Review: Miss Austen by Gill Hornby

Title: Miss Austen

Author: Gill Hornby

Published: 23rd January 2020

Pages: 400

Setting: 18th/19th century England

It’s always exciting to find a new favourite author – and I was delighted to begin 2023 with the discovery of Gill Hornby as a new favourite historical fiction author of mine. Having read and enjoyed her latest release, Godmersham Park, I immediately picked up Miss Austen, in which Hornby tackles the question that has stumped Jane Austen fans for almost two centuries: Why did Cassandra Austen decide to destroy the majority of her sister’s written correspondence?

Miss Austen is a dual-timeline novel, straddling the 18^th and 19^th centuries. The main timeline is set in the village of Kintbury in 1840, where Cassandra Austen is visiting Isabella Fowle, the daughter of an old family friend, in the hopes of recovering some of Jane Austen’s correspondence which she believes may be stored somewhere in the house. The other timeline provides snapshots of various moments over the course of Cassandra and Jane’s lives, up to Jane’s death in July 1817.

I am certainly no expert on Jane Austen’s life – but from what I do know, it seems to me that Hornby’s imagined version of events succeeds in filling some of the most intriguing blanks whilst fitting neatly around the established facts. Writing about a real historical figure – especially one so famous as Jane Austen – certainly poses a significant challenge, but I feel that Hornby pulls it off with ease. The imagined letters included in the novel really capture the essence of the great writer herself, and the entire narrative is infused with a gloriously Austen-esque feel.

The most interesting aspect of this novel for me is Hornby’s imagining of the complex relationships between Cassandra and the women of the Fowle family. Whilst Jane Austen has the advantage of being remembered for her literary accomplishments, these other women are only included in the history books by nature of their association with Jane. It’s refreshing to see them imagined as real, flawed individuals, and through their stories Hornby explores some of the challenges faced by women in the early 19^th century.

Overall, Miss Austen is a moving, character-driven novel which reads as a wonderful tribute to both Jane Austen and, of course, her beloved sister Cassandra. I would thoroughly recommend it for any Jane Austen fan, along with Godmersham Park, in which Hornby turns her attention to Jane Austen’s friendship with Anne Sharp, who worked as governess to one of Jane’s nieces. I really hope Gill Hornby decides to write another novel set in her Jane Austen ‘universe’ – and if she does, I’ll certainly be picking it up as soon as it’s released.