'Six weeks by the Sea' by Paula Byrne

Here is one of my summer beach reads. I spotted this one on the library shelf and its beautiful cover inspired me to pick it up. 

MY THOUGHTS:

Austen scholar Paula Byrne writes a hypothetical novel in which Jane falls in love with Samuel Rose, the young lawyer who defended poet/artist William Blake from a charge of sedition, and got him acquitted. Rose was suffering from consumption and died shortly after his successful court case, breaking the hearts of all who knew him.  

It's a known fact that Jane Austen became briefly attached to a mysterious stranger who she met on holiday at Sidmouth during the summer of 1801 when she was 25. Byrne overlaps Austen's personal history with Rose's, suggesting him as a possible contender. Even though the time frame doesn't quite fit, it's an interesting concept. 

Meanwhile, Jane's brother, Captain Frank Austen, is keen to orchestrate a match between Jane and Peter Parker, a sailor buddy of his. But Parker harbors a couple of unsavory secrets. His sympathy for slave traders is just one of them.

Reverend John Swete (another character borrowed from true life) has a small Creole granddaughter who he's eager to provide for, and Jane lends a helping hand. It's also the days of rudimentary inoculations, which comes into play. 

Even though this book covers only six weeks in 250 pages, I found it fairly slow paced. Jane takes an unreasonable dislike to Samuel Rose from the get-go, for the flimsy reason that he's a lawyer like her old flame, Tom Lefroy. She tells her sister, Cassandra, 'He's worse than the plagues of Egypt.' Come on, really! Such strong words for a guy who has done nothing wrong. I can't help feeling the story is written this way to go through the motions of a hate-to-love trope, but it ought to be more convincing to ring true.

Another thing Byrne does is to give her own characters shades of Jane Austen's. Reverend Swete has moments of Mr Collins style pomposity, although in her afterword, Byrne mentions that her research proves he really was inclined that way. His wife embodies all the worst parts of Jane's villainesses. She's an intolerant hypochondriac with no redeeming features whatsoever. 

Samuel Rose himself pulls off some very unsubtle George Knightley moves straight from the pages of Emma. These help Jane see that he's a good guy after all, but it seems a bit contrived. And I don't really like the inevitable implication that years later, Austen simply translated some speeches and actions from an old boyfriend straight into her manuscript. She was surely more creative than that!

I do like Mrs Austen and Cassandra, who is nursing her own heartache. I like the doggerel verses and the excerpts from William Cowper's poetry. I like Peter Parker's dilemma, which took longer than it should have to dawn on me. And I like well-meaning Frank Austen, who doesn't read between the lines. But in all honesty, we live in a glut of Jane Austen inspired, Regency historical fiction, and this one isn't a standout.

As for Jane Austen's real mystery man, I'd be willing to bet he was probably a humble no-name, not a brilliant man of his time whose professional impact lasted down the annals of history for over 200 years. 

🌟🌟½