Perfect for fans of Jane Austen, this engrossing debut novel offers an unusual twist on the legacy of one of the world's most celebrated and beloved authors: two researchers from the future are sent back in time to meet Jane and recover a suspected unpublished novel.
London, 1815: Two travelers--Rachel Katzman and Liam Finucane--arrive in a field in rural England, disheveled and weighed down with hidden money. Turned away at a nearby inn, they are forced to travel by coach all night to London. They are not what they seem, but rather colleagues who have come back in time from a technologically advanced future, posing as wealthy West Indies planters--a doctor and his spinster sister. While Rachel and Liam aren't the first team from the future to "go back," their mission is by far the most audacious: meet, befriend, and steal from Jane Austen herself.
Carefully selected and rigorously trained by The Royal Institute for Special Topics in Physics, disaster-relief doctor Rachel and actor-turned-scholar Liam have little in common besides the extraordinary circumstances they find themselves in. Circumstances that call for Rachel to stifle her independent nature and let Liam take the lead as they infiltrate Austen's circle via her favorite brother, Henry.
But diagnosing Jane's fatal illness and obtaining an unpublished novel hinted at in her letters pose enough of a challenge without the continuous convolutions of living a lie. While her friendship with Jane deepens and her relationship with Liam grows complicated, Rachel fights to reconcile the woman she is with the proper lady nineteenth-century society expects her to be. As their portal to the future prepares to close, Rachel and Liam struggle with their directive to leave history intact and exactly as they found it...however heartbreaking that may prove.
About the Author :
Kathleen A. Flynn is an editor at the New York Times, where she works at The Upshot. She holds a BA from Barnard College and an MA from the University of North Carolina. She has taught English in Hong Kong, washed dishes on Nantucket, and is a life member of the Jane Austen Society of North America. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their shy fox terrier, Olive.
Saskia Maarleveld is an experienced voice-over actress and Earphones Award-winning narrator. Raised in New Zealand and France, she is highly skilled with accents and dialects, and many of her books have been narrated entirely in accents other than her own. In addition to audiobooks, her voice can be heard in animation, video games, and commercials.
Review :
Clever, captivating, and original...Flynn's depiction of Jane Austen is wonderful...The ending is a shocker and one of the strengths of the novel...A keeper on my Austen shelf.
-- "Syrie James, author of Jane Austen's First Love"
Flynn skillfully delves into the later years of Austen's life in a way that is sure to please admirers of the nineteenth-century novelist, as well as providing a fascinating dollop of plot invention and a heartbreaking romance between the two protagonists.
-- " Library Journal (starred review)"
It's a truth universally acknowledged that one novel couldn't possibly succeed as Austen pastiche, science fiction, romance, and satire all at once, but Flynn has achieved this feat and has written an excessively diverting tale.
-- "Historical Novel Society"
Rachel's wry, observant narrative voice teaches readers the delights and hardships of life in 1815 with rich historical detail.
-- " Shelf Awareness"
Saskia Maarleveld masterfully crafts distinct voices for a huge cast of characters, male and female...Maarleveld succeeds in drawing the listener into an engaging time-travel yarn featuring an enduring writer.
-- "AudioFile"
