I really liked the idea of a book looking at Jane Austen through her sisters eyes, but found I didn’t get a real sense of the characters in any depth. I liked the letters between the sisters and their family and friends, and the moving from present to past. This book has obviously been very well researched, using the puzzle of why Cassandra cherry picked only the positive letters, and destroyed any that may have given an unflattering view of Jane, and even herself. Not to my taste but a good read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a much desired ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was completely absorbed by this novel based on the lives of the Austen sisters and almost shed a (dainty!) tear on several occasions.

This is more Cassandra’s story than Jane’s, which is all to the good since she was a treasure who enabled her sister’s talents to shine, as well as appearing to be an oddity of her time, actively choosing to remain independent of a husband following the death of her fiancée. I Googled to find out whether the Mr Hobday interlude was based on fact but came up empty-handed, sadly. I’d like to think she had other opportunities but stuck to her decision to live as a single woman out of choice.

I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this and have made a plan to visit Chawton cottage where Cassandra lives with Jane-now the Austen museum as a result of this fascinating read.

The style of writing was pitch-perfect to reflect the historical times and I loved the wicked barbs aimed at the pompous men who had most of the control of the Austen women’s lives. I hadn’t realised quite how dependent they were as unmarried women on the favour of their brothers- or perhaps more tellingly, on their brothers’ wives. As a happily single woman I felt genuine outrage at how Cassandra ( and other unmarried women in her extended family) were seen as unpaid nannies, financial burdens, pitiable cast-offs or spoiled, eccentric and obstinate spinsters.

Jane Austen’s beloved sister Cassandra is the central character in this novel. She was, in real life, very protective of Jane’s name and reputation so any letters written about her, or from her, that cast her in a less than glowing light were destroyed. This is the imagined story of how one such batch of letters were prevented from reaching public attention, and it combines the story of Cassandra reading through the letters to sort them, with her memories of the times each letter conjures up. In the course of these memories we gather much of Cassandra’s early adult life and how she came to stay as Miss Austen throughout her days.
This is a story about the women in Jane’s life, and is well told and based firmly in historical fact, with imagination filling the gaps. The women are easily imagined from the page, and the story is shot through with the love, humour, grief and frustrations that these women encountered in their lives. I thoroughly enjoyed my brief sojourn in Cassandra’s life and will look for more books by Gill Hornby.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a much desired ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A very sweet and readable imagining of Jane Austen's sister Cassandra, as she tries to protect Jane's reputation by rescuing personal correspondence from potential exploitation.

The story switches between the present, with Cassandra as an elderly spinster, and - through the letters - back into the romance of their youth where Jane was still struggling to publish her novels.

I enjoyed this a lot - a dramatization based around some historical facts, with some powerful characters - plenty to love and plenty to be irritated by just as in a Jane Austen novel.

As a committed Janeite I was thrilled to receive an ARC of this book and I was not disappointed. There are not enough words to really describe how much I loved this. I usually shy away from Jane Austen based fiction as it always, at least to me, seems to miss the mark.
Not so this excellent book.
“Miss Austen” is told through the the eyes of Cassandra Austen, “Miss Austen” indeed, and it alternates, through Janes reimagined missing letters between the past and present. It begins with Toms proposal to Cassandra and ends long after Janes death.
The authors prose is lyrical and moving, the story itself, slow, detailed and realistic. The writer brings to life Casandra, Mary and a whole host of other women in vivid detail.
Jane herself is elusive, hovering just out of reach as if the fictional Cassandra is prepared even here to go to any lengths to protect her sister, she gives little away.
Janes’ genius saturates the book but Jane herself is mostly left to our imagination. Cassandra however takes centre stage, being complex, flawed, brilliant and wonderfully human.
This book also offers a fascinating, detailed insight into women’s lives in Georgian Society and is clearly very well researched. Loneliness, dependence, poverty, love and duty are all given a human face in this book.
It is entertaining, making the reader both laugh and, when the end comes with little drama but with aching realism, cry.
I can not recommend this book highly enough.

Oh dear, I feel like I read a different book from all those enraptured reviewers in the blurb. I like the idea of writing Cassandra Austen's story, but actually found this a pale, and rather thinly-imagined homage to the Austen sisters. None of the characters really have much, er, character - not even Jane, and by the time I got to the end, I was still waiting for the story to start.

Hornby has mingled attention to the real biographies and letters with something imagined - yes, there's a kind focus on the lives of so-called spinsters but it lacks wit, insight and clarity - all those qualities Jane Austen had down beautifully. Lots of potential but ultimately a bland book that lacks flavour.