Jane Austen Ruined My Life

January 22, 2009
Professor Emma Grant has always had faith in the happily-ever-after depicted by her favorite author, Jane Austen. But where's Emma's happy ending when she discovers that, instead of a Darcy, she's married a Wickham who both breaks her heart and destroys her career? Emma sets off for England on a quest to reestablish her academic credibility by tracking down the lost letters of Jane Austen and finds a romantic adventure of her own. Fun for Anglophiles and Austenites alike.-Jeanne Bogino, New Lebanon Lib., NY

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2009
Emma Grant, the heroine of Pattillos first outing, has a major beef to settle with her literary heroine, Jane Austen. Austens novels taught Emma, a college professor, to believe in happy endings, but her own happy ending goes up in flames when she discovers her husband, Edward, in the arms of her teaching assistant, after which the two have her professionally discredited by claiming she plagiarized a paper. Disillusioned and disgraced, Emma flees the U.S. for her cousins house in England after being contacted by Gwendolyn Parrot, an elderly woman claiming to be in possession of a stash of lost Austen letters. Rather than simply handing over the letters, Mrs. Parrot sends Emma on a succession of tasks that gradually reveal a secret about Austens life previously unknown to scholars. Along the way, Emma reconnects with Adam, her former best friend whom she fell out of touch with after marrying Edward. Filled with all the whimsy and romantic literary fun the title promises, Pattillos novel is a rewarding read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)