The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen

Did that catch your attention? 

It sure caught mine when I saw my mother-in-law reading it!

You are all pretty aware by now that I love Jane's work, so when I saw this one by Syrie James (cool name right?) it instantly shot to the top of my 'I must read this' list. (I was a good girl though and finished Oliver Twist first.)

I devoured this book in mere days. It was captivating, well written, loveable characters, set in merry old England. The gushing could go on and on.

In this book there are two stories happening: the modern day one of discovery of the manuscript and the story told in the manuscript itself. Which means Ms. James had to write in two completely different styles and convince us that one was Jane Austen's! Dear me. Any writer can tell you that writing one story style is enough to make us want to tear our hair out and to do two?! And do it well? We sometimes end up in a temporary asylum for the writerly insane. (Yes, I just made that word up.)

Honestly, I couldn't find a weak spot in this book. I give it 5 stars. This is the first book I've read by Ms. James and I became an instant fan.

Now, go grab a copy and enjoy a nice few days in this awesome world of James/Austen and then you can grab The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen that she penned too.

What Austen knock off book have you read an loved?

http://www.amazon.com/The-Missing-Manuscript-Jane-Austen/dp/0425253368

The minute I saw the letter, I knew it was hers. There was no mistaking it: the salutation, the tiny, precise handwriting, the date, the content itself, all confirmed its ancient status and authorship…

Samantha McDonough cannot believe her eyes--or her luck. Tucked in an uncut page of a two-hundred-year old poetry book is a letter she believes was written by Jane Austen, mentioning with regret a manuscript that "went missing at Greenbriar in Devonshire." Could there really be an undiscovered Jane Austen novel waiting to be found? Could anyone resist the temptation to go looking for it?

Making her way to the beautiful, centuries-old Greenbriar estate, Samantha finds it no easy task to sell its owner, the handsome yet uncompromising Anthony Whitaker, on her wild idea of searching for a lost Austen work--until she mentions its possible million dollar value.

After discovering the unattributed manuscript, Samantha and Anthony are immediately absorbed in the story of Rebecca Stanhope, daughter of a small town rector, who is about to encounter some bittersweet truths about life and love. As they continue to read the newly discovered tale from the past, a new one unfolds in the present--a story that just might change both of their lives forever.