Book Blurb:
From Jeanette Watts, a new Regency-set historical fiction novel following a lesser-known character from one of history’s favorite female authors. Miss Jane Fairfax has spent her life—though poor and expecting the eventuality of a governess position—by the side of a Colonel’s daughter, living beyond the means she was born into. When she meets the enigmatic and handsome Frank Churchill in Weymouth, she can’t help but fall for him. Mr Frank Churchill, the heir to his aunt’s fortune and dependent on her goodwill, knows that he cannot marry without Mrs Churchill’s permission. Desperate to marry Jane, he proposes not only marriage but a plan to hide their engagement until his aunt approves of the match. The couple travel separately to their same small hometown of Highbury, where Jane’s ridiculous aunt and the notorious Emma Woodhouse threaten the understanding between them, and as the months pass by, Jane worries that they will be secretly engaged forever, with no happy ending in sight. As their lies and deceits pile up, can their love survive the social pressures that threaten to tear them apart?
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Editorial Review:
To be sure, Emma is one of my favorite books of Jane Austen's collection, which is not the norm for most people, so to review My Dearest Miss Fairfax was a treat. However, the two main characters, Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill are not the most endearing characters... in this one nor in the original book by Miss Austen. Yet, the author does a great job in giving the reader an excellent story with well-rounded characters. The backstory of Jane and Frank's secret love story is revealed in all its glory, lending to a very believable and enjoyable read. Just like Miss Austen, Ms. Watts fills the pages with love, complications, and impatient desperation. While pictured as a reticent woman in Emma, in this book she comes forth as a passionate heroine with quite her own opinions of the residents of Highbury which lends to the same qualities that Miss Austen imbued in her characters – full of mirth, wit, quips, and the stylistic Regency-era style any Austen fan will recognize and enjoy. No doubt you will get an entirely new view of Jane in this lovely moving story!
In true Austen-style, this book reveals the era attitudes and the small town gossip which Emma thrives on and which grates on Jane. While she awaits the revelation of her secret engagement to Frank, Jane must deal with this group of people whom she comes to view as small-minded in comparison to the intelligent and rich household of the Campbells where she came from. We got a small sense of her in the book Emma, of an air of regalness, (or her own high-minded quiet snobbery), and this narrative is inundated with it. Emma thrives on gossip and letter writing/reading, knowing the ins and outs of everyone in the town, and this book is no exception in this regard.
I quite enjoyed the author's perspective of saying that Miss Austen would chuckle while reading this book, to notice the veiled cynicism of the Regency world, all revealed in stark honesty by Jane Fairfax.
Her honesty often comes across as spiteful and ungracious, however, and the reader sometimes gets a sense of feeling sorry for her choice of a husband in Frank, and sometimes an eyebrow raises to see how she has much less regard for her Highbury neighbors, even more so than Emma Woodhouse; which, to be sure, is quite a feat in itself. In truth, I vacillated between adoring and abhorring her, and if an author can engender such emotions in a reader, then this is a mark of a skilled and gifted writer right up there with Miss Austen herself.
While the story is, all in all, delightful, it is not without curious imperfections, just mere slights that are not worth mentioning and do not detract from the overall flow of the narrative. I imagine for the wholehearted Austen fan, this will be a much-loved addition for anyone who absorbs anything related to Jane Austen.
Ms. Watts does a great job in maintaining a reader's dislike for characters such as Mrs. Elton, especially in regard to Jane Fairfax. As in Emma, the woman needed a good slap, which Jane might have done if not for her own fears of revealing a little too much of her mind about the townspeople.
This is a lovely love story in the end and quite emotional. Since we all know what happens in Emma, the outcome of Jane and Frank's secret engagement, this lets the reader in on the actual details, which provides a satisfying end to their story. My Dearest Miss Fairfax is true fan-fiction but may not be for everyone. It is a stand-alone for anyone not familiar with Austen's Emma, not to mention the prose is a bit more modern than the flourishing phrases of Jane Austen. Easy to read, clever, entertaining, and an impressive story. Bravo to Ms. Watts for taking on an enduring story and challenging herself to write a story which, ultimately, will be held up against the genius of Jane Austen... and does so with success!
*****
“My Dearest Miss Fairfax” by Jeanette Watts receives 4.5 stars from The Historical Fiction Company
Author Bio:
Jeanette Watts is a dance instructor, writer, seamstress, actress, and very, very poor housekeeper.
When she isn't writing historical fiction, she is working on a reproduction of historical clothing, she is teaching historical dances, or she is traveling and visiting historical sites. And wineries. Always make time to stop at the wineries.
Now she's trying to write the next historical fiction as fast as she can, realizing her brain hates her and won't let her finish one idea before the next idea comes along.
Keep up with the various parts of Jeanette's brain at JeanetteWatts.squarespace.com
