Jane Austen Ruined My Life

English professor Emma Grant has always done everything just the way her minister father told her she should -- a respectable marriage, a teaching job at a good college, and plans for the requisite two children. Life was prodigiously good, as her favorite author Jane Austen might say, until the day Emma finds her husband in bed with another woman. Suddenly, all her romantic notions a la Austen are exposed for the foolish dreams they are.
Denied tenure in the wake of the scandal and left penniless by the ensuing divorce, Emma packs up what few worldly possessions she has left and heads to England on a quest to find the missing letters of Jane Austen. Locating the elusive letters, however, isn't as straightforward as Emma hoped. The owner of the letters proves coy about her prize possessions, sending Emma on a series of Austen-related tasks that bring her closer and closer to the truth, but the sudden reappearance of Emma's first love makes everything more complicated.

In the end, Emma learns that doing the right thing has very little to do with other people's expectations and everything to do with her own beliefs. Laced with fictional excerpts from the missing letters, Jane Austen Ruined My Life is the story of a woman betrayed who uncovers the deeper meaning of loyalty.

Emma Grant is heading to England in search of Jane Austen's secret letters. She want to show the real Jane Austen to the world, in hopes of rescueing her academic career. But before she is able to get her hands on those rare letters, she needs to pass a series of tests.

I love the premise of the book. The idea of Jane Austen's romantic life is very appealing and it makes me wonder what person Jane Austen was, because there is very little known of her. I found the book very easy to read and by the end of it I wanted more. I even liked the way it ended.

Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo (3.5/5) General Fiction; Published: GuidepostsBooks (2/2009); Format: Ebook for Kindle; Books 2011 (36);