A must-read for all Jane Austen fans!
Jane and the Year Without a Summer by Stephanie Barron is a true Regency immersion.
Our thanks to the author, Soho Crime, and Austenprose for the advanced reader’s copy of the book and audiobook.
Book Details
Print Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Soho Crime (February 8, 2022)
Language: English
ASIN: B094GNHT1B
Book Description
May 1816: Jane Austen is feeling unwell, with an uneasy stomach, constant fatigue, rashes, fevers and aches. She attributes her poor condition to the stress of family burdens, which even the drafting of her latest manuscript—about a baronet’s daughter nursing a broken heart for a daring naval captain—cannot alleviate. Her apothecary recommends a trial of the curative waters at Cheltenham Spa, in Gloucestershire. Jane decides to use some of the profits earned from her last novel, Emma, and treat herself to a period of rest and reflection at the spa, in the company of her sister, Cassandra.
Cheltenham Spa hardly turns out to be the relaxing sojourn Jane and Cassandra envisaged, however. It is immediately obvious that other boarders at the guest house where the Misses Austen are staying have come to Cheltenham with stresses of their own—some of them deadly. But perhaps with Jane’s interference a terrible crime might be prevented. Set during the Year without a Summer, when the eruption of Mount Tambora in the South Pacific caused a volcanic winter that shrouded the entire planet for sixteen months, this fourteenth installment in Stephanie Barron’s critically acclaimed series brings a forgotten moment of Regency history to life.
From the Publisher’s Blurb
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY | BOOKSHOP | BOOKBUB | GOODREADS
Links provided by the publisher/ tour organizer
Review
I’m a huge Jane Austen fan, and she is always my choice in those ‘if you could have dinner with anyone alive or dead, who would you choose?’ kind of posts.
Obviously, I never expected to actually have such an experience (Jane died in 1817), at least not until I came across this book.
I was enchanted by how authentic Jane’s voice sounded, the language so very close to the one in her books. It was like hanging around with her and her sister Cassandra joining in their repartee.
To make matters even better, Jane was involved in solving a mystery surrounded by well-developed, very suspicious side characters.
I enjoyed every page! A true Regency immersion.
I highly recommend it!
Disclosure: I received an ARC of this book for an honest review.
Try a Sample
About the Author
Stephanie Barron is a graduate of Princeton and Stanford, where she received her Masters in History as an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow in the Humanities. Her forthcoming novel, THAT CHURCHILL WOMAN (Ballantine, January 22, 2019) traces the turbulent career of Jennie Jerome, Winston Churchill’s captivating American mother. Barron is perhaps best known for the critically-acclaimed Jane Austen Mystery Series, in which the intrepid and witty author of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE details her secret detective career in Regency England. A former intelligence analyst for the CIA, Stephanie–who also writes under the name Francine Mathews–drew on her experience in the field of espionage for such novels as JACK 1939, which The New Yorker described as “the most deliciously high-concept thriller imaginable.” She lives and works in Denver, CO.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
Pin it!
Lu Reviews Books 
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Lu. I enjoyed Jane and the Year as well. Stephanie channels her voice so convincingly and researches the era to well. I am looking forward to the next book in the series, which will be the final one.
LikeLiked by 1 person