Kate Says: "Reading Is Fun!"

After walking in to find her husband and her teaching assistant having sex on the dining room table, Emma's well-ordered life falls apart, along with her university career specializing in the literary works of Jane Austen.

Since it was Austen's novels that made Emma believe in happy endings in the first place, she heads to England with plans to discredit the long dead author, whom she now feels was no real authority on love and relationships.

However, what Emma discovers in her literary research is that Austen experienced her own disappointments in life and love due to the choices she made. The more Emma learns, the more she evaluates her own life choices, her relationships with others, and the paths she ignored or did not take.

Her journey to England is one of self discovery that gives her a new respect for Austen, as well as a fledgling sense of self worth and the confidence to explore new found possibilities in love and her career.

I really liked Emma and Mrs. Parrot the most in this one. I also enjoyed the literary journey through England, as well as, the mystery of both Jane Austen's life and Emma's unraveling of her core beliefs throughout the narrative. I thought these things were presented in an organic, believable way throughout the text.

I feel that most Austen fans would enjoy this fictional re-imagining, where some poetic licenses were taken, but the basic facts of Austen's life, are true.