Every Year is a Jane Austen Year!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Source: Review Copy from Blog Tour

OVERVIEW: 

A Jane Austen Year is a visually stunning and thoughtfully assembled commemoration of Jane Austen’s life and legacy compiled by Jane Austen’s House curators. This coffee table sized book consists of 207 pages, and is divided into twelve chapters – one for each month of the year. Each chapter ranges from 16 to 18 pages in length. These chapters connect together seasonal customs, shared accounts/histories, and significant events from Jane Austen’s novels. There are 120+ images in this book including photographs, illustrations, letter excerpts, and movie stills.

MY THOUGHTS:

What could be better than celebrating Jane Austen’s 250th birthday all year long?! This thoughtful and inspired compendium from the devoted curators of Jane Austen’s House is a beautiful tribute to share more about her life and the time period in which she lived.

Here are 5 things I loved most about this book:

1. The Theme and Division: What a unique and novel way to share about Jane Austen’s life. I love the breakdown of each month and how there was an underlying seasonal link with all the images, excerpts, and prose.

2. The Novel Connections: Probably my favorite part of each chapter is seeing which scene from which Jane Austen novel would be excerpted (because it was known to have taken place during that particular month) such as – the Dashwood’s London visit in January, the excursion to Box Hill in June, the Netherfield Ball in November. I loved how these excerpts connected to both the time of year and Jane Austen’s own life experiences.

3. The Beauty: The images are stunning – artistic and aesthetic. I love seeing the little vignettes of rooms and treasured items that are a part of the collection at Jane Austen’s House. How wonderful that the images are so large and defined!

4. The Variety: There are interesting tidbits, recipes, historical context, family anecdotes, and notable quotes – so many diverse ways to explore and enjoy our year with Jane. I must admit, I loved learning about the recipes most – I would love to sample some orange wine and toasted cheese!

5. The Sense of Home Life: More so than anything else, this book tells the story of Jane Austen’s life at home – the simple day-to-day activities and the pleasures she enjoyed. While we learn about her writing and major events of her life, I loved feeling the connection to her time spent in between.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

📘 A beautiful commemorative tome that should grace every Janeite’s bookshelf!

📗 An illustrative and insightful look at Jane Austen’s home-life throughout the year.

📕  I’m so thankful that both Jane Austen’s House and The Jane Austen Society exist to help us to remember and honor Jane Austen’s works and life.

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My sincere gratitude to Laurel Ann Nattress of Austenprose PR for putting this lovely blog tour together and inviting me to take part!