"Miss Austen" by Gill Hornby

I had two reasons for choosing "Miss Austen" by Gill Hornby as my next read. (I read somewhere -- and had no idea! -- that Gill Hornby is the sister of writer Nick Hornby, and the wife of novelist Robert Harris.)  

First, I wanted to have the book at least partly read before the four-part TV adaptation began running on PBS Masterpiece on May 4th (and I did have it started). And second, several UK members of our Childless Collective Nomo Book Club read the book (in conjunction with the TV series when it aired there earlier this year) and suggested it might be one to consider for the group.  

"Miss Austen," the title character, is Cassandra Austen -- novelist Jane Austen's older sister. It's 1840 (with flashbacks to the past), Cassandra is now 60 years old (and there are numerous ANNOYING references to her "advanced age" -- AHEM!) and, like her famous late sister, never married.  As the story begins, Cassandra has invited herself to the vicarage at Kinmount, the home of her late friend Eliza Lloyd Fowle and her husband Fulwer Fowle, who has just passed away. Cassandra is there to offer her sympathy and support to the Fowles's frazzled spinster daughter, Isabella (who must vacate Kinmount, where the family has lived for the past several decades, in short order to make way for the new curate).  As the spinster daughter of a late vicar herself, Cassandra has personal experience in this matter. But she also has an ulterior motive: to find the letters that Jane wrote to Eliza. 

What's in the letters, and why is Cassandra so determined to find them? 

The book starts slowly but gradually becomes more interesting as the true purpose of Cassandra's visit is revealed, along with a backstory from 20-40 years earlier.  The writing has an Austen-ish flavour -- although of course, there was only one Jane Austen. ;)  It does drag on a little too long -- but the last few chapters were lovely. From a CNBC perspective, there's a lot of fodder here for thought & discussion as Cassandra reflects on her life as an older, unmarried childless woman, in an era where there were few options for women like her, Jane, and Isabella. 

Sample passage, from Chapter 24, that may sound familiar to some of us...! (interestingly, this is Cassandra reflecting on her own misunderstanding of another woman's situation):  

Then how great was her own arrogance!  How great, now, was her shame! She had taken the lessons of her own life and imposed them on the life on another.  She had interpreted her own happiness and promoted it, relentlessly, as the only true happiness.  Misled by an old woman's blind faith in "experience" and "wisdom"....

And this, from Chapter 25:  

Jane flicked her hand. "...You know, she really, genuinely, in her deep heart of hearts, pities all three of us. Here I am. England's Happiest Woman -- self-appointed, perhaps, but official nonetheless, the crown is secure on my head -- and in comes Mary, assesses my lot, and can only see Tragedy."  

"She approaches the subject of Life with quite different criteria." 

"Yes, but is she alone?"  Jane wanted to know. "Does everyone feel that way? Do they all look at us and see three creatures as joyless and stiff as" -- she looked around and her eye caught the cold fireplace -- "that poker? The fire screen? Some planks of dry wood?  We took the sow's ear that our fate offered us, and fashioned something quite wonderful..." 

Similar to "Can't We Be Friends," the letters Cassandra seeks (and eventually finds and reads) are entirely made up -- although Cassandra and Jane's brother James's hilariously bad poetry is, apparently, the real thing!  Somehow, I don't mind the fictional letters here quite as much as I did with "Can't We Be Friends" -- maybe because the events of this book happened more than 200 years ago, versus a mere 60-70 (and to people whose lives are much better known to us)?

3.5 stars on StoryGraph. I debated whether that should be rounded up or down for Goodreads, and eventually settled on 4 stars... perhaps I'm being overly generous, but I did appreciate the sympathetic depiction of single childless women, and those last few chapters. :)   

(I've seen one of the four episodes of the TV version so far -- so far, so good. Like the book, a little slow-moving -- and I noticed they've changed a few things from the book around -- but the sets and costumes are sumptuous -- it's gorgeous to look at! -- and it's fun to see the characters brought to life so well!)  

This was Book #14 read to date in 2025 (and Book #1 finished in April), bringing me to 31% of my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 1 book behind  schedule to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books."