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Product Description
A thrilling literary mystery costarring Jane Austen from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Bookman’s Tale
Charlie Lovett first delighted readers with his New York Times–bestselling debut, The Bookman’s Tale. Now Lovett is back with another brilliantly imagined mystery, this time featuring one of English literature’s most popular and beloved authors: Jane Austen.
Book lover and Austen enthusiast Sophie Collingwood has recently taken a job at an antiquarian bookshop in London when two different customers request a copy of the same obscure book: the second edition of A Little Book of Allegories by Richard Mansfield. Their queries draw Sophie into a mystery that will cast doubt on the true authorship of Pride and Prejudice—and ultimately threaten Sophie’s life.
In a dual narrative that alternates between Sophie’s quest to uncover the truth—while choosing between two suitors—and a young Jane Austen’s touching friendship with the aging cleric Richard Mansfield, Lovett weaves a romantic, suspenseful, and utterly compelling novel about love in all its forms and the joys of a life lived in books.
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benjclark (USA: CA) (2017/01/19):
For a long time I was a “Decide to read a book, finish it no matter what” reader. If I chose poorly, it was an act of contrition to the bibliogods to finish a crappy book.But, I began to feel like Life’s Too Short for that kind of strict observance. I asked what other readers did. Some read to page 100, which seemed like a lot. I was surprised how many were like me — finish it no matter what. Those who would drop a stinker didn’t follow any guidelines, which should have been obvious had I also lead that kind of bohemian, lawless lifestyle like some kind of flamboyantly dressed Borneo ape-man. Then I heard Nancy Pearl’s good advice, to subtract your age from 100, and that’s the number of pages you should give a book. As you age, and your reading time on earth shortens, and you become a better judge of literature, you don’t have to be quite so full of grace for books that don’t deserve to take up precious reading time. So, for me, that means 66 pages.
And by page 66 (actually well before page 66 …), I was hooked. Read the rest of my review on my website:
https://benjaminlclark.com/2014/10/23/review-first-impressions-by-charlie-lovett/
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