REVIEW: CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT
These are bountiful times for Jane Austen fans - and their numbers are legion!
The films Becoming Jane and The Jane Austen Book Club were released to generally
favourable reviews. Dramatic adaptations of all six of her novels will be televised on
Masterpiece Theatre in 2008. The truly dedicated can even join the Jane Austen Society
Of North America (JASNA), which recently held their annual sold-out conference in
Vancouver. And, of course, there are all the Austen-inspired novels of recent times.
One of the newest is Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler. Rather
than rewrite one of the classic plots, Rigler - herself a writing teacher and free-lance
editor - uses time travel as the premise of her novel. Nursing a broken engagement,
Courtney Stone, a modern 30-ish woman in Los Angeles, drowns her sorrows with a
bottle of vodka and her familiar copy of Pride and Prejudice. She awakens in surprise
and confusion in a place that is clearly not her own room or even her own century.
Everyone believes her to be Jane Mansfield, a 30 year old single woman in Regency
England. Jane is willowy, intelligent, mildly rebellious, and reasonably wealthy.
Courtney must now navigate her way through the myriad challenges of 19th century
hygiene, medical procedures, servants, and chaperones. Jane's domineering mother
pressures her to marry but Courtney, like the character she now inhabits, rebels and has a
few adventures of her own before the novel concludes Austen-style.
If you want to have a pleasant break from our hectic and uncertain times you may want to
immerse yourself in this novel. It will be, I'm sure, well-received by Jane Austen
devotees looking for a literary "fix".
And, should you find yourself wondering what happened to the real Jane Mansfield while
Courtney was living her life, rest assured! Rigler is working on her next novel which will
focus on this character as she discovers life in present-day Los Angeles!
By Laurie Viera Rigler
ISBN: 9780525950400
Dutton / Hardcover
304 pages / $24.95
Web Site
Joanne Ross is a local reviewer who lives in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, BC.
This review is Joanne Ross' first assignment with Ascent Aspirations Magazine
Email: Joanne Ross
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