First Impressions: A Novel

An Austenite I respect, who ordinarily hates Austenesque novels, recommended this one very highly, so I hastened to read it. It was indeed an enjoyable experience! If I were enslaved to ratings, I might have given it 4.5 stars, but for the pleasure it yielded I rounded up. The book tells two parallel stories, one set in 1796 and focused on a twenty-year-old Jane Austen, and the other set in an unspecified present and centered on the twenty-something Sophie Collingwood. Sophie’s story is a romantic mystery, and Jane’s tale, while interesting enough on its own, exists primarily as a gradual elucidation of Sophie’s mystery. The author is adept at pulling the reader through both tales by breaking off each one at a suspenseful moment, returning to the other only to leave an enticing tease there as well. Once I started reading, I didn’t want to stop. The pace, and the charm of the characters, concealed what in retrospect I might consider a few flaws. Sophie is an Oxford postgraduate, at a crossroads in her life. She has unsympathetic parents and a sister who is emotionally close to her but physically distant. She lives mostly inside books, especially those of Jane Austen—encouraged in this mind-set by a bibliophile uncle, living in London, who is her mentor and inspiration. As the story opens, she meets an intriguing American stranger, Eric, and they share a tentative connection before Eric disappears for the Continent. Sophie plans to go visit her uncle so he can advise her on what she should do with her life, but he suddenly dies. She moves to his apartment, which he has willed to her, only to find that it has been stripped of all his books—by her father, who sold them to pay the uncle’s debts. (Her father has always resented books, apparently because he can’t sell the family library to pay for expenses at the family’s country house. He even keeps the library at his house locked.) Sophie goes to work in a used bookstore and meets another intriguing stranger, Winston. He asks her to seek out an obscure book, the second edition of a collection of allegorical tales by an eighteenth-century cleric, the Reverend Richard Mansfield. In short order another collector asks for the same book, and this one is impatient and threatening in his demands that she locate it. We have already met the Reverend Mansfield, as it turns out, thanks to the Jane Austen half of the story. He is an elderly cleric who has come to visit a nobleman not far from Jane’s home in Hampshire; when they meet, Jane and the Reverend form an immediate and fast friendship. Rev. Mansfield delights in having Jane read aloud her youthful writings; he gives her advice and encouragement on novel-writing, while after she discovers his collection of allegorical tales, she returns the favor. An unexpected and devastating event in her life, when confessed to her new friend, deepens their relationship as Rev. Mansfield assigns to her an act of penance. The author is cagey about the penitential act because it is central to the mystery of the book. As Sophie pursues the elusive second edition of Rev. Mansfield’s collection of allegorical stories and dangers cluster around her, she discovers clues to the mystery of Jane and the Reverend. As is typical of contemporary romantic suspense fiction, both of her intriguing men offer her reasons both to trust and to mistrust them; and there is always the threatening “other collector” waiting in the wings to ratchet up her fears. The storytelling is for the most part tidy, and the style of the contemporary tale is pretty standard romantic-suspense. I was charmed by all the characters, primary and secondary, except perhaps for one who too readily gave away his villain status. I particularly enjoyed all the details about rare books, an area of knowledge that seems to be the author’s strong suit. The style of the Jane Austen half of the story is good-but-not-perfect period prose, and the manners didn’t bother me as much as they usually do. The intimacy between Jane and the Reverend grows too quickly and she is allowed too much license to be alone with him, but I made allowances for her youth and simply took pleasure in following the twists of the plot. Other readers have objected to the idea that the Reverend, a writer of bad allegorical tales, should be so insightful in teaching Jane Austen how to write, but this bothered me only in retrospect. At the crisis point where the two stories meet, there are some coincidences that I didn’t buy, but by then I was fully hooked. All in all, it was a satisfying swift read that gave me a good deal of pleasure.

My first impressions of this lovely novel by Charlie Lovett were more than favourable as I lost myself in this skilfully woven dual narrative of a modern young woman, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, plagiarism, love and so much more. Book lover and Jane Austen aficionado, Sophie Cunningham, not only comes into an unexpected and bitter-sweet inheritance, but takes a job with an antiquarian book dealer in London. Grieving, confused about where her life is leading, but happy, as always, to take solace from books and the unexpected attentions of an American traveller, she has her suspicions aroused when two completely different customers request the same obscure and trifling book, the Little Book of Allegories, second edition by a Reverend Richard Mansfield, in a matter of days. One of the customers is the handsome and incorrigible Winston, the other a shady, threatening voice on the end of the phone, George Smedley, who promises Sophie a great deal of trouble if she does not fulfil his request. Segueing back to 1796, the novel also follows the developing and touching friendship of aspiring young novelist, Jane Austen, and the octogenarian, Richard Mansfield. Sharing a love of words and stories, as well as confidences, Jane and Richard become very attached and propose to help each other’s ambitions by embarking on a literary project together. In the meantime, Sophie’s efforts to locate the obscure book by the Reverend Mansfield unearth a potentially huge literary scandal involving Austen and the authorship of Pride and Prejudice. Torn between two very different men and their intentions towards her and the book she is tasked to find, as well as the dangers posed by Smedley and the threats he continues to unleash, Sophie’s search becomes a matter of life, death and literary reputations. Who can she trust and what will she do with the truth once she unravels it? Lovett’s writing is delightful and you sort of fall into this charming tale and its captivating and quite riveting premise regarding Austen. It requires a complete suspension of disbelief which I had no trouble, especially in the first half of the book, performing. In fact, the parts of the novel focussed on 1976 are simply enchanting and Jane Austen and the Reverend make a wonderful pair and their project fascinating for all sorts of reasons. As a consequence, some of the action and decisions of Sophie and the events that occur in contemporary times lack lustre and a bit of conviction. The final parts of the book especially are weak by comparison and the plot doesn’t thicken so much as congeal. The romance in the modern part is also an attempt, it seems, to mimic the Darcy/Wickham plot in Pride and Prejudice. I think it suffers by comparison with the original but there’s also a sense in which it doesn’t take itself too seriously. In fact, humour liberally peppers the modern section suggesting a joy and cheekiness as well as a homage to the greatest of romance plots, which also allows you to forgive its weaknesses. But, what I loved most about this book (apart from having Jane Austen as a character and the lovely prose), was its unabashed celebration of writing, reading and books and the role stories play in our lives. How they enrich, educate, provide comfort, mystery and romance. Lovett is a bibliophile par excellence and his utter pleasure in books and reading is contagious. I found myself murmuring in agreement and gratification at some of the words and thoughts he allocates to characters regarding reading and authors. Overall, a real pleasure to engage with and imagine.

I would give this book two more stars if I was allowed to. I absolutely loved it. All of it, from the opening line to the very end. It took me less than two days to finish it, I just couldn't put it down. One of the best things I've read so far this year. Fair warning: I'm not sure true hardcore Jane Austen's fan would like it. I mean, I like her novels, of course. I've read and enjoyed all of them, but I didn't mind the alterations and additions the author made to her like. Although I have a feeling true Jane Austen's admirers might find it offensive. That said, there is a lot more to this book than a twist on Austen's works. It's a book about loving books, about loving literature, about loving one's favorite authro and wanting to protect his or her work not because of an obsession, but because of what it meant to us, what they have given us. I belive anyone who loves to read, who has ever found confort in a book could relate to the characters in this novel. They might be versions a little extreme of us, but the story is so charming that there is no need for a more real personality. And, in addition, it has all the appeal of trips to Oxford, drescriptions of used books bookshops adn Estates in the English country side. One can hardly ask for more

Von allem etwas, Jane Austens Welt, Liebesgeschichte und Krimi, für entspannte Stunden, mal für eine Weile in eine andere Welt entführt. Und Jane Entwistle liest es so fantastisch, dass ich das Hörbuch fast noch mehr empfehlen kann.

l will add a properly considered review son.

A light mystery revolving around Jane Austin and the books she wrote. Quite a good little story.

Book as described, arrived on time.

Bien que n'ayant jamais lu Jane Austen en anglais, j'ai beaucoup aimé ce roman qui la met en scène, ainsi que les diverses étapes de ses travaux. L'auteur entremêle habielment la quête contemporaine d'un mystère littéraire et les scènes de la vie de Jane au XVIIIème siècle. c'est constamment passionnant et émouvant. Bien que lisant assez difficilement en anglais, j'ai adoré et je suis allée très vite (trop !!!). Un seul regret , que Charlie Lovett ne soit pas traduit en français : j'ai beaucoup apprécié son style et la richesse de son vocabulaire qui a enrichi le mien...Merci à lui