| Austenland | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Shannon Hale |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury USA |
| Publication date | May 29, 2007 |
| Media type | Hardback |
| Pages | 208 |
| ISBN | 1596912855 |
| OCLC Number | 73502669 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.6 22 |
| LC Classification | PS3608.A54584 A95 2007 |
Austenland is a novel by Shannon Hale.
Contents |
Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane’s fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become more real than she ever could have imagined.
Decked out in empire-waist gowns, Jane struggles to master Regency etiquette and flirts with gardeners and gentlemen—or maybe even, she suspects, with the actors who are playing them. It’s all a game, Jane knows. And yet the longer she stays, the more her insecurities seem to fall away, and the more she wonders: Is she about to kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?
Ella Taylor of the Los Angeles Times described the novel as "some lit lite to see you through a day at the beach"[1]. Another reviewer summed the work up as "an utterly enjoyable tribute" to the work of Jane Austen[2]. Stephenie Meyer, the author of the Twilight series, declared that the novel was "Adorable! The best tribute to obsessed Austen freaks (like me) that I've ever read."[3]
The novel is being adapted into a film scripted by Hale and Jerusha Hess.[4] Some of the cast include Keri Russell, JJ Field, Jennifer Coolidge, Bret McKenzie, Georgia King and Jane Seymour.