The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn

England, 1815: Two travelers—Rachel Katzman and Liam Finucane—arrive in a field, disheveled and weighed down with hidden money. They are not what they seem, but colleagues from a technologically advanced future, posing as a doctor and his spinster sister. While Rachel and Liam aren’t the first team of time travelers, their mission is the most audacious yet: meet, befriend, and steal from Jane Austen.

Carefully selected and rigorously trained by The Royal Institute for Special Topics in Physics, disaster-relief doctor Rachel and actor-turned-scholar Liam have little in common excerpt their extraordinary circumstances. Circumstances that call for Rachel to stifle her independent nature and let Liam take the lead as they infiltrate Austen’s circle via her favorite brother, Henry.

But diagnosing Jane’s fatal illness and obtaining an unpublished novel hinted at in her letters pose enough of a challenge without the convolutions of living a lie. While her friendship with Jane deepens and her relationship with Liam grows complicated, Rachel fights to reconcile her true self with the constrictions of 19th century society. As their portal to the future prepares to close, Rachel and Liam struggle with their directive to leave history as they found it…however heartbreaking that proves.

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About The Author

Kathleen A. Flynn grew up in tiny Falls Village, Conn., the daughter of an electrician and a kindergarten teacher. Currently a copy editor at The New York Times and resident of Brooklyn, Flynn has taught English in Hong Kong, washed dishes on Nantucket, and is a life member of the Jane Austen Society of North America.

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My Review

Haven’t we all wished that we could go back in time, and where would you pick, family, historical event, famous. Guess it would be hard to choose, although some might find it very easy. In this book we are going back to Jane Austen, and her time in England, the year 1815.
We take a lot for granted, and can you imagine being thrown so far back in time, well our main characters are really in for a rude awakening. Had to chuckle as Liam embraced his new identity and went about choosing a wonderful new wardrobe. Of course Rachel is also has to get more clothing, but she isn’t as excited as her brother, they couldn’t bring a lot, only what they have on their back.
Now how would you feel if you were able to meet someone that had died so many years before you were born? These two are on a mission to find and take an unpublished manuscript. How they go about completing this, and the extent they are will to go to, will both frighten and make you chuckle.
Are there going to be ramifications to changing history? We are about to find out, but while we are in England enjoy your view of what the time was like, and it didn’t take me long to know I wouldn’t like so much of what they had to endure.
This is a book that is going to make you think and wonder, and all the while turning pages to find the answers and see if they will even be able to return to their lives in present time.
I received this book through Edelweiss and the Publisher Harper Perennial, and was not required to give a positive review.