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  • Miss Austen

  • A Novel of the Austen Sisters
  • Written by: Gill Hornby
  • Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
  • Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
  • 3.8 out of 5 stars (5 ratings)

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Miss Austen

Written by: Gill Hornby
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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Publisher's Summary

"In a cultured, melodious voice, narrator Juliet Stevenson becomes Miss Cassandra Austen, older sister to Jane and keeper of her memory." (AudioFile magazine, Earphones Award winner)

For fans of Jo Baker’s Longbourn, a witty, poignant audiobook about Cassandra Austen and her famous sister, Jane.

Whoever looked at an elderly lady and saw the young heroine she once was?

England, 1840. For the two decades following the death of her beloved sister, Jane, Cassandra Austen has lived alone and unwed, spending her days visiting friends and relations and quietly, purposefully working to preserve her sister’s reputation. Now in her 60s and increasingly frail, Cassandra goes to stay with the Fowles of Kintbury, family of her long-dead fiancé, in search of a trove of Jane’s letters. Dodging her hostess and a meddlesome housemaid, Cassandra eventually hunts down the letters and confronts the secrets they hold, secrets not only about Jane but about Cassandra herself. Will Cassandra bare the most private details of her life to the world, or commit her sister’s legacy to the flames?

Moving back and forth between the vicarage and Cassandra’s vibrant memories of her years with Jane, interwoven with Jane’s brilliantly reimagined lost letters, Miss Austen is the untold story of the most important person in Jane’s life. With extraordinary empathy, emotional complexity, and wit, Gill Hornby finally gives Cassandra her due, bringing to life a woman as captivating as any Austen heroine.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

"A deeply imagined and deeply moving novel. Reading it made me happy and weepy in equally copious amounts." (Karen Joy Fowler)

"A delightfully astute reimagining of Jane Austen’s life that offers a shrewd take on Regency gender roles.... Ms. Hornby enlivens the exhumation with inspired touches of social comedy and a cast of appealing eccentrics." (Wall Street Journal)

©2020 Gill Hornby (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

What the critics say

"Hornby’s gift to the world of Austen lovers is to return to Cassandra her rightful recognition as Jane’s most intimate and sustaining relationship, her greatest love. This is a deeply imagined and deeply moving novel. Reading it made me happy and weepy in equally copious amounts." (Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves)

"Unputdownable. So good, so intelligent, so clever, so entertaining - I adored it." (Claire Tomalin, author of Jane Austen: A Life)

"Extraordinary and heart-wrenching, Miss Austen transported me from page one. A remarkable novel that is wholly original, deeply moving, and emotionally complex. A gift to all Austen lovers." (Lara Prescott, author of The Secrets We Kept)

What listeners say about Miss Austen

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    3 out of 5 stars

Lovely writing but boring story.

I REALLY wanted to love this book and was so happy when it was finally available on Audible. It even features my favourite narrator. However, the story fell flat for me and I had to force myself to finish it. I didn't care about the characters and didn't find the story enlightening about Jane. I did give it 3 stars because I thought the author used language well. There were a few moments that I enjoyed such as identifying family members who were probably featured in Jane's novels. I know a lot of people loved it, so perhaps I was expecting too much.

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