The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen

By: Syrie James

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

The minute I saw the letter, I knew it was hers. There was no mistaking it: the salutation, the tiny, precise handwriting, the date, the content itself, all confirmed its ancient status and authorship....

Samantha McDonough cannot believe her eyes - or her luck. Tucked in an uncut page of a 200-year-old poetry book is a letter she believes was written by Jane Austen, mentioning with regret a manuscript that "went missing at Greenbriar in Devonshire". Could there really be an undiscovered Jane Austen novel waiting to be found? Could anyone resist the temptation to go looking for it?

Making her way to the beautiful, centuries-old Greenbriar estate, Samantha finds it no easy task to sell its owner, the handsome yet uncompromising Anthony Whitaker, on her wild idea of searching for a lost Austen work - until she mentions its possible million-dollar value.

After discovering the unattributed manuscript, Samantha and Anthony are immediately absorbed in the story of Rebecca Stanhope, daughter of a small town rector, who is about to encounter some bittersweet truths about life and love. As they continue to read the newly discovered tale from the past, a new one unfolds in the present - a story that just might change both of their lives forever.

©2012 Syrie James (P)2012 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"This richly imagined Jane Austen 'road novel' is...a page turner.... A standout addition to the crowded archive of Austen homages." (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

"A literary feast for Anglophiles...[with] an Austen-worthy ending." (Publishers Weekly)

"James expertly blends Austen archetypes - bumbling suitors, lady friends both silly and sympathetic, bemused fathers - with her own narrative wit.... A sweet, enjoyable read for any Austen fan." (Shelf Awareness)

Good story. Couldn’t finish.

I liked this story but I had to stop because I couldn’t listen to the narrator’s voice anymore.

Jane Austen fans unite!

love this story line, narrator & entire thought process that gives me my Jane Austen fix!

highly recommend!

A story within a story

This book was just a delight. It’s light & fun and well worth the credit if you are a Jane Austin fan.

Good Book, not very convincing, miss

The story was very interesting and I got hooked right away. The way the author describes her story is very similar to how she describes things in the Austen manuscript. The only thing similar to Austen is some quotes that she takes from every book and some of the context is not.. well I can forgive that it is just a spin off. I liked the book over all and very interesting read.

Now the performer of this book either is not British or knows nothing about music because there was a constant miss-pronounciation of words. The most relevant and that appeared over and over again was 'Piano Forte'. Please lady, for next time, it is Pea-ah-noh For-teh. Not piano fort. The accent/enfasis is in the 'for' in forte, but you can really accent it where ever you want. My gosh, that was painful.

Other than that, her accents were nice and the way she did the voices was ok too. I will give her more stars now than I anticipated. I started with 2, but since it is not all her fault about the ponunciation since anyone in the editing of this audiobook could have told her, I will give her ... nope. 2 stars is what all the performance for me warrants. I'm sorry, good try though.

Love a novel based on historical facts!

Two stories for the price of one! Austen lovers will enjoy this book that I think does Jane's legacy justice.

Jane did it better

What did you like best about The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen? What did you like least?

Like The Pink Carnation series, this story jumps back and forth between the present where researchers have found a lost manuscript and the past that has been written down. I enjoy this double point of view.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The "found" manuscript is written very much in the Jane Austen style, full of the minutiae of daily life in the 18th Century. This author, however, doesn't make that minutiae as interesting as Jane did.

What didn’t you like about Justine Eyre’s performance?

I really disliked the English accent she used. It sounds haughty and pretentious. You can actually hear the British stiff upper lip.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes. I love Jane Austen and would go to see this movie on the basis hof her name only. Also, the story wouldn't suffer from being edited down to two and a half hours or so.

Not a fan of the voice over

Would you try another book from Syrie James and/or Justine Eyre?

I have listened to other books by Syrie James and Justines Eyre's voice was distracting and bizarre. She draws out her words in a strange way, I found it distracting and annoying. I will avoid her from now on.

My favorite book in a long, long time!

I absolutely LOVED this book! Both storylines were captivating, and Justine Eyre did a magnificent job, as always. I almost listened to it all the way straight through (interrupted only by a necessary night's sleep). The ending was satisfying, and I'm recommending it to everyone. SO fun for any Jane Austen fan!

Lukewarm and annoying, but a decent story.

Any additional comments?

The reading was excellent in parts, extremely annoying in others. The narrator has the habit of finishing sentences with a long drawn out syllable in the throat. It's really annoying. But the voices during the Austen part of the story were excellent, and I found myself enjoying the book about halfway through. I think I would have enjoyed it more with a different narrator. I did notice some modern colloquialisms that would not have been in a true Austen novel, but I think one has to look past those little things. It's not actually written by Austen, after all. It felt sort of like a mashup of all of Austen's novels and it was actually fairly satisfying in that way. I found the modern part of the story quite lacking and undeveloped though. I nearly would have rather had just the Austen story and not bothered with the surrounding modern tale.

Very enjoyable!

I’m not sure how accurate the author’s depiction of Austen’s writing is, but the story was enjoyable! Both the embedded story in the manuscript and the modern-day story were enjoyable. The only beef I might have is the representation of librarians being mere resources and not actual academics. I’ve been around university librarians. They are innovative, curious. And prolific researchers and writers in their own right. After all, it is called library *science.*