied to Austen.  For example, abortion was legal during part of Austen’s lifetime (an interesting point as there is a movement to legalise it in NZ). She declares the real reason Jane Austen never married is because “sex can kill you” (p. 69). What then for Charlotte Lucas who married Mr Collins a “fate worse than death” (p.137)?

There are some strange ideas; that Mary Musgrove is pregnant, that Catherine never finishes the Mysteries of Udolpho, that Anne and Fredrick aren’t in love at the beginning of Persuasion, that Harriet and Jane Fairfax are sisters. But the most laughably absurd is that Mr Knightley has ulterior motives in marrying Emma and that he’s a “terrible landlord” ( p. 235).

Jane Austen The Secret Radical is written on the premise that “it’s impossible for anyone to write thousands upon thousands of words and reveal nothing of how they think or what they believe” (p. 30). But almost anything can be twisted to mean what you want it to – just look at The Bible. Do give it a read though, she might convince you.

All quotes from Kelly, H (2016). Jane Austen the Secret Radical. London: Icon.

*I recommend you read Jane Austen the Secret Radical over What Matters in Jane Austen. Or read both.

This review is also posted on the Jane Austen Society of Aotearoa NZ