In Boston, 1865, Charlotte and Henrietta Stevenson, daughters of a Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice, have accomplished as much as women are allowed in those days. Chafing against those restrictions and inspired by the works of Jane Austen, they start a secret correspondence with Sir Francis Austen, her last surviving brother, now in his nineties. He sends them an original letter from his sister and invites them to come visit him in England.
In Philadelphia, Nicholas & Haslett Nelson—bachelor brothers, veterans of the recent Civil War, and rare book dealers—are also in correspondence with Sir Francis Austen, who lures them, too, to England, with the promise of a never-before-seen, rare Austen artifact to be evaluated.
The Stevenson sisters sneak away without a chaperone to sail to England. On their ship are the Nelson brothers, writer Louisa May Alcott, Sara-Beth Gleason—wealthy daughter of a Pennsylvania state senator with her eye on the Nelsons—and, a would-be last-minute chaperone to the Stevenson sisters, Justice Thomas Nash.
It's a voyage and trip that will dramatically change each of their lives in ways that are unforeseen, with the transformative spirit of the love of literature and that of Jane Austen herself.
This was probably the slowest novel I have read so far in 2025. There were also a few too many characters to keep track of. None of which grabbed my attention and said, “hey focus on this person and how the story pushes them forward.” However, the addition of Louisa May Alcott was interesting. I do wish there had been more with her.
I liked the chapters where the gentlemen talked about Jane Austen’s novels. I know that what they were doing was deciding if the novel were appropriate for readers, but I enjoyed reading a male’s perspective at that time. Each character had their own personalities and opinions to which I enjoyed.
Overall, I rate this novel 3.5 out of 5 stars
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