Review: Austen at Sea

I had been looking forward to Natalie Jenner’s latest book since before even her last was published. She had begun hinting at the story of Austen at Sea so long ago and I knew it would be one I’d adore. I was right. It was wonderful.

Here’s the book’s description:

In Boston, 1865, Charlotte and Henrietta Stevenson, daughters of a Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice, have accomplished as much as women are allowed in those days. Chafing against those restrictions and inspired by the works of Jane Austen, they start a secret correspondence with Sir Francis Austen, her last surviving brother, now in his nineties. He sends them an original letter from his sister and invites them to come visit him in England.

In Philadelphia, Nicholas & Haslett Nelson—bachelor brothers, veterans of the recent Civil War, and rare book dealers—are also in correspondence with Sir Francis Austen, who lures them, too, to England, with the promise of a never-before-seen, rare Austen artifact to be evaluated.

The Stevenson sisters sneak away without a chaperone to sail to England. On their ship are the Nelson brothers, writer Louisa May Alcott, Sara-Beth Gleason—wealthy daughter of a Pennsylvania state senator with her eye on the Nelsons—and, a would-be last-minute chaperone to the Stevenson sisters, Justice Thomas Nash.

It's a voyage and trip that will dramatically change each of their lives in ways that are unforeseen, with the transformative spirit of the love of literature and that of Jane Austen herself.

I adore Jenner’s books but I like to warn folks that hers aren’t quite like the mega-popular historical fiction novels you may have read. Jenner does an immense amount of research and (mostly) avoids the dreaded info dump - when an author includes information they learned that really doesn’t add anything to the story. (Though there was a mention of how one character learned how to pick locks that I felt was over the top.) Her books are quieter stories and for those of us who love Jane Austen. I’m not saying you won’t like it if you don’t like Austen - you might. You just might have to consider those things that you love so you can understand why two different pairs of siblings are crossing an ocean to learn more about their favourite author.

I do wish there were fewer characters to keep track of. It was fun that the judges were reading Austen’s work together but it got repetitive and I don’t think it added much to the story. Nor do I think we really needed Judge Stevenson’s perspective. Focusing on the two sets of siblings and Nash would have been enough. Jenner was perhaps just trying to do too much with all of the great information she had been able to find. I can understand that but the story probably could have benefited from some cuts.

I love Austen and I also love Little Women. The appearance of Louisa May Alcott was an absolute delight for me. While I don’t know a ton about Alcott, I felt like Jenner stayed true to the author while exploring some of what we might assume but not know for sure. Oh, to be able to have conversations with some of these authors and know what they were really like and what they really wanted to happen to their work! This was a lovely little bonus for me that probably had me enjoying her character and part in the story more than others who aren’t Little Women fans.

Because of the time period, a particular storyline, and the profession of the sisters’ father and Nash, there was a lot of focus on women’s rights and the suffragette movement in both America and England. While that’s not going to be for everyone, it’s something I find interesting and am trying to learn more about (it helps when museums are adding more information about the women’s rights movement into their exhibits). We’ve made so many great strides since 1865, when this book was set, but it was kind of hard to read about right now when women’s rights are being threatened again. It feels like we’re sliding backwards and it is not a good feeling to have.

Austen at Sea is a book about the legacy of one of the world’s most famous authors but it’s also a story about family, love, and obligations. I very much enjoyed Natalie Jenner’s latest novel and it made me want to go back and reread her debut, The Jane Austen Society, to spend more time with other fans of Jane Austen.

*An egalley was provided by the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, via NetGalley and an ARC was provided by the publisher via Austenprose PR, both in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*