Austenland

Infobox Book
name = Austenland
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author = Shannon Hale
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publisher = Bloomsbury USA
pub_date = May 29, 2007
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media_type = Hardback
pages = 208
isbn = 1596912855
oclc = 73502669
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"Austenland" is a novel by Shannon Hale.

Plot summary

Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice", is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane’s fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined.

Decked out in empire-waist gowns, Jane struggles to master Regency etiquette and flirts with gardeners and gentlemen—or maybe even, she suspects, with the actors who are playing them. It’s all a game, Jane knows. And yet the longer she stays, the more her insecurities seem to fall away, and the more she wonders: Is she about to kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

Literary significance and reception

Ella Taylor of the "Los Angeles Times" described the novel as "some lit lite to see you through a day at the beach" [cite news |first=Ella |last=Taylor |title=Bulletin: Darcy isn't real, get used to it |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/booksmags/bal-id.bk.jane08jul08,0,5289143.story?coll=bal-artslife-books |work=Baltimore Sun |date=2007-07-08 |accessdate=2007-07-10 ] . Another reviewer summed the work up as "an utterly enjoyable tribute" to the work of Jane Austen [cite news |first=Hannah |last=Sampson |title=Looking for Mr. Darcy in Austenland |url=http://www.miamiherald.com/467/story/157762.html |work=Miami Herald |date=2007-07-03 |accessdate=2007-07-10 ] .

Awards and nominations

* Book Sense pick for June 2007
* Wall Street Journal "notable book" for summer 2007

Adaptations

Publication history

*2007, USA, Bloomsbury USA ISBN 1596912855, Pub date 29 May 2007, Hardback
*2007, USA, Audio Renaissance ISBN 1427201412, Pub date 29 May 2007, Audiobook

References

External links

* [http://www.squeetus.com/stage/books_austen.html Books: austenland] on the author's official website
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11259913 NPR: Flirting with Fiction and Fantasy in 'Austenland']