Publication May 6, 2025-St. Martin’s Press-Historical Fiction-320pp

Book Summary

Two pairs of siblings, devotees of Jane Austen, find their lives transformed by a visit to England and Sir Francis Austen, her last surviving brother and keeper of a long-suppressed, secret legacy.

In Boston, 1865, Charlotte and Henrietta Stevenson, daughters of a Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice, have accomplished as much as women are allowed in those days. Chafing against those restrictions and inspired by the works of Jane Austen, they start a secret correspondence with Sir Francis Austen, her last surviving brother, now in his nineties. He sends them an original letter from his sister and invites them to come visit him in England.

In Philadelphia, Nicholas & Haslett Nelson—bachelor brothers, veterans of the recent Civil War, and rare book dealers—are also in correspondence with Sir Francis Austen, who lures them, too, to England, with the promise of a never-before-seen, rare Austen artifact to be evaluated.

The Stevenson sisters sneak away without a chaperone to sail to England. On their ship are the Nelson brothers, writer Louisa May Alcott, Sara-Beth Gleason—wealthy daughter of a Pennsylvania state senator with her eye on the Nelsons—and, a would-be last-minute chaperone to the Stevenson sisters, Justice Thomas Nash.

It’s a voyage and trip that will dramatically change each of their lives in ways that are unforeseen, with the transformative spirit of the love of literature and that of Jane Austen herself.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

In a nod to Jane Austen’s use of alliteration: Lovers of literature lend me your ear! Austen at Sea is a sublime celebration of Jane Austen’s 250^th birthday. Like classic Victorian novels, Natalie Jenner divides the novel into four books. Set in Boston and London,1865, Jenner’s novel packs a political punch for women. She craftily lends an eavesdropping feel as seven justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Court discuss Jane Austen’s five novels during summer recess.  Current male viewpoints on women’s right to vote, owning property, and divorce laws, the backbone of Jenner’s novel, are juxtaposed to the main female characters’ refusal to settle for the low expectations of society, including most of the males around them. Jenner’s law degree shines an infuriating light on history and precedent providing ample fodder for discussion groups, possibly necessitating another conversation and another bottle of wine!  

Natalie Jenner creates characters readers would want to spend time with long after the novel ends. Charlotte’s gift for the stage and Henrietta’s quest for research takes readers within a lecture hall and the library of Gore Hall at Harvard. A fabulous scene but also maddening since women weren’t allowed to register nor were they invited to the discussion group after auditing lectures.  The sisters’ determination and endurance in overcoming obstacles continues to develop as their journey extends across the Atlantic. Sara-Beth, vivacious and socially ambitious, sly, independent Constance, and lonely, Louisa May Alcott add different age & class dimension to the plot. Readers get a giant dose of “paternal protection” as Justice William Stevenson agonizes over his daughters’ trip across the Atlantic-without a chaperone! Tension and the male point of view is deftly created through the Nelson brothers, Justice Nash, and of course, the reason for the transatlantic crossing, Sir Francis Austen.

The narrative is rife with references to Jane Austen’s characters. Sir Francis Austen, the last living sibling of Jane, takes on the role of Emma Woodhouse, becoming an adorable, giddy, 90-year-old matchmaker, but also keeper of secrets.  Actions of Jane’s sister Cassandra and the admiral’s youngest daughter and live-in caretaker, Fanny, add an unsettling thread to a plot already laden with relationship angst and courtroom drama. In true Austen fashion Jenner transports readers from the wharves of Boston, on to the decks of the SS China, and through the streets of London. Travels include the grounds of Sir Austen’s Portsdown Lodge with views of his “beloved sea”, and even to the Austen family home and graveyard in Chawton.

Do you fancy letters, manuscripts, antiquarian bookshops, first editions, libraries? Then you know books are a gift. Austen at Sea is a stunning gift for Jane Austen fans from years past and for newfound readers. Thank you, Natalie Jenner, for inspiring another generation of readers through the world’s beloved Jane Austen. Happy 250^th Birthday!

Natalie Jenner is the internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society, Bloomsbury Girls, Every Time We Say Goodbye and Austen at Sea, which have been published in over twenty languages worldwide. https://www.nataliejenner.com/