What Would Jane Austen Do? [Mass Market Paperback]

Heroine Eleanor Pottinger is a costume designer from Los Angeles who arrives in Hampshire, England for Regency Week jetlagged and downtrodden after being unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend. She has booked her accommodations at Twixton Manor Inn, an eighteenth-century grand manor house converted into a hotel whose staff has lost her reservation and must put her up in the only room left available - the haunted one that they never use. Undaunted, Eleanor just wants sleep and does not care if she shares it with anyone, spectral or otherwise. When the two ghostly sisters Mina and Deirdre materialize to haunt her, she strikes a bargain with them to travel back to Regency times to thwart a deadly duel that kills their brother Teddy if they will in turn introduce her to their neighbor, her favorite author Jane Austen. Eleanor awakens in 1814 to meet the sisters and their family living at Twixton Manor with a house full of guests including hunky rake Lord Shermont, an agent for the crown who is secretly hunting for a Napoleonic spy among them. Eleanor quickly becomes his chief suspect. Motivated to meet Jane Austen, Eleanor engages in a week of social activities to discover which of the sister's honor will be compromised provoking Teddy into duel with Shermont. Somehow she must figure out how to alter history and avert the deed and save his life. As a twenty-first century woman, Eleanor struggles with the Regency lifestyle and often asks herself "what would Jane Austen do?" in the same situation which works beautifully until romance gets in the way as she is courted by Teddy and the known womanizer Lord Shermont. Questioning their motives may be the key to her unraveling the mystery and discovering if she has fallen in love with a spy or an Austen-esque hero.

Author Laurie Brown has pulled together elements of several genres - historical romance, spy thriller, time travel, and Jane Austen - in an ambitious endeavour. The plot moved very quickly and was evenly paced. Contrary to scandalous rumor, I do enjoy historical romance novels, which What Would Jane Austen Do? would qualify. I have two requirements in my romance reading that this novel satisfied; -- that the characters are believable and the plot has substance. I enjoyed traveling back in time with Eleanor, meeting Lord Shermont and of course encountering Jane Austen. Who wouldn't? Brown obviously researched her Regency history and has read Austen's novels quoting characters and scenes (though I must correct her reference to Knightley criticizing Emma Woodhouse after the picnic at Boxhill where she had treated Jane so badly! It was Miss Bates who was abused not Jane Fairfax.). Taken as a fun and frothy summer read, I have very few quibbles. However, when an author chooses to use Jane Austen or her characters that ups the ante in my book, and the standards are raised. Unfortunately, the opportunity to distinguish the present and the past with language nuances was missed as modern words such as Tarzan, yummy, omigod leaked in to the Regency world, and misnomers such as Arabian thoroughbred was used to describe Lord Shermont's horse. Additionally, at times I would like to have rested and discovered more about characters and their motivations, which was Austen's forte. In the end, I knew very little about the heroine and hero's inner thinking and felt the plot skipped past moments to elaborate and reflect just a bit more. The author did however supply the requisite Austen-esque heroine transformation and happily-ever-after ending, which Jane would have chosen to wrap-up more swiftly with far less effusion. In the end, was I entrapped by Jane Austen's name into reading this novel? You betcha! Do I have any regrets? Like Austen's character Emma Woodhouse, in this instance "I would much rather have been merry than wise."

Laurel Ann, Austenprose

If you are a Regency purist this isn't the book for you!

The dialogue of the supposed English upper-class characters is distinctly modern American, peppered with British slang. This includes such shockers as the host of the house party referring to his titled male guest as "old sod"!! This reference is derived from the word "sodomite" - and would have resulted in great offence being taken, if not a challenge to a duel issued! One of the upper class ladies also uses the reference "not a lick of sense" in speaking of a fellow guest - definitely a no-no for a gently-bred lady of the times. Scattered throughout, are some slang terms which are distinctly British lower-class, and unlikely to be used by "gentlemen" of the period.

Having said all that, I don't wish to be too harsh, as the authoress has taken pains to provide some authentic details too. I picked up a bit of interesting knowledge of the bathing practises of the time ... which quite amazingly, for all the elegance required of the higher society, occured as little as possible! (Yuck!)Also, as our heroine Eleanor is concerned with the fashions of the time, there is quite a bit of description of gowns & etc., too.

If you can deal with the clashing mixture of Americanised/British upper/lower class dialogue, the story itself is an interesting one, and ends happily for all the likeable parties... plus the ghosts!

So - if you're looking for a light,interesting, romantic "read" this is the one for you.

Also containing a few references to Jane Austen herself, her works,the terrific value of collectible items of hers nowadays, and a bit of dialogue (including advice for our heroine) from Miss Austen herself.

What would Jane Austen do? Do I actually care? She's hardly a great prophet, leader or guru; she's an excellent novelist who died relatively young nearly two hundred years ago.

However the author Laurie Brown seems to think Jane Austen's guidance is worthwhile and the theme 'What would Jane Austen do' runs through the book. In this story our heroine, Eleanor Pottinger, a Jane Austen fan, finds herself thrust back in time by two ghosts to try to prevent a duel after a seduction. Eleanor looks like their cousin, a woman who had been living in America, and Eleanor of course knows a great deal about the Regency time - she's a Regency costume maker, for example - so manages to fit in fairly well.

She finds herself at a house party where the young women, eventually to become the two ghosts, look after Eleanor but show their youth in their rather carefree manners - Eleanor can see how one of them was seduced. She knows the seducer, too - Lord Shermont, a rather mysterious but very handsome man who is part of the house party. We also follow events from Shermont's point of view and the reader learns that he works for the government and is on the track of a Napoleonic spy who also has an accomplice - who might just be Eleanor.

Eleanor occasionally repeats the refrain "What would Jane Austen do?" when trying to overcome a problem in her situation; she gets the chance to meet the author in person, although this is a fairly minor part of the story; most of the action is Eleanor trying to keep the two young women out of mischief, coping with life in the Regency and being attracted to Shermont. I didn't feel that the Jane Austen aspect added anything to the book, in fact for me it was slightly obsequiously overdone, but that might be my British sensibilities showing through there.

The author has clearly researched much of the content of the book very well, specifially mealtimes, bathing and clothing, and there were some interesting vignettes into life at a country house gathering. However there were also some jarring elements, such as American words and phrasing issuing from the mouths of the English Regency characters and the feeling that the behaviour of several of the characters was rather more 21st century than 19th.

The book was well plotted and all the threads were tied up at the end. It was overall an enjoyable read but even when I had finished it and my eye caught the title again, "What would Jane Austen do?", I found myself saying "Who cares?"

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008