Austenland: A Novel
For readers of Waiting for Tom Hanks and Well Met, a “gloriously satisfying” (Glamour) romantic comedy set at a Jane Austen fantasy resort from New York Times bestselling author Shannon Hale. Now a major motion picture starring Keri Russell and produced by Stephenie Meyer.
Jane Hayes is a young New Yorker with a real romantic problem: no man she meets can compare to her one true love-Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort for Austen fanatics, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined.
Dressed in empire waist gowns and torn between a sexy gardener and an actor playing the brooding Darcy role, Jane finds herself mastering the rules of etiquette and of the resort's flirtatious games. But when it's time to bid Austenland goodbye, can Jane really leave her fantasies-and the two men who've played into them-behind?
In this addictive, charming, and entirely delightful story, Shannon Hale brings out the Jane Austen obsessive in all of us.
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Community Reviews
The novel is a fun romp that captures the illusion of regency romance yet has a dose of modern reality. She knows that the situation is outlandish, but Jane hopes to cure her fixation on the perfection of Darcy. She is willing to put up with the illusion in order to cure her obsession and eventually develop a grounded relationship with a real man. Loved the 2013 movie starring Kerri Russell. The book hits the same highlights, but the movie really emphasized the economic differences of the guests with Jane getting a different experience because of her low budget ticket. In the movie she saves up the money. There are more comedic episodes in the film, one being the song choice Jane picks when asked to sing. But the character of Jane in the book is a more realistic and relatable woman.
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