"Miss Austen," by Gill Hornby

Most people who know me in person and/or through this blog know how much I love and admire the novels of Jane Austen, each of which I have read many times. I also enjoy some – although not all – of the “take-offs” of her work: prequels, sequels, books about one or more of her characters, and other permutations. I have also read several biographical and critical studies. The most recent Austen-related novel that I have read is “Miss Austen: A Novel of the Austen Sisters” (Flatiron, 2020), by Gill Hornby (sister of the author Nick Hornby). The main character is Jane Austen’s dear, very close sister, Cassandra Austen; the novel imagines her late in life as she tries to find and destroy any letters or other materials that might tarnish her sister Jane’s reputation and legacy. (In fact, Cassandra did in real life destroy such letters and papers.) The novel goes back and forth in time between Cassandra’s old age, long after Jane has died, and their earlier times together. This is a serious book, and I respect the work. I admit that it took a while for me to be drawn into the novel, which is quite “slow,” but gradually I became more caught up in it. The characterizations of Cassandra and Jane, and of their relationship, are of interest; the other characters portrayed – various relatives of the Austen family – are minor characters of minor interest. I am glad that I read “Miss Austen,” and I recommend it to other devotees of all things Austen, but perhaps not to people with less focused and less intense interest in the author and her work. Finally, Austen’s writing is so much a work of genius that almost anything written about her or about her characters pales in comparison.