Dearest Cousin Jane: A Jane Austen Novel

By Jill Pitkeathley

“A well-researched and beautifully imagined novel….If Jane and the Austen family were not quite like this, they should have been.”
—Ruth Rendell

 

Dearest Cousin Jane by Jill Pitkeathley, the author of Cassandra and Jane, is an inventive reimagining of the intriguing and scandalous life lived by Jane Austen’s cousin, Countess Eliza de Feuillide. The fact-based story of a remarkable woman whose progressive and passionate views on love and marriage greatly influenced Austen’s work—including such beloved novels as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility—Dearest Cousin Jane will fascinate and enchant readers interested in Victorian Era Britain and all lovers of Jane Austen literature and lore. Janet Aylmer, author of Darcy’s Story, says, “This novel brings a new and enjoyable dimension to our knowledge of Jane Austen’s life and work.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Mar 23, 2010
• ISBN: 9780061986178

Jill Pitkeathley

Jill Elizabeth Pitkeathley, Baroness Pitkeathley, OBE (born 4 January 1940) is a British Labour Party member of the House of Lords. Her first job was working for Manchester City Council as a trainee child care officer in 1961. She worked in the voluntary sector, as chief executive of Carers National Association (now renamed Carers UK) for which she was awarded an OBE in the 1993 Birthday Honours. Mrs Pitkeathley was created a life peer as Baroness Pitkeathley, of Caversham in the Royal County of Berkshire on 6 October 1997.Since 1998 she has been chair of one of the lottery distributors, the New Opportunities Fund. In 2004, she was appointed chair of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS). Lady Pitkeathley also chaired the Office for Civil Society Advisory Body until its abolition in March 2011. Lady Pitkeathley was a founding member of ACEVO, the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations. She is a trustee of Cumberland Lodge.

Reviews for Dearest Cousin Jane

[pak6th · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the second novel by Pitkeathley on the life of Jane Austen. The first explored her relationship with her sister Cassandra, but this one widens the scope to include the cousins and other family members. Told in letters and first person narratives, each chapter gives the reader a point of view or relates an incident as seen from the vantage point of a different family member. The narrative follows chronologically to the major incidents in Jane Austen's life but gives a wider picture of her life. Pitkeathley has obviously immersed herself in Austen's novels and life and there are many delightful comparisons to be made in her writing to that of Austen. It almost makes you think that all of Austen's characters are based on her relatives, something she always denied. But the moans and groans of Mrs. James Austen (Mary) are so like those of Mary Musgrove in Persuasion that she must be one and the same. One of the better novels in this genre, those written in Austen's style.