Miss Austen: A Novel of the Austen Sisters

In 1840, two decades after Jane Austen's death, her sister Cassandra returns to the village of Kintbury to stay with family friends, the Fowles. While there, she searches for a cache of Jane's letters hidden in the vicarage, hoping to recover them before they are lost. The novel moves between Cassandra's present-day visit and her memories of her years with Jane, interwoven with reimagined versions of Jane's lost letters. As Cassandra finds the letters, she confronts the secrets they contain—about both Jane and herself. She must decide whether to share these private details with the world or destroy them. Miss Austen tells the story of Cassandra Austen, the person closest to Jane throughout her life, bringing her to life as a fully realized character with her own emotional depth and complexity.