The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen

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The premise is simple, and what's more, it's plausible: a long-lost manuscript of Austen's memoirs is found hidden in an attic. It relates her own love story as well as several years of her life. James has done her research and knows Austen's books and personal history well. Of course she includes the famous "truth universally acknowledged" phrase as well as more of Austen's own words, found in her large volume of letters (many of which sadly have been lost to history and flames). Included also is the voice of the "editor" of the book, who uses footnotes to explain certain details to 21st century readers, especially in the early chapters. These taper off just as the reader gets engrossed in the story.

This romantic novel is written so much like Austen's own novels - with satirical wit and familiar characters - that it is delightful for fans to link real-life events with her novels. Mr. Ashford, the mysterious object of Jane's desires, is so dashing and Darcy-esque that one truly wants him to be real, just to know that our heroine did have love in her life. Far more interesting, though, at least to this Austenite, is the story of Jane's truest and eternal love, her writing.

When Jane, the character, finally embraces her writing and completes her first published novel, "Sense and Sensibility" I was there with her: "My heart pounded with trepidation at the thought. I had devoted my entire heart, soul and mind to this work, and two or three years of my life to its inception. What if it did not sell? What if all my efforts had, as in the past, been in vain?" One might also add, what would have happened to women's literature in history?

James's greatest achievement with this novel, however, is in bringing Jane Austen, the novelist, to life for modern readers. She truly is an important figure in history, and her story is fascinating. I believe Jane herself would have enjoyed the story.

Syrie James, much to my surprise, truly delivers in her fictionalized "lost memoirs." In a tone that deftly mimics Austen's own, James fills in the gaps of what we know of Austen's life, and weaves in an enchanting and heartbreaking romance for our Jane. The bare structures of her life (where Austen visits, whom she knows, and whom she associates with) are, by and large, true, given what we know of Austen's life. However, the spaces in between are James' to fill with her fancy, and she does so in a very calm, reserved, and (most appreciated) believable way.

Particularly enchanting was how James took attributes of characters from Austen’s novels and wove them into persons both real and fictional in Austen's life, while making it seem like it was done the other way around. That is to say, rather than thinking, “My, isn't Jane's relationship with her sister written a lot like that of Elizabeth and Jane Bennett,” I found myself thinking, “Aha! So Austen writes the relationship between the sisters based on her experience with her sister.” Seamlessly, brilliantly done. It almost reads like real history.

But on to the meat of the matter, and what the reader will really want to know about – Jane's romance. Syrie creates the perfect romantic counterpart for Austen in the character of Mr. Ashford. The end, when it comes, will be far more poignant, heartbreaking, and pregnant with hope and renewal that one could possibly be expecting. If Miss Austen had ever written such endings, she could have written this one.

In a crowd of Regency bodice rippers, and Austen fan fiction The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James is a standout, and perhaps stands alone. The period and tone are so perfectly captured, the romance to wonderfully rendered, that even a die-hard Austen fan and sometime scholar like myself could be satisfied, and simply get lost in the story.

Breaching the hollowed halls of Jane Austen para-literature is a daunting task for none but the stout-of-heart and thick-of-skin writer. Mrs. James wears her Austen-armor well and delivers a sincere and honest love story that will engage and delight most Jane Austen devotees, and raise an inquisitive eyebrow of the Austen purists. Her Jane is real and approachable, flesh and bone, human and fallible; -- not the stour judgemental old maid envisioned in the 19th-century portraits. We feel her troubles, her joy, her pain, understanding her life decisions, and appreciate her all the more for it.

It is not often that this discerning reader can offer unqualified praise, so I will not break my streak. Five Austen stars!