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Reviews
BookPage
This charming debut novel features Courtney Stone, a 30-something career woman in Los Angeles who's strugging to get over a bad breakup with her fiancé. An avid reader, Courtney seeks solace in literature--specifically, the novels of Jane Austen. After a night of reading her favorite author, Courtney wakes up to find that she's gone backwards in time, to the England Austen chronicled in her books. In this new 19th-century world, Courtney takes on the identity of an upper-crust young woman named Jane Mansfield. With no explanation as to how or why she's been transported, Courtney is forced to get her bearings in a society ruled by strict customs and populated by strangers. Her new mother is anxious to see her engaged to a dashing man named Mr. Edgeworth, while her liberal-minded father encourages her to be independent. Miss Barnes, her servant, helps her handle troublesome matters, including questions of fashion and codes of behavior. Thanks to multiple readings of Pride and Prejudice, Courtney is somewhat prepared to handle these and other difficulties. But nothing can ready her for the tough decisions that lie ahead as she becomes acclimated to her strange new existence. Rigler writes skillfully about two very different eras, bringing both to convincing life. This is a page-turner of a novel composed with remarkable assurance by a promising new author. A reading group guide is available at us.penguingroup.com.