Austen at Sea

The latest from Jenner (Every Time We Say Goodbye) is a fun if implausible tale about Jane Austen’s Victorian admirers. Charlotte and Henrietta Stevenson, the unmarried daughters of a Massachusetts judge, write a letter praising Austen, their literary idol, to her last surviving sibling, Francis “Frank” Austen. Now elderly and frail, Frank writes back that he’s unsure what to do with Jane’s letters. Over the course of their ensuing correspondence, he accepts the sisters’ offer to help, prompting them to defy their father’s wishes and board a steamship to England in June 1865. Also aboard are two other Jane Austen devotees whom Frank invited to visit: bookseller brothers Nicholas and Haslett Nelson. Charlotte, an aspiring actor, attracts the attention of a theatrical producer during the voyage, while Henrietta meets up with British journalist Denham Scott , who, unbeknownst to her family, had been courting her in Boston. During the crossing, they are married by the ship’s captain. In England, the Americans learn that Frank’s daughter Fanny-Sophia wants to burn Jane’s letters, which she deems indiscreet. Frank’s decision to involve four young American strangers in his sister’s posthumous reputation strains credulity, as does a plotline involving Denham’s attempt to divorce Henrietta only a month after their wedding. It’s not Jenner’s best work, but her fans will still enjoy the mix of fact and fiction. Agent: Mitchell Waters, Brandt & Hochman Literary. (May)