It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen is the most fascinating author of all time.  Well, maybe not universally acknowledged, but I would dare you to suggest otherwise to the characters in Natalie Jenner’s latest offering The Jane Austen Society: A Novel.  

Set in post World War II in the small village of Chawton, England an unlikely group assembles to save Austen’s cottage, library and legacy for future readers and lovers of all things Austen.  A village doctor, a Hollywood movie star, a housemaid, a farmer and a young widow discover that they share a passion for the works of Austen that is surprisingly rare in the village that Austen lived in most of her life in.  Most residents of the small village find the wandering tourists a nuisance to everyday life and their devotion to the hometown girl an oddity that the residents can’t wrap their heads around.

With old Mr. Knight, the owner of the Austen estate, at death’s door and the ownership of Chawton House in jeopardy the society of Austen lovers spring into action and begin gathering funds to purchase the cottage and provide for the Austen legacy.

As you may know this blog highlights women and their freedoms and I have always strongly believed that Austen exemplifies all things feminist through her writings and through her unconventional life.  Jenner continues this trend by reminding the reader that “Austen saw what a lack of money meant for the women in her life, and this consuming fear was what was telegraphed most loudly in all her books, hidden behind the much more palatable working of the marriage plot. Austen knew that no amount of charity or largesse from their male relatives could ever grant women real independence.”

As much as this novel is about the creation of an Austen society it is more about independence and how that is achieved for each character.  Each character explores their own limitations and how to overcome either societal expectations or personal limitations.  The difficulties of being at the mercy of others financially and the power that financial independence provides is highlighted by the relationship between Frances Knight, presumably the heir to the Great House and the last of the Austen line, and Mimi Harrison, an aging Hollywood movie star.  Mimi Harrison certainly has troubles in her own right but not where money is concerned. She has made her fortune starring in the “weepies” and has come to England to worship her Austen idol by scooping up mementos and trodding the quiet lanes of Chawton, meanwhile Frances Knight is completely dependent upon her dying father having given up her chance of a life of her own years ago when her father forced her to turn down the marriage proposal of her childhood love.  Through these two characters especially Jenner demonstrates Austen’s understanding of the need for financial independence and why it is so critical for a woman.

In The Jane Austen Society: A Novel Jenner has created a perfect balance of an homage to Austen and a call to action tale that reminds current day readers that Austen while ahead of her time in her message of the importance of financial independence for women is still just as relevant today, even more so.