The Austen Affair
A Novel
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Two feuding co-stars in a Jane Austen film adaptation accidentally travel back in time to the Regency Era in this delightfully clever and riotously funny debut
Tess Bright just scored her dream role starring in an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. It's not just the role of a lifetime, but it’s also her last chance to prove herself as a serious actress (no easy feat after being fired from her last TV gig) and more importantly, it’s her opportunity to honor her mom, who was the biggest fan of Jane Austen ever. But one thing is standing in Tess’s way—well, one very tall, annoyingly handsome person, actually: Hugh Balfour.
A serious British method actor, Hugh wants nothing to do with Tess (whose Teen Choice Awards somehow don’t quite compare to his BAFTA nominations). Hugh is a type-A, no-nonsense, Royal Academy prodigy, whereas Tess is big-hearted, a little reckless, and admittedly, kind of a mess. But the film needs chemistry—and Tess’s career depends on it.
Sparks fly, but not in the way Tess hoped, when an electrical accident sends the two feuding co-stars back in time to Jane Austen’s era. 200 years in the past with only each other to rely on, Tess and Hugh need to ad-lib their way through the Regency period in order to make it back home, and hopefully not screw up history along the way. But if a certain someone looks particularly dashing in those 19th century breeches…well, Tess won’t be complaining.
A wickedly funny, delightfully charming story, The Austen Affair is a tribute to Jane Austen, second chances, and love across the space-time continuum.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Time travel disrupts the filming of a Jane Austen movie adaptation in Bell's captivating adult debut (after the YA novel The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray, written as Christine Calella). Sassy American actress Tess Bright has been depressed since her Austen-loving mother's death, which has negatively affected her work and cost her a big TV role. The chance to play Catherine Morland in an adaptation of Northanger Abbey seems like a perfect way to get her career back on track and honor her mother's memory—if only Hugh Balfour, the snotty and standoffish British leading man, would meet her halfway in generating on-screen chemistry. When a storm strikes the set, Hugh and Tess are struck by electric sparks and sent back in time to Regency England. They'll have to learn to rely on each other if they hope to navigate the era and make it back to their own time. Along the way, Hugh realizes that Tess has hidden depths behind what he's viewed as her "vulgar" facade, and Tess discovers that Hugh's aloofness hides anxiety. Bell makes a meal of the Austenian setting and does a fantastic job peeling back her well-matched leads' layers as they learn to let go of first impressions. It's an utter delight.
