The Jane Austen Society
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The Jane Austen Society
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Narrated by:
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Richard Armitage
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By:
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Natalie Jenner
About this listen
The international bestseller.
Only a few months after the end of the Second World War, a new battle is beginning in the little village of Chawton. Once the final home of Jane Austen, the Chawton estate is dwindling and the last piece of Austen's heritage is at risk of being sold to the highest bidder....
Drawn together by their love of her novels, eight very different people - from a local farmer to a glamorous film star - must unite to attempt something remarkable. As new friendships form and the griefs of the past begin to fade, they rally together to create the Jane Austen Society and to save the beloved novelist's home and legacy. But can her words change all their lives in return?
A heartbreaking and uplifting novel of hope, loss and love. Perfect for fans of Miss Austen by Gill Hornby and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer
©2019 Natalie Jenner (P)2019 Orion Publishing GroupListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"A wonderful book, a wonderful read." (Karen Joy Fowler, best-selling author of The Jane Austen Book Club)
"A charming and memorable debut, which reminds us of the power of books to unite and heal." (Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Girls of Paris)
Absolutely brilliant
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Beautiful
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Listened to it nonstop, in one go
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Loved this book
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Great Listen
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Richard Armitage is so easy to listen to and has that type of voice that draws you in. His talents with his voices allowed me to picture each character with great pleasure.
Thank you sir
Absolutely wonderful
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loved it
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The story itself is very character focused and the action moves quite slowly although its not necessarily gentle with a strong focus on loss and grief. In that way it sets itself well into the time period in which it is based, it could have been written much earlier in time except . . . the anachronisms and the Americanisms! I wouldn’t say this spoiled the story but they were incredibly irritating. I think a good editor was missing from this! One example - in modern England it is not common for people to refer to the Christmas period as anything other than ‘Christmas’ , ‘holidays’ is just not much used. If that’s true in 2023 I don’t believe it was ever used in 1945. Likewise, it is highly unlikely that Frances, Andrew and Benjamin would have been at school together nor that they would have attended the village school into their teens. That wasn’t how middle/upper class children were educated at the start of the last century. More research was needed here as it kept being referenced.
Finally, the author used ‘disinterested’ in place of ‘uninterested’ - argh - they are not synonyms. Again where was the editor.
Luckily, the narrator’s lovely voice smoothed over these irritations and kept me listening to an enjoyable end.
A heartwarming story, superbly read
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And who, pray, could fail to love anything Richard Armitage reads?
I am putting it on again for a second time now. So beautiful. Thank you Ms Jenner for this amazing story.
brilliant
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enjoyable
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