Miss Austen

The #1 bestseller and one of the best novels of 2020 according to the Times, Observer, Stylist and more

By: Gill Hornby

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Paperback | 16 March 2021

At a Glance

Paperback
416 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
2.5 x 12.8 x 19.6

Paperback

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$21.75

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A wonderfully original, emotionally complex 'reading-group' novel that delves into why Cassandra burned a treasure trove of letters written by her sister, Jane Austen - an act of destruction that has troubled academics for centuries.

It's 1840, twenty-three years after the death of her famous sister Jane, and Cassandra Austen - alone and unwed - returns to the vicarage in the village of Kintbury.

There, in a dusty corner of the sprawling vicarage, she discovers a treasure trove of family letters - and within them secrets that she feels certain must not be revealed.

She resolves to burn the letters, even those written by Jane herself.

But why destroy so much of her sister's legacy?

As Cassandra casts an eye back on her youth and the life of her brilliant yet complex sister, she pieces together long-buried truths from both her and Jane's pasts, and knows she must make a terrible choice: let the contents of the letters colour Jane's memory for ever - or protect her reputation no matter the cost.

About the Author

Gill Hornby is the author of the novels The Hive and All Together Now, as well as The Story of Jane Austen, a biography of Austen for young readers. She lives in Kintbury, England, with her husband and their four children.

Industry Reviews

Without romanticising its period setting or underplaying the precariousness of any woman's position in this society, it celebrates unexamined lives, sisterhood and virtues such as kindness and loyalty.
* Sunday Times *

This is the perfect book to wrap yourself around on a dark night.
* Stylist *

Miss Austen voices the (hitherto) shadowy figure of Cassandra, the villainies of the piece, and makes her flesh and blood.... Gill Hornby is at her best describing the complex bonds between the "excellent women" of her story. She describes the horrors, but also the pleasures, of spinsterhood.
* the Times *

So good, so intelligent, so clever, so entertaining - I adored it.
Claire Tomalin

Hornby's gift to the world of Austen lovers is to return to Cassandra her rightful recognition as Jane's most intimate and sustaining relationship, her greatest love. This is a deeply imagined and deeply moving novel. Reading it made me happy and weepy in equally copious amounts.
Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

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Miss Austen

The #1 bestseller and one of the best novels of 2020 according to the Times, Observer, Stylist and more

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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