SIX WEEKS BY THE SEA

An Austen scholar imagines a love affair for the famous literary singleton.

“One of the questions I am most frequently asked about Jane Austen is ‘Did she ever fall in love?’ Surely, people say, the world’s most famous and beloved author of romantic novels—the creator of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth—must once have been in love herself?” Byrne, the author of multiple nonfiction books about Jane Austen and her world, answers the question posed in her afterword with a cleverly imagined love story woven over a scaffolding of fact. Austen’s family did indeed visit the seaside town of Sidmouth for six weeks in the summer of 1801, and her adored brother Frank did join them on shore leave from the British navy. His friend Capt. Peter Parker, however, whom he hopes to introduce to Jane, is Byrne’s invention, while the lawyer Samuel Rose, another candidate for Jane’s attentions, is inspired by a real person who never crossed paths with Austen. “He was undoubtedly attractive—dark-haired with a fine, aquiline nose, and the bluest of eyes. She noted, with a half-smile, that his complexion was flushed like the rose of his name.” There’s a catch though: He’s a lawyer and Jane wants nothing to do with lawyers since she had an ill-fated flirtation with one when she was 19. However, since any good Austen-style romance has its roots in furious antipathy, the reader may suspect that Mr. Rose’s chances are better than they first seem. Byrne uses her knowledge of the period to weave in two themes not usually associated with Austen: homosexuality (about which no more can be said without spoilers) and racism. Jane eventually bonds with the blue-eyed lawyer over their shared belief in abolitionism, and also becomes involved with a biracial child one of the locals has brought home from his time in Antigua. All the real details supporting these matters are clarified in the excellent afterword.

The Jane Austen beach book fans have been waiting for.