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The Austen Escape

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

When Mary Davies travels to Jane Austen's Bath for a historical getaway, she expects a luxurious escape from reality. Instead she finds her friendship at a crossroads, her love life upended, and her heart on a journey she never expected.

Mary Davies finds safety in her ordered and productive life. Working as an engineer, she genuinely enjoys her job and her colleagues—particularly a certain adorable and intelligent consultant. But something is missing. When Mary's estranged childhood friend, Isabel Dwyer, offers her a two-week stay in a gorgeous manor house in England, she reluctantly agrees in hopes that the holiday will shake up her quiet life in just the right ways.

But Mary gets more than she bargained for when Isabel loses her memory and fully believes she lives in Jane Austen's Bath. While Isabel rests and delights in the leisure of a Regency lady, attended by other costume-clad guests, Mary uncovers startling truths about their shared past, who Isabel was, who she seems to be, and the man who now stands between them.

Outings are undertaken, misunderstandings arise, and dancing ensues as this company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation, work out their lives and hearts.

"Admirers of Jane Austen, especially, will delight in the delicious descriptions and elegant prose as the protagonist is transported to the English countryside, taking readers along for the ride. Both cleverly written and nicely layered, Reay's latest proves to be a charming escape!" —Denise Hunter, bestselling author of Lake Season on The Austen Escape

"At once sophisticated and smart . . . Clever and classy . . . Whether for the first-time Pride and Prejudice reader or the devotee with an ardent affection for all things Austen . . . The Austen Escape is an equally satisfying retreat into the wilds of Jane's beloved Regency world. In scenes brilliantly woven with Austen's classic characterization, Reay goes beyond courtship and manners to explore modern-day scenarios, grappling with themes of brokenness and loss, the weight of decisions and consequences, and the anchor of faith through difficult circumstances. As amiable as an Austen novelist could be—but with a pen just as witty—Katherine Reay proves she's ready to become Jane to a whole new generation of women." —Kristy Cambron, bestselling author of The Painted Castle

"Wildly imaginative and deeply moving, The Austen Escape is Katherine Reay at her very best." —Billy Coffey, author of Steal Away Home

"The Austen Escape has the remarkable ability to be both lighthearted and gripping. The dramatic elements are first rate, the characters even finer. Wonderful writing. Highly recommended." —Davis Bunn, bestselling author

  • Sweet and thoughtful contemporary read
  • Stand-alone novel
  • Book length: 80,000 words
  • Includes a discussion questions and an excerpt from Dear Mr. Knightley
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      • Publisher's Weekly

        September 11, 2017
        Reay (A Portrait of Emily Price) adds to the ever-expanding genre of Jane Austen–themed literature with her latest offering. Mary Davies, an industrial engineer from Texas, has been working on augmented reality glasses for years but her work has been for naught and she has been downgraded to working on batteries. She is also secretly enamored with Nathan Hillam, a consultant working at her engineering firm who will soon be moving on to his next assignment. Her father convinces her to leave it all temporarily behind and head to Bath, England, with her emotionally fragile best friend, Isabel Dwyer. There they will immerse themselves in Austen escapism for two weeks so that Isabel can do research for her doctoral dissertation. Mary and Isabel dress up in Regency clothes and act as characters from Austen’s books, and then things quickly get complicated: Isabel suffers memory loss and believes she really is part of the past. In this world of grown-up make-believe, Mary will discover much more than she ever expected about both Isabel and herself, including that Nathan is an important part of both their lives. When he hurries to Bath to help them both, will Mary make her feelings known? Unlike many books written in homage to Austen, this is not a modern retelling of any of her stories, but rather a romp among contemporary Austen fanatics. Readers eager for anything Austen-related will enjoy this clean romance that explores the concept of escapism and what it may reveal about our real lives.

      • Kirkus

        October 1, 2017
        An engineer at a crossroads gains clarity about her past and information about her future on a Jane Austen-themed vacation in Bath, England.Mary Davies is stymied in her professional and personal lives, which happen to be intertwined. A creative engineer at a tech hardware firm in Austin, Texas, she has failed to bring her most beloved project to fruition, calling her employment into question with the new boss. Though she receives encouragement and telling bits of attention from the interim CEO, Nathan, she insists that her project and obvious love for him are both dead in the water. The novel veers in a different direction, then, as Mary accompanies her childhood best friend, Isabel, on an immersive vacation at a manor house in Bath, where they dress in period garb, take on the personae of their chosen Austen characters, and mingle with other guests. The action in Bath is layered. Isabel suffers a kind of mental breakdown, retreating fully into her character, frightened by anything that threatens the fantasy. This sheds light, in intermittent beams, on the women's troubled friendship, suggesting a reason for Mary's defeatism. Nathan, learning of the situation, hops on a plane to England to provide assistance. Mary is slowly convinced of his love for her but is as easily spooked by this new development as Isabel is of cellphones. Meanwhile, her employment--and related self-esteem--hangs in the balance. Reay handles the Bath scenes with tenderness and a light touch, allowing the drama to come as much from internal conflict as external, rom-com-type misunderstandings. But while it's laudable to put a woman in science at the center of a Regency romance, Mary's professional life still feels forced.Thoughtful escapism.

        COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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