Mary Davies lives and works in Austin, Texas, as an industrial engineer. She has an orderly and productive life, a job and colleagues that she enjoys—particularly a certain adorable, intelligent, and hilarious consultant. But something is missing for Mary. When her estranged and emotionally fragile childhood friend Isabel Dwyer offers Mary a two-week stay in a gorgeous manor house in Bath, Mary reluctantly agrees to come along, in hopes that the holiday will shake up her quiet life in just the right ways. But Mary gets more than she bargained for when Isabel loses her memory and fully believes that she lives in Regency England.
Outings are undertaken, misunderstandings play out, and dancing ensues as this triangle works out their lives and hearts among a company of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation.
Review:
I love and respect Jane Austen as a literary figure but I have a confession to make – I haven’t read any of her books. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve tried! I’ve started Pride and Prejudice many times but haven’t gotten past page 30. Sigh.
That being said I love the Regency period so the idea of a “real” manor vacation is exactly my thing. I like the way it was handled, too – technology is put into the background but not shunned all together. A vacation spot that confiscates cell phones probably wouldn’t be popular, you know? The days are filled with as many Regency activities as the guests can handle with chances to tap out when needed. The pragmatism kept any nitpicking part of my brain at bay.
Even with the interesting setting the characters take center stage. People grow and change and everyone is fleshed out from the leads down to the manor maid. While Austen is discussed a lot over the course of the story I felt like I was able to keep up. Some references went over my head but it didn’t get in the way of the story. Needless to say, Austen fans will have more to dig into. The writing is solid but not stylistically notable, and the plot pulled me through no problem.
The more you love (and know) Austen the more you’ll get out of The Austen Escape, but even if you’re a relative know-nothing like me you can enjoy the ride.
Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a review copy.
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