the jane austen society by natalie jenner

“I mean, what-one Jane Austen on the shelves? No Katherine Mansfield. “But he doesn’t even read women,” Vivien would bemoan to Grace, who would nod back in sympathy while trying to remember her grocery list before the bus journey home. Not surprisingly, Alec disputed these views. With her own degree in literature from Durham (Cambridge, her dream university, still refusing in 1941 to graduate women), Vivien had rigorously informed views on the types of books the fiction department should carry. “Vivien’s issues with Alec ranged from the titles they stocked on the shelves, to his preference for booking events exclusively with male authors who had served during the war.

Dutton’s fifty-one rules and Alec’s “Boys Club” method of running the fiction department. Then she would go home and do a version of the same for her family.” (16) She would go back to typing up his unnecessarily long letters, organizing his voluminous paperwork into alphabetical files, and fetching his tea.

It would be all for tomorrow, too, and for the day after that.

“Thank you, Miss Perkins,” he finally replied, looking almost pained by her suggestions. Grace has innovative ideas for expanding business opportunities for the bookstore, but Mr. Grace and Vivien are frustrated by the limitations placed on them. Dutton’s secretary, and Vivien Lowry are charged with “elevenses duty” making tea for the entire staff. Dutton’s fifty-one unbreakable rules that dictate every aspect of the running of the bookstore, to blustery Master Mariner Simon Scott’s territorial protection of “his” history department, to smooth-talking and ambitious head of fiction, Alec McDonough-men call the shots at Bloomsbury Books while Grace Perkins, Mr. Dutton and she is hired on the spot, much to the surprise of the rest of the Bloomsbury staff.Įvie finds herself thrust into an eclectic group of men and women at Bloomsbury Books. At her interview with the bookstore’s General Manager, Herbert Dutton, Evie’s quick thinking during a medical emergency impresses Mr. Refusing to return to the tiny village of Chawton in defeat, she sets her sights on a position at Bloomsbury Books & Maps. The story begins in Cambridge with Evie Stone’s unsuccessful bid for a position as research assistant. Jenner’s latest novel, set in post-war literary London, hold up under the weight of public expectation and comparison with her accomplished first effort? Would the Bloomsbury Girls be up to the task set before them? Natalie Jenner’s debut novel The Jane Austen Society was an international bestseller and one of my favorite books of 2020.

The jane austen society by natalie jenner