Austenland: A Novel

Shannon Hale

Aug 2010 · Bloomsbury Publishing USA

About this ebook

For readers of Waiting for Tom Hanks and Well Met, a “gloriously satisfying” (Glamour) romantic comedy set at a Jane Austen fantasy resort from New York Times bestselling author Shannon Hale. Now a major motion picture starring Keri Russell and produced by Stephenie Meyer.

Jane Hayes is a young New Yorker with a real romantic problem: no man she meets can compare to her one true love-Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort for Austen fanatics, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined.

Dressed in empire waist gowns and torn between a sexy gardener and an actor playing the brooding Darcy role, Jane finds herself mastering the rules of etiquette and of the resort's flirtatious games. But when it's time to bid Austenland goodbye, can Jane really leave her fantasies-and the two men who've played into them-behind?

In this addictive, charming, and entirely delightful story, Shannon Hale brings out the Jane Austen obsessive in all of us.

Ratings and reviews

I read the book after watching the movie. This is one of the cases where the movie is much better than the book. I thank the author for putting this story out since it inspired the movie, but I'm sorry to say that this piece of literary work is fan fiction at best.

I saw the movie and loved it. I brought the book to compare and I like the ending of the movie so much more. All and all its a fun book to read for every Jane Austen fan.

I already read this three times. I think both the book and movie are great in their own ways. :)

About the author

Shannon Hale is the New York Times bestselling author of 30+ books for young readers including Newbery Honor winner Princess Academy, The Goose Girl, Book of a Thousand Days, Kind of a Big Deal, and graphic novel memoirs Real Friends and Best Friends. Her novels for the adult crowd include Austenland (now a major motion picture starring Keri Russell), Midnight in Austenland, and The Actor and the Housewife. With her husband Dean, she penned the bestselling series The Princess in Black and two novels about Marvel's unbeatable Squirrel Girl. They live in Utah with their four remarkable children and two ridiculous cats.