A book I didn’t want to leave

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The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner is a very comforting book. Reading it is like tuning into a show about a close knit group of friends in the English village of Chawton, who share a love of Jane Austen shortly after World War II. Like an Austen book, we follow the lives of these friends through the best and worst times they face over a year. Each finds Austen books a port during storms of upheaval, a place where one returns again and again to a world where qualities such as truth, love, honesty, and kindness prevail over less virtuous attributes. I was drawn into the story line from the beginning, and it was a book I didn’t want to leave. The daily life and entanglements of the characters were interesting, and the reading compulsive to see what would happen next. The finish of the book is satisfying, and while not all outcomes were as expected, they were delightful. This book is a gentle rain, not strained, and those who love such narratives are blessed to read a work where despite life’s challenges, and the efforts expended to control outcomes, life’s mercy has a habit of giving to each what they need most, and a soothing peace infuses the hearts of all who yearn for such in this world

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