The Jane Austen Society has just been formed but it's not a light-hearted let's-throw-a-party kind of thing, more a route for some seriously depressed people who each find solace in Jane Austen to achieve some sense of agency for themselves through engagement with the real world in a way that honours Austen.
It's a sombre book that feels real to me. Austen's books and her association with the village in which the main characters live are a source of hope. They offer the possiblity of community and perhaps happiness.
There are some great discussions of Austen between the characters. One of the most recent talks about what it must have been like to see people as clearly as Austen does with their sillinesses and their veniality and small pettinesses all on display and yet still be able to write about them with compassion.
I also find myself trying to line the characters up against the characters in Austen's novels, in a sort of Fantasy Football way.
I'm enjoying listening to Richard Armitage. His narration is a bonus added to an already good read.
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