Beth Pattillo

Ok, it's time for another Jane Austen-inspired book. "Jane Austen Ruined My Life" features Emma Grant as a Jane Austen scholar who visits England to meet with someone who claims to have unpublished Jane Austen letters.

What I liked most about this book was the premise that Jane asked her sister Cassandra to keep but hide all her letters, making them available to only a select group. She didn't want her personal life to trivialize her work. By keeping her private life and thoughts inaccessible, her works would be her voice to the world.

Historically it's said that Cassandra destroyed all of Jane's letters, so reading a plot line around the idea that the letters DO exist was fun.

I still have a few more Jane books on my bookshelf to be read, and I'll post about them here when I'm finished.