**"The most brilliant Austen-adjacent book on the market. . . . Flynn's
style makes this a quick, fun read, and since the story is Jane-related
there's even a romantic subplot." -- Vulture
**
"What lover of literature hasn't dreamed of going back in time to meet
Jane Austen? . . . . Kathleen A. Flynn brings this dream to life,
creating a vivid portrait of Regency England in all its glory and
squalor." --Lauren Belfer, author of After the Fire and A Fierce
Radiance
Perfect for fans of Jane Austen, this engrossing novel offers an unusual
twist on the legacy of one of the world's most celebrated and beloved
authors: two researchers from the future are sent back in time to meet
Jane and recover a suspected unpublished novel.
London, 1815: Two travelers--Rachel Katzman and Liam Finucane--arrive
in a field in rural England, disheveled and weighed down with hidden
money. Turned away at a nearby inn, they are forced to travel by coach
all night to London. They are not what they seem, but rather colleagues
who have come back in time from a technologically advanced future,
posing as wealthy West Indies planters--a doctor and his spinster
sister. While Rachel and Liam aren't the first team from the future to
"go back," their mission is by far the most audacious: meet, befriend,
and steal from Jane Austen herself.
Carefully selected and rigorously trained by The Royal Institute for
Special Topics in Physics, disaster-relief doctor Rachel and
actor-turned-scholar Liam have little in common besides the
extraordinary circumstances they find themselves in. Circumstances that
call for Rachel to stifle her independent nature and let Liam take the
lead as they infiltrate Austen's circle via her favorite brother, Henry.
But diagnosing Jane's fatal illness and obtaining an unpublished novel
hinted at in her letters pose enough of a challenge without the
continuous convolutions of living a lie. While her friendship with Jane
deepens and her relationship with Liam grows complicated, Rachel fights
to reconcile the woman she is with the proper lady nineteenth-century
society expects her to be. As their portal to the future prepares to
close, Rachel and Liam struggle with their directive to leave history
intact and exactly as they found it. . . however heartbreaking that may
prove.
