The timeless English author continues to inspire
Rating: 3 Stars
“Jane Austen’s letters are a constant delight and gave an insight into her character,“ says Writing Jane Austen author Elizabeth Aston. “Writing Jane Austen is about a young woman discovering the novels and world of Jane Austen, but it’s also about writing. Its theme will resonate with anyone who has ever written or wanted to write a novel.“
Writing Jane Austen is the story of Georgina Jackson, a writer living in London struggling to write her second book. Her first book was critically acclaimed and an award- winner, but bestseller it wasn’t. Jackson’s agent Livia Harkness has an assignment for her to complete an unfinished manuscript. Georgina says no, she’s not here to finish someone else’s manuscript. However, it’s not just any manuscript. It’s an unfinished manuscript by Jane Austen. Can a writer who’s never read a Jane Austen novel write one?
Aston got the idea for Writing Jane Austen while on a train on the way to Oxford. “I get a lot of my best ideas while traveling,” says Aston. She’d also had an odd dream. “I thought I was living in London in 1810.” She incorporated that into the book. Aston, a Jane Austen aficionado, has written six books that continue the stories of characters in Jane Austen novels.
“Writing six historicals set around the time of Jane Austen has meant I’ve done a lot of research of that period over the years,” says Aston. “So, in some ways I feel at home there. For Writing Jane Austen, however, I read more about Jane Austen’s life, particularly when she was growing up. I also read quite a few academic articles on her, to remind myself of the distance between looking at her writing from a scholarly point of view, instead of just being a joyous reader.”
“For the locations, it was a case of revisiting,” says Aston. “I’ve lived in London, Bath and Oxford. I hadn’t been to Chawton, where Jane Austen lived, for a while, so I did make another trip there.”
Elizabeth Aston was born in Santiago, Chile. She’s currently based in Malta and spends part of the year in Italy. Her website www.Elizabeth-aston.com features a Ghost Blog.
With Writing Jane Austen, you can tell Aston loves Jane Austen. This witty book shows how current Jane Austen is, that the concerns of family, fortune and love are still central today.
Writiing Jane Austen by Elizabeth Aston. Trade Paperback, 320 pages, publisher: Touchstone; Original edition, Release date: April 13, 2010. Language: English, ISBN 978-1416587873
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