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The Jane Austen Project: A Novel
The Jane Austen Project: A Novel
The Jane Austen Project: A Novel
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The Jane Austen Project: A Novel

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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“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and beloved authors: two researchers from the future are sent back in time to meet Jane and recover a suspected unpublished novel.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But diagnosing Jane’s fatal illness and obtaining an unpublished novel hinted at in her letters pose enough of a challenge without the continuous convolutions of living a lie.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.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperCollins
Release dateMay 2, 2017
ISBN9780062651266
Author

Kathleen A. Flynn

Kathleen A. Flynn is an editor at the New York Times, where she works at “The Upshot.” She holds a B.A. from Barnard College and an M.A. from the University of North Carolina. She has taught English in Hong Kong, washed dishes on Nantucket, and is a life member of the Jane Austen Society of North America. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their shy fox terrier, Olive.

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Rating: 3.912790813953489 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    As cute and fluffy as expected - Time traveler fangirl and fanboy are looking for a lost manuscript and flirt their way to Jane...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In a world not dissimilar to our own, there is but one large difference: time travel exists. Not Doctor Who time travel where you can manipulate time and space, but a possibility that for most characters in this world can do once and very rarely more than once in their lifetime but they can do it nonetheless. Time travel here is not quite fleshed out or really given even fake physics view from it other than they are traveling via wormholes, but no matter, the premise of the story is delightful enough to keep readingTrained at the Royal Institute for Special Topics in Physics, doctor Rachel Katzman and actor-turned-scholar Liam Finucane have a singular purpose: to steal the letters of Jane Austen to find out what happens to Jane's incomplete works and to see if they can cure and save Jane from her mysterious ailment that kills her at the age of 42 in 1817. They are to do all of this without changing the course of history (too much).Simple enough.We are dropped immediately into the story when Rachel and Liam land in Leatherhead, Surrey dressed in period garb and affecting mannerisms of 1815 England. Posing as brother and sister, Rachel and Liam must not only integrate themselves into Regency society but also become intimates of the Austen family. Educated in the whereabouts, personalities, and eventual deaths of the Austens as well as the time period itself, Rachel and Liam must skilfully navigate society as to a:keep up appearances of their assumed personalities, and b: do not disrupt anything in the timeline, specifically with the Austens, that could change the outcome of history.There is much that I love about this book. First and foremost, Flynn's characterization of Jane is brilliant and how I would have expected Jane to be —slightly sarcastic but without malice, fiercely protective of her family, and curious as hell about the world. Rachel's relationship with Jane is a bit sticky in the beginning: Both are independent and fierce in their own right, but watching Jane and Rachel become the most intimate of sisters felt real and not contrived. I was especially buoyed by Flynn's rendition of Jane as another novel I just finished with Jane as the main character drew Jane as slightly flighty and a bit too sweet, which clashed with everything we know from the meager number of letters on about Jane. Flynn drawing Jane from those personal accounts really set the tone of the story.As Rachel and Liam become more involved with their subjects, some conflicts appear. While having a secret engagement with Henry Austen, Jane's most beloved brother, Rachel finds herself in love with Liam which one can expect is most delicate as they are portraying themselves as brother and sister. Liam seems to return Rachel's affections but their affair, obviously kept in secret, seems one-sided as Rachel comes off as a teenager in the first throes of her first boyfriend while Liam remains steadfast and stoic. Perhaps that was the intent? It should be noted there is definitely nothing chaste in their joining which didn't put me off, I slightly adored it, but there is no next chaptering it in these love scenes. Fear not dear reader! The Rachel/Liam romance is very secondary in the book and it does not detain from the story.Jane eventually finds out Rachel and Liam's true purpose in their real reasons for becoming close to the Austen family and that they are also from the future. This wasn't too unexpected, Jane would have to find out after all, but Jane's near immediate acceptance of Rachel and Liam's objective was a bit disappointing. Flynn captures Jane as headstrong and independent through 90% of the book and drops it during these scenes— Jane's quick acceptance seems out of character.When Rachel and Liam return to present day, they discover their true purpose was not to just capture Jane's letters before they are destroyed but to prolong her life, which Rachel eventually does. Upon their return, not only have they changed world history—Jane lives, publishes over 20 novels, and lives a long full life, but Rachel and Liam's personal history have also been changed. In some ways, drastically such as Rachel's mother, who in her first time line is living when Rachel leaves for the past, but in her new current timeline, her mother had died when Rachel was young.The ending, I thought, was a bit clunky. We are left hanging of the "will they or won't they" in regards to Rachel and Liam and Flynn writes as if she's not too sure either on what's going to happen. I re-read the last chapter several times and I am still finding it a bit uneven.Nevertheless, Flynn's research is near immaculate and it really shows. She captures the period beautifully down to the wordplay, mannerisms, and period correct lifestyles. 90% of the characters are well thought out (oh, Cassandra! I would have loved to have seen more of you!) and vibrant. The story flows evenly despite the slight hiccups along the way and the clunky ending. While I would recommend this title to anyone looking for a fine read, I would most especially recommend it to those who are into Jane Austen paraliterature as it makes a fabulous addition to any collection.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Colleagues Rachel Katzman and Liam Finucane have been sent on the most ambitious mission of their time travel institute since its inception: travel back to 1815 and enmesh themselves in the lives of the Austens in order to rescue a copy of "The Watsons," which due to a recently discovered letter has been proven to be completed rather than a fragment. However, while working their way into the lives of the family they must grapple with the question of whether there are other things they could change and what the repercussions would be.I really enjoyed this historical science fiction novel. Flynn does an excellent job of creating a believable Jane Austen that is in line with the historical record we have. She also creates really compelling characters in Rachel and Liam although I found Liam too much of a Darcy-esque enigma and the ending a bit to quick, even if it is an homage to Austen's works. This is definitely light on the science fiction element - there isn't a lot of detail about the logistics of time travel but everything makes sense within the world. High appeal for Janeites, of course, but also for fans of historical fiction or time travel novels.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a mash-up of different genres that shouldn't work together at all, but debut novelist Kathleen A. Flynn manages to make it all work. Rachel is a doctor working in the crisis zones of a world where things have gone badly wrong. There's been a "die-off" of species and each new environmental disaster brings new hardships. She's an avid reader of Austen's novels, so when she hears about a project to time travel back and obtain a novel that Austen never published, she applies and is accepted to be part of the team traveling to Regency England. Rachel is an entirely modern woman, who has created an independent life for herself. It's an adjustment learning how a woman in the nineteenth conducts herself and it isn't helped by pairing her with a stand-offish British actor. They pose as a brother and sister newly arrived in London after selling their plantation in Jamaica, and intend to become friends with Jane Austen's favorite brother, as a way of being introduced to Jane and from there to steal her manuscript. Somehow this mix of modern chick-lit, dystopian time travel speculative fiction, historical novel about the life of Jane Austen and gentle romance all work wonderfully together. Flynn has done her research, on what life was like in early nineteenth century England, on Jane Austen's life and in thoroughly thinking through the time travel aspect of the tale. This isn't a story that hand-waves away the logistics and consequences of time travel, but wrestles with all of that in a very satisfying way. Rachel is an engaging narrator, being entirely modern and out-spoken in her thoughts, but careful to behave appropriately. My only minor quibble is the reverence with which Jane Austen is treated. I'm not sure any human being could be as relentlessly perfect as this version of Austen.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was an imaginative and enjoyable book but at times I thought it was slow going. I also wanted to know more about thw world world that the main characters found when they came back from their time travel trip, and, in effect, rescuing Jane Austen. It just seemed an abrupt end to me. I was happy they found each other again but how were they going to settle back together ina world that was subtly different as a result of their actions with Austen and her family.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Jane Austen Project is and is not a great work. Kathleen Flynn is really quite excellent at merging biography and science fiction in a way most who attempt it cannot pull off. Yet, as a romance writer she is either simply terrible... or else her editor made her add the romantic element of the story after it was complete, utterly tanking the work. Similar to how television can be written by a team where one person is responsible for the A plot and another for the B or C plot, the disparate elements may not necessarily coalesce. In any case, as a sci-fi biography The Jane Austen Project is really quite excellent. I guess the trendy term is "speculative fiction", but that feels inadequate here. Flynn's command of all the minutiae of Austenian characters, as well as their real-life counterparts and situations in life eclipses what most fiction writers are able to do with gathered research. Additionally Flynn rather expertly channels Austen's sardonic tone and dramatic irony in a delightfully uncanny fangirlism. The constant fish-out-of-water tension of her feminist physician protagonist kicking against the traces of Georgian sex roles is engaging, at times meta and reminiscent of second-wave writers; Flynn's many allusions to Rachel's corset work beautifully as a symbol for the way in which she's constantly being choked by the ill-fitting place of women in the society she now finds herself (which simultaneously highlights Austen's many triumphs under the bsame restraints).In complete contrast however, the primary romantic relationship in The Jane Austen Project is an epic fail. The post-modern Rachel who can't decide if she likes Liam, or if she simply needs to get laid yesterday is sad, and so too is Liam's inability to resemble anything like a love-interest. While Liam's "mysterious" and "smoldering" surface may seem adequate or promising, his complete lack of depth relative to all the other characters (not the least of which is Henry, Austen's brother whom Rachel's "Mary" persona is supposed to be courting) positions him as really little more than the only available outlet when Rachel needs to get off. In truth neither the coarse two-dimensional Liam, nor the naive, chauvinist Henry are up to the task of satisfying Rachel's feminist needs in a partner... while the character of Jane actually would, if she were gay. All-in-all this B plot is badly written and amusingly ends in an incomplete story--highly appropriate for the milquetoast Liam.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I received a copy of this book through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

    I am a huge fan of Jane Austen and I love reimaginings of her books and pretty much anything that has to do with her so when I saw this book, I knew I had to read it! Add in the time traveling factor and you have the makings of a really fascinating book! The two main characters, Rachel and Liam travel back in time to England in 1815 with the mission of infiltrating Jane Austen's circle, diagnosing her fatal illness and obtaining an unpublished novel. I loved the majority of this book. While they are in the past, the author does a fantastic job at recreating the time and setting. It's really interesting to see two modern people attempt to fit in a time where things are so much different. I enjoyed seeing Rachel and Liam really struggle with not altering the past and leaving history unaltered. I feel like if I was to ever time travel, that would be something I would have a hard time leaving alone. The only part of this book I really struggled with was the author's portrayal of the futuristic world where Rachel and Liam traveled from. It was really hard to get a clear image of what the world was like and how it got to be that way. But overall, I really enjoyed this book and will be interested to read any future books by this author.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is Jane Austen fan-fic. It includes few travel back to Jane's time, to visit her and hopefully protect a manuscript she never finished. I enjoyed it though it had a couple sudden ill-placed expletives.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am not one to normally read time travel books. But I am such a fan of any thing Jane Austen, I had to give it a go. The book was very well written. I found that it kept my interest until the last page. I was not disappointed.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Our time travelers come from a future 'after the great dying off' when time travel is newly possible. They are sent back in time to befriend Jane Austen and her family, and to ostensibly recover a manuscript that Jane had destroyed. However, it's possible that those in charge of the team hope they will do a bit more.But of course, even the smallest of actions can drastically change the future. They return to find that other time traveling teams have eliminated problematic points in history and that their own lives have become virtually unrecognizable. They have the choice of reconciling their memories to the new historical events. This however, will leave them with no memories of their time travel and their time together.I think there are not many new ideas for either the Jane Austen or time travel aficionado, but altogether a fun, entertaining romp with an ending reminiscent of Jane Austen herself.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A surprisingly good book. I always like to read Austen-inspired novels, but don't often expect much from them but this was good and smart. The author did her research well and was able to convey many details about Austen's life while also creating a compelling story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    From a future that follows a "Die-off," and when time travel is newly possible, Rachel and Liam are sent back to England in the year 1815 in order to obtain the manuscript of a lost novel by Jane Austen. While they are both Austen fans and scholars, their personalities are quite different, so as they struggle to live in a different world their approaches are quite different. The descriptions of 19th century London and English country living are vivid and fascinating. As Liam and Rachel assume their new identities and connive to get close to the Austen family, readers will be eager to see if their impersonation can work. The time travel conundrum of how and whether history can or should be altered by time travelers is hinted at throughout the novel, and then ultimately dominates the climax. A sequel would surely be welcome.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Time travel, Jane Austen, and romance makes for a fun read. In the future, time travel has been perfected and a team of two has been sent back to recover Jane Austen's lost novel. I enjoyed the alternative history aspects of this novel, as well as the subtle romance that develops among the two time travels. Good for anyone after a fun read!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I honestly didn't expect that this story would grab my imagination as much as it did. I'm a fan of Jane Austen and her amazing stories and am really glad to have read this mind boggling tale.There's so much I loved about this book, from an impeccable research to complexity of the plot and characterization, I thought the author did a magnificent job in catapulting me into Jane Austen world.If you're a fan of Jane Austen, SyFy and if you like reads that would make you wonder "what if ..." this is a must for you. Highly recommend it!Melanie for b2bComplimentary copy provided by the publisher
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    LOVE
    So interesting having a look into Jane Austen’s life with a modern perspective and view. HIGHLY RECOMMEND it to history and historical romance lovers
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It is 1815 when Rachel and Liam come through the time portal in a field in Surrey; their purpose in the early 19th century is to insinuate themselves into Jane Austen's life, in hopes of retrieving the entire manuscript of The Watsons. It is an audacious plan, one for which they have extensive training. Rachel's years as an emergency medical doctor also proves crucial. Posing as brother and sister recently departed from their plantation in Jamaica, they have more than sufficient funds to set themselves up in London as people of wealth. Armed with a formal letter of introduction, they become acquaintances, then friends with the Austen family, so much so that they are invited to stay with the family in Chawton, where Jane Austen lived until the end of her life.This is a wonderful book. It is obviously a work of love, written by someone whose admiration of Jane spills over into wanting to know about life in England in the author's time period. The amount and fluency of detail in the novel was fascinating and satisfying. The amount and types of food served at a dinner given by the wealthy floored me: I admit to wanting no part of rabbit smothered with onions, beetroot, boiled beef, and some sort of pudding called drowned baby. The details of clothing I found particularly interesting, and the author had everything correct, right down to the vocabulary: pelisse, spencer, fichu, mantua.I really liked the Jane Austen that the author conjured up for this book. She fits my daydreams. Sardonic, witty, intelligent, fragile in health, a warm and loving sister and friend. I wished many times that I were Rachel, sitting at the bedside of an ailing Jane, or whispering remarks to each other at an evening's gathering.I have much more to say but I don't want to spoil the book, to give away secrets. It is so thoroughly worth reading if you are a fan of Jane Austen, and if you enjoy extremely well-written historical fiction. This is the first time I've ever read dystopian time-travel historical fiction, and I so much approved the mash-up of genres. It was perfectly done. This book has already made its way onto my list of favourites, and I look forward to the re-reads that are sure to happen.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Jane Austen Project is the perfect mix of sci-fi, Austen tribute and historical fiction. It’s unique in that I’ve never come across an Austen sci-fi (if there are others out there, point me in their direction!) – I’ve read modern adaptations and paranormal ones, but nothing that comes close to this!In a future where meat is non-existent after some sort of disaster referred to as The Collapse, most things are 3-d printed, and time travel is a fairly common occurrence, there’s a group of people who are desperate to get Austen’s letters to her sister Cassandra (most of which were actually burned after Austen’s death) and her last, unfinished manuscript, The Watsons. At first I was highly confused as to why this mission was a priority – don’t get me wrong, I love Austen and would love to read anything and everything by her, yet this seemed a bit frivolous. However, towards the end of the book and after some wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey happenings, it makes sense. Actually, maybe it makes sense before then and I just missed it.All the characters are well done. Liam and Rachel have been extensively trained in order to successfully blend in during 1815, yet, understandably there are some tough times. No amount of acting classes and training scenarios can compare you for spontaneous human interaction. They are both doing their best to complete their mission while also internally fan-girling (or guy-ing) at being surrounded by Austen and her family. There’s also the added layer of their personalities being subtly similar to those of Lizzy and Darcy.Jane Austen herself is just what I’d imagine she’d be like, from my limited readings about her life. Her brother Henry was my favorite of the Austen clan, however. He’s a gentleman, but unlike those in Austen’s novels, we get to see his more, realistic…er, manly side. Basically, he’s horny and flirty, ok? I was loving it! He falls somewhere in between the practiced manners of Bingley (or maybe even Tilney because of his sense of humor) and the saucy, flirtatiousness of Wickham and Willoughby.Speaking of flirtatiousness, this book had more steamy scenes than I expected. In fact, I didn’t expect any steamy scenes! Henry isn’t the only one trying to heat things up. I was pleasantly surprised to find a few sexy times thrown in. You guys might be familiar with how I always harp on about Austen not letting her characters kiss. Little did I know how satisfying scenes that go beyond that would be! Scandalous!The plot had me guessing what would happen up until the actual last page of the book. I was practically jumping out of my skin because the ending was going to decide whether I was going to give the book five stars or toss it out the window while swearing. Granted, I still would have recommended the book, had the ending gone differently, but it really would have dampened my satisfaction with the story up until that point.If you like Austen adaptations, historical fiction and time travel then I highly recommend The Jane Austen Project! It gives off low key Austenland vibes (except way more intense because the characters are living the real damn deal) with a hint of Dark Matter (multiple realities) and I’m now declaring historical sci-fi to be my new favorite totally made up genre. I sincerely hope Flynn puts out another book soon (and I hope it’s in the same universe – I have ideas!)
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Some time in the future, when time travel has become possible, it is discovered that Jane Austen’s novel, The Watsons, which people have always believed had been abandoned when only partially finished, may have actually been completed. However, for some reason lost to time, she chose not to have it published but rather may have destroyed it. Dr Rachel Katzman and actor Liam Finucane are sent back to 1815 to try to retrieve the novel while, if possible, diagnosing the disease that would eventually kill Jane. While insinuating themselves into the Austen household, they must try to do as little as possible to change history. But things get difficult when Rachel’s flirtation with Henry, Jane’s favourite brother, leads to a marriage proposal, further complicated by her growing attraction to Liam especially as they are pretending to be siblings.The Jane Austen Project, the debut novel by writer Kathleen A. Flynn shows a real understanding of the culture of the Regency Period as well as containing a wealth of information about the Austens. However, despite this and the scifi aspect of the novel, the story quickly evolves into a conventional romance which sidetracks these, to me, much more interesting threads.Thing is, I’m a Jane Austen fan but I read her for her wit and her sly sendup of the cultural and literary norms of the day and not for the romance. Not to say I didn’t enjoy the book for what it was but I wouldn’t recommend it to scifi fans or those who, like me, love her books for the same reasons that I do. However, I suspect those who do love Austen for her romances will find it a perfect summer read.Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for an opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In a world not dissimilar to our own, there is but one large difference: time travel exists. Not Doctor Who time travel where you can manipulate time and space, but a possibility that for most characters in this world can do once and very rarely more than once in their lifetime but they can do it nonetheless. Time travel here is not quite fleshed out or really given even fake physics view from it other than they are traveling via wormholes, but no matter, the premise of the story is delightful enough to keep readingTrained at the Royal Institute for Special Topics in Physics, doctor Rachel Katzman and actor-turned-scholar Liam Finucane have a singular purpose: to steal the letters of Jane Austen to find out what happens to Jane's incomplete works and to see if they can cure and save Jane from her mysterious ailment that kills her at the age of 42 in 1817. They are to do all of this without changing the course of history (too much).Simple enough.We are dropped immediately into the story when Rachel and Liam land in Leatherhead, Surrey dressed in period garb and affecting mannerisms of 1815 England. Posing as brother and sister, Rachel and Liam must not only integrate themselves into Regency society but also become intimates of the Austen family. Educated in the whereabouts, personalities, and eventual deaths of the Austens as well as the time period itself, Rachel and Liam must skilfully navigate society as to a:keep up appearances of their assumed personalities, and b: do not disrupt anything in the timeline, specifically with the Austens, that could change the outcome of history.There is much that I love about this book. First and foremost, Flynn's characterization of Jane is brilliant and how I would have expected Jane to be —slightly sarcastic but without malice, fiercely protective of her family, and curious as hell about the world. Rachel's relationship with Jane is a bit sticky in the beginning: Both are independent and fierce in their own right, but watching Jane and Rachel become the most intimate of sisters felt real and not contrived. I was especially buoyed by Flynn's rendition of Jane as another novel I just finished with Jane as the main character drew Jane as slightly flighty and a bit too sweet, which clashed with everything we know from the meager number of letters on about Jane. Flynn drawing Jane from those personal accounts really set the tone of the story.As Rachel and Liam become more involved with their subjects, some conflicts appear. While having a secret engagement with Henry Austen, Jane's most beloved brother, Rachel finds herself in love with Liam which one can expect is most delicate as they are portraying themselves as brother and sister. Liam seems to return Rachel's affections but their affair, obviously kept in secret, seems one-sided as Rachel comes off as a teenager in the first throes of her first boyfriend while Liam remains steadfast and stoic. Perhaps that was the intent? It should be noted there is definitely nothing chaste in their joining which didn't put me off, I slightly adored it, but there is no next chaptering it in these love scenes. Fear not dear reader! The Rachel/Liam romance is very secondary in the book and it does not detain from the story.Jane eventually finds out Rachel and Liam's true purpose in their real reasons for becoming close to the Austen family and that they are also from the future. This wasn't too unexpected, Jane would have to find out after all, but Jane's near immediate acceptance of Rachel and Liam's objective was a bit disappointing. Flynn captures Jane as headstrong and independent through 90% of the book and drops it during these scenes— Jane's quick acceptance seems out of character.When Rachel and Liam return to present day, they discover their true purpose was not to just capture Jane's letters before they are destroyed but to prolong her life, which Rachel eventually does. Upon their return, not only have they changed world history—Jane lives, publishes over 20 novels, and lives a long full life, but Rachel and Liam's personal history have also been changed. In some ways, drastically such as Rachel's mother, who in her first time line is living when Rachel leaves for the past, but in her new current timeline, her mother had died when Rachel was young.The ending, I thought, was a bit clunky. We are left hanging of the "will they or won't they" in regards to Rachel and Liam and Flynn writes as if she's not too sure either on what's going to happen. I re-read the last chapter several times and I am still finding it a bit uneven.Nevertheless, Flynn's research is near immaculate and it really shows. She captures the period beautifully down to the wordplay, mannerisms, and period correct lifestyles. 90% of the characters are well thought out (oh, Cassandra! I would have loved to have seen more of you!) and vibrant. The story flows evenly despite the slight hiccups along the way and the clunky ending. While I would recommend this title to anyone looking for a fine read, I would most especially recommend it to those who are into Jane Austen paraliterature as it makes a fabulous addition to any collection.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Haven’t we all wished that we could go back in time, and where would you pick, family, historical event, famous. Guess it would be hard to choose, although some might find it very easy. In this book we are going back to Jane Austen, and her time in England, the year 1815.We take a lot for granted, and can you imagine being thrown so far back in time, well our main characters are really in for a rude awakening. Had to chuckle as Liam embraced his new identity and went about choosing a wonderful new wardrobe. Of course Rachel is also has to get more clothing, but she isn’t as excited as her brother, they couldn’t bring a lot, only what they have on their back.Now how would you feel if you were able to meet someone that had died so many years before you were born? These two are on a mission to find and take an unpublished manuscript. How they go about completing this, and the extent they are will to go to, will both frighten and make you chuckle.Are there going to be ramifications to changing history? We are about to find out, but while we are in England enjoy your view of what the time was like, and it didn’t take me long to know I wouldn’t like so much of what they had to endure.This is a book that is going to make you think and wonder, and all the while turning pages to find the answers and see if they will even be able to return to their lives in present time.I received this book through Edelweiss and the Publisher Harper Perennial, and was not required to give a positive review.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Rachel Katzman and Liam Finucane are sent back to 1815 England to find and retrieve the completed The Watsons novel of Jane Austen, and find the correspondence destroyed by Cassandra Austen. What could go wrong, and much could they change the future.
    An enjoyable well-written story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is an engaging time travel novel, in which a doctor and an actor team up to retrieve a lost novel of Jane Austen's. In the quest, they discover that small acts can potentially change the course of history.

    I enjoyed the Regency aspect and the philosophical questions enormously.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Time travel is the essence here. Dr. Rachel Katzman and Liam Finucane (actor, professor, Old British poseur) are colleagues who go back to 1815 posing as Mary and William Ravenswood, a brother and sister newly arrived in England after selling their Jamaican coffee plantation (and freeing their slaves). Their mission is to attain copies of Jane Austen's lost letters to her sister Cassandra, as well as a novel, The Watsons that she had not finished in "real" history. They have a fake letter of introduction to Henry Watson, Jane's brother, a large amount of (fake) British money, and a vast knowledge of the time period and the Austens. What this novel does a good job of is showing all the little details that make it nearly impossible to live in a time other than your own, as well as the risks involved. Aside from showing up naked and dazed in the Time Traveller's Wife, the protagonists in other stories don't have the same realistic view of some of the problems they face, here namely death, if they are perceived as French spies or "witches." The crossroads gibbet they view upon arrival is a chilling reminder of this. The other big challenge is not to alter the probability field -- i.e. mess with events as they historically had unfolded -- because altering any part of the past will have repercussions in the future, which ultimately is the present Rachel and Liam will return to. This unspecified time is vaguely futuristic: there has been a "dying off" and seems to be a re-org of society with the British on top, specifically "old British" but not much more than this is explained. The 1815 details are well-done and the Austens thoroughly researched by the author which is impressive. Rachel is a little to "plucky" to fit convincingly in the time period, though it is interesting that though she is the medical doctor, it is Liam who must fill that role convincingly with both Henry and jane's health. There is sexual tension between Liam and Rachel (ew, since they are "siblings") and also between Mary and Henry, and Liam and Jane. So due to the medical angle and the romantic interest, Liam and Rachel are in with the Austens. The mission goes along well for about 9 months, and then things take a drastic turn. Return to the "present" is a little fuzzy and difficult to grasp, and I didn't even time-travel! Always an intriguing story concept, but also always a lot to wrap my mind around which challenges my ability to really be all in.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Loved the time traveling concepts (ie: the SciFi), the depiction of Austen's era, and the core relationships that carry through the book. The ending gave me a happy cry.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Something about Rachel initially put me off. But as she and Liam worked their way into the society of the Austens with the goal of gathering Jane’s letters, somewhere along the way I started liking them and was pleasantly surprised by the end. This time travel book doesn’t shy away from the idea that the future can be changed.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Rachel and Liam, a doctor and an actor-turned-academic, are sent back in time to 1815. Their mission is to befriend Jane Austen’s family and uncover, amongst other things, an unpublished novel. This book impressed me even though -- or perhaps because -- it wasn’t always comfortable or to my taste. It had the potential to be a book I adored, if things had been slightly different, yet it is nevertheless a gripping and thought-provoking piece of storytelling, and I respect that. Time travel allows for portraying Austen’s world with historical accuracy from the perspective of a woman with contemporary attitudes, who can comment on details that an Austen heroine wouldn’t mention or even be aware of. Time travel also creates interesting challenges and anxieties (beyond the easily-researched-and-anticipated physical discomforts of 19th century daily life): the pressures of maintaining a cover identity, of having to follow old-fashioned cultural norms to avoid suspicion; the need for Rachel to hide her medical expertise; the weirdness of befriending people knowing much about them that one must not betray -- personal details they wouldn’t readily share and information about their future; the uncertainty stemming from the possibility that Rachel and Liam will unintentionally change the future, and the risk that they will be stuck in the past.But the biggest challenge is Rachel’s mission itself. Because the information we want, and can feel justified in having, about long-dead historical figures is not information we can demand from an acquaintance. Rachel needs to seem like a perfectly respectable 19th century woman so that she has the opportunity to develop a closer acquaintance with the Austen family -- but what Rachel is seeking is not the sort of things she feels entitled to from a friend.On one hand, there is a high degree of wish fulfilment -- Rachel gets to meet Jane Austen! And Jane is so lively, observant and intelligent, the sort of person one would want to befriend even if she weren’t an important literary figure! But on the other hand, by revealing Jane Austen to be a real person, she becomes someone with a right to privacy. I liked that. And I liked that there were realistic consequences to what Rachel does. Good consequences as well as uncomfortable ones. [...] and I was left with Jane Austen and my own sense of disbelief. How long had I anticipated this day, worked toward it, longed for it? And what I mostly felt was fear; I would have given anything to be at home reading one of her books instead. How can you possibly impress Jane Austen?Also interesting: Rachel isn’t a stereotypical Austen fan. She’s content being single and confident with casual relationships -- she doesn’t “do tender feelings”. Yet even though she’s not much of a romantic, she obviously has a deep admiration for Austen and her work. (And because Rachel is used to working in remote and dangerous places, when she does develop unexpectedly romantic inclinations, it’s clear that it is more than physical attraction or a reaction to their intense situation.) Liam seems more of a romantic, and is as much a fan of Austen as Rachel is.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The wonderful Saskia Maarleveld was the Narrator of the audiobook version of this novel.
    4 stars, and recommended to everyone who loves a good story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very enjoyable time travel, back to Jane Austin's time. A couple of future people are sent back to find the lost letters of Jane Austin. The comparisons, the reality of life then and the futuristic was awakening to the characters and me. If was easy to fall into the world created by this author. Even more fascinating was the world the travelers came from, returned to and the changes that happened from their interferences and influences. So many changes, from so little time, it made me think about all the possibilities.I picked this up wanting more Jane Austin, as a fan it's required. Check the fan manual. LOL. As I went along with this audiobook it became more about these two people and their lives so fluid. Jane, was more of a off to the side character to me. The author did an excellent job of making feel realistic. I would love to read more works from her.

Book preview

The Jane Austen Project - Kathleen A. Flynn

DEDICATION

To Jarek

EPIGRAPH

Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind

Cannot bear very much reality.

Time past and time future

What might have been and what has been

Point to one end, which is always present.

—T. S. ELIOT, BURNT NORTON

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Epigraph

Chapter 1: September 5, 1815: Leatherhead, Surrey

Chapter 2: September 23: 33 Hill Street, London

Chapter 3: October 3: 23 Hans Place

Chapter 4: October 10: 33 Hill Street

Chapter 5: October 16: 33 Hill Street

Chapter 6: October 17: 33 Hill Street

Chapter 7: October 21: 33 Hill Street

Chapter 8: October 26: 23 Hans Place

Chapter 9: November 7: 23 Hans Place

Chapter 10: November 15: 33 Hill Street

Chapter 11: December 1: En Route

Chapter 12: December 19: Chawton House

Chapter 13: January 24, 1816: Chawton House

Chapter 14: April 3: Chawton

Chapter 15: April 4: Chawton

Chapter 16: June: Chawton

Chapter 17: August 6: Chawton

Chapter 18: August 7: Chawton

Chapter 19: August 10: Leatherhead

Chapter 20: September 5, 1816: Leatherhead, Surrey

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Praise

Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher

CHAPTER 1

SEPTEMBER 5, 1815

Leatherhead, Surrey

WHAT KIND OF MANIAC TRAVELS IN TIME? SOMETHING I WOULD wonder more than once before it was over, but never as urgently as that moment I regained consciousness on the damp ground. Grass tickled the back of my neck; I saw sky and treetops, smelled earth and rot. I had the feeling that follows a faint, or waking up in an unfamiliar bed after a long journey: uncertain not just where I was, but who.

As I lay there, I remembered that my name was Rachel. Body and mind snapped together and I sat up, blinking at my surroundings, which were indistinct and flatly gray scale, and rubbed my eyes. I reviewed known side effects of trips through wormholes: palpitations, arrhythmia, short-term amnesia, mood swings, nausea, syncope, alopecia. Changes in vision had not come up. Maybe this was new to science.

Wind rattled the leaves, counterpoint to a repetitive squeak that might have been some insect long extinct in my own time. I marveled at the 1815 air, moist and dense with smells I had no words for, reminded of the glass-domed habitat re-creations at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where we used to go on field trips. Once, children, the whole world was like this.

Liam was about a meter away, same distance as in the air lock, but now facedown and ominously still. Arrhythmia can confuse a heart enough to stop it. And then what? Could I really be so unlucky as to lose my colleague at the start of the mission? I’d have to pose as a widow, the only sort of lone woman entitled to any protection and regard here—

Are you all right? I demanded; he did not answer. I slid closer and reached out to check his carotid, relieved to find a pulse. His breathing was fast and shallow, skin filmed in cold sweat. Past him, a clump of white trees, name forgotten, glowed in the gloom. My own heart was banging in my chest; I breathed slowly and stared at the white trees.

Birch! And another word came to me: dusk, something barely noticed in my own time, in a life illuminated by electricity. Natural light; we’d learned the vocabulary of that, along with waxing, waning, crescent, gibbous, and the major constellations. I saw again in memory the steel-gray corridors of the Royal Institute for Special Topics in Physics, as the year I’d spent there glided before me like a time-lapse video clip: the dancing and riding practice, the movement and music lessons, the endless reading. Our walk to the air lock, last checks, solemn handshakes with the rest of the Jane Austen Project Team.

I was here. We’d done it.

Are you all right? I asked again. Liam groaned but rolled over, sat up, and scanned our surroundings of field, birch, and hedgerow. The portal location had been chosen well; nobody was here.

It’s dusk, I explained. That’s why it all looks like this. He turned toward me, dark eyebrows arching in a question. In case you were wondering.

I wasn’t. His words came slowly, voice soft. But thanks.

I looked at him sideways, trying to decide if he was being sarcastic, and hoped so. In our time together at the institute preparing for the mission, something about Liam had always eluded me. He was too reserved; you never knew about people like that.

I stood, light-headed, straightened my bonnet, and took a few stiff steps, brushing dirt and grass off my dress, conscious of the swish of all my layers, the slab of banknotes beneath my corset.

Liam lifted his head, sniffing. He unfolded himself, rising to his feet with a surprising grace—in my experience tall men shamble—stretched his arms, repositioned his frizzy doctor’s wig, looked to the right, and froze. Is that what I think it is?

My eyes adjusting, I saw a road: a lane wide as a wagon, forking a little way off. And in the Y of the fork, a gibbet: a man-size iron frame, like a sinister birdcage, holding something that—Oh.

So they really were everywhere, he said. Or we are just lucky.

Now identifying one component of what I’d been smelling, I stared in dismay at the corpse, which seemed to gaze back at me, blank-socketed. Not freshly putrefying, not a husk, but in between, though in this light it was hard to say for sure. Maybe he’d been a highwayman; the people here displayed condemned men near the scenes of their crimes, as warnings to others. And maybe we would end up like him, if things went wrong.

I had forgotten to breathe, but the reek lingered in my nose. I’d been around dead people ever since medical school; I’d autopsied them, but not like this. On one occasion, though, during my volunteer stint in Mongolia, someone had been misidentified and had to be exhumed—

With that, I gagged and bent over, clutching my throat, seized by dry heaves. When they’d passed, I dried my eyes and straightened to find Liam peering down at me, brow furrowed.

Are you all right? His long hands, pale at the ends of the dark sleeves of his coat, lifted and fluttered in the fading light, like he was about to touch me but didn’t know where. Shoulder? Elbow? Forearm? What’s the least intimate part of your opposite-sex co-worker to grab if she’s in distress? Unable to decide, he brought his hands back down to his sides; despite the horror of the cadaver, this was funny.

I’m fine, I said. Just great. Let’s get out of here. We had both turned away from the gibbet. I’m not superstitious, but I hoped our way to the inn wouldn’t lead past it. North. If the sun set over there—the horizon seemed brighter in one area—then it must be that way.

Well, yes, because there’s Venus, right?

Venus?

That bright object in the west?

I repressed annoyance at not having noticed this myself. Yes, exactly!

We turned away, took a few steps, and then Liam stopped and whirled around.

Mother of god. The portal marker.

I cursed under my breath as I turned too. Could we almost have forgotten something so important? Two disturbances in the grass could only have been the outlines of our two bodies. Liam took the metal marker from an inside pocket of his coat and pushed it as far as it would go into the earth right between them, blue spiral top barely visible. Spectronanometer? he asked.

I fumbled for my device, which hung on a silver chain around my neck and resembled a blob of amber, and squeezed. It vibrated to life and beeped to signal proximity to the marker. As I pinched it off, I was shaking. The portal was precise, in time frame and geopositioning; we would never have found it again by chance. Liam had fished his spectronanometer out of another pocket–it resembled a small snuffbox, one that didn’t open—and stood pressing it. Nothing happened. He muttered, shook it, and tried again.

Here. I took the little silver object from him, positioned it in my hand, and tightened my grip slowly. It vibrated and beeped; I squeezed it off again and handed it back. They’re temperamental.

Evidently.

It was growing darker and colder; time to get moving. Yet we stood in silence at this spot, last link with where we’d come from. How much would happen before we stood here again, assuming we ever made it back?

Come on, I said at last. Let’s go.

AS WE STARTED DOWN THE ROAD, LIAM’S STRIDE WAS LONGER AND I began to fall behind, though I’m normally a fast walker. Until now, indoors was the only place I’d worn my half boots, handmade products of the Costume Team. The soles were so thin I felt the gravel under my feet. And then, the intensity of everything: the smells of grass and soil, a far-off cry of an owl, it had to be an owl. The entire world seemed humming with life, a shimmering web of biomass.

The Swan loomed as a whitewashed brick building outlined by flickering lamps along its facade, with an arched passageway into a courtyard and stables beyond. As we drew closer I heard men’s voices, a horse’s whinny, a dog’s bark. Fear swooped up my spine like vertigo. I stopped walking. I can’t do this. I must do this.

Liam had stopped too. He shook himself and took a few long, audible breaths. Then he seized my elbow with an unexpectedly strong grip and propelled us toward the door under the wooden sign of a swan.

Remember, let me do the talking, he said. Men do, here.

And we were inside.

IT WAS WARMER BUT DIM, A TIMBERED CEILING, AIR THICK WITH smoke, flickering light from not enough candles, and a large fireplace. A knot of men stood by the fire, while others sat at tables with bread and mugs of beer, platters of beef, ham, fowl, and other less identifiable foods.

Look at all that meat, I whispered. Amazing.

Shh, don’t stare.

Do you see anyone who looks like they work here?

Shh!

And he was upon us: a small man in a boxy suit, a dirty apron, and a scowl, wiping his hands on a dirty rag as he looked us up and down. Are ye just come, then? Has someone seen to your horses, have they now?

Our friends set us down from their barouche a bit hence. Liam had thrown his shoulders back and loomed over the man. We are in want of rooms for the night, and a coach to town in the morning. His inflection had changed, even his voice: a haughty lengthening of vowels, a nasal, higher-pitched tone. We’d done lots of improvisational work in Preparation, yet he’d never given me this eerie sense I had now, of his becoming an entirely different person.

A barouche? the man repeated. I’ve seen no such equipage pass.

Had it passed here, they would have set us down at the door.

This logic seemed sound, but the man surveyed us again, frown deepening. "À pied, is it? It took me a moment to work out what he meant; nothing could have sounded less like French. And not so much as a bag between the both of ye? Nay, we’ve no rooms. A party of the three men nearest—rusty black suits, wigs askew—had stopped eating to observe us. You could sup before you continue on your way. He waved a hand at the room behind. Show us the blunt first, though."

Was our offense the presumed poverty of showing up without horses, or was something else wrong with our manners, our clothing, us? And if the first person we met saw it, what were our odds of survival here, let alone success? Liam had gone so pale, swaying a bit, that I feared he might faint, a known time-travel side effect.

Fear made me reckless. William! I whined, pulling on Liam’s sleeve and bracing myself under his elbow to shore him up. His eyes widened as he looked down at me; I heard his intake of breath. I went on in a stage whisper without a glance at the man, and if my mouth was dry, my accent was perfection: "I told you, Papa said this was a shocking inn. But if it has no rooms, perhaps it has horses. ’Tis moonlight! A chaise and four, or two, and we will be there by dawn. I said I would visit Lady Selden the instant we got to town, and that was to be last week, only you never can say no to Sir Thomas and his tedious gout."

Liam looked from me to the man and drawled: My sister’s word is law, sir. Should there be coach and horses, I would be happy to show the blunt, and to see what I hope will be the last of this inn. He produced a golden coin, one of our authentic late-eighteenth-century guineas, flipping it into the air and catching it.

I held my breath. What if the inn had no horses in shape to go, no spare carriages? It happened, animals and vehicles being in constant transit from one coaching inn to another. And now we were robbery targets, with Liam waving around gold.

The man looked from me to Liam; his eyes returned to me. I raised my gaze to the ceiling with what I hoped was an expression of blasé contempt.

I’ll have a word in the yard, sir. Would you and the lady take a seat?

IT WAS COLDER, THE WAXING GIBBOUS MOON UP, BEFORE WE WERE in the post chaise, which was tiny and painted yellow, smelling of the damp straw that lined its floor as well as of mildew and horse. We’d drunk musty red wine and picked at a meat pie with a sinister leathery texture as we sat in a corner of the room, feeling the weight of eyes upon us and not daring to believe, until a porter came to lead us to it, that there was actually going to be a chaise.

Our postilion swung himself onto one of the horses, and a large man wearing two pistols and a brass horn gave us a nod and climbed into the boot at the back. He had cost extra, nearly doubling the price of the journey—but it was no night to encounter highwaymen.

You were good back there, Liam said in his usual voice, so quiet I had to lean in to hear him as we creaked out from the yard. One seat, facing forward, was wide enough for three slender people. Drafty windows gave a view of the lanterns on each side, the road to London ahead of us, and the two horses’ muscular rumps. Fast thinking. I know I told you not to talk, but—

A hopeless request. You know me better than that by now.

He made a sound between a cough and a laugh and said after a pause, So you really never acted? I mean, before this?

I thought of the unscripted workshops we’d done together in Preparation: imagining meeting Henry Austen for the first time, say, or buying a bonnet. Why would I have?

We were bumping down the road, moon visible above the black tree shapes, the world beyond the lanterns’ glow spookily monochrome and depthless to the eye, but rich with smells. The Project Team’s guidance had been for us to spend the first night near the portal site, in Leatherhead, recovering from the time shift before braving town. Materializing in London, dense with buildings and life, was risky. Traveling by night was risky too, but here we were. I wondered what else would not go according to plan.

I DON’T KNOW HOW LONG I WAS ASLEEP, BUT I WOKE UP SHIVERING. Liam was slumped with his head against the window, wig slid sideways, snoring. I pulled my shawl tighter around myself, coveting his waistcoat, neckcloth, and cutaway jacket—a light weight, but wool—and Hessian boots, the tall kind with tassels.

I had lots of layers too, but they lacked the heft of menswear: a chemise, then a small fortune in coins, forged banknotes, and letters of credit in a pouch wrapped around my torso, topped by a corset, a petticoat, a frock, and a shawl, a synthetic re-creation of a Kashmir paisley. I had a thin lace fichu around my shoulders, over-the-knee knitted cotton stockings, dainty faux-kid gloves, and a straw bonnet, but no underpants; they would not catch on until later in the century.

The darkness was becoming less dark. I stared out; when did countryside turn urban? We had pored over old maps, paintings, and engravings; detailed flyover projections in 3-D had illuminated the wall screens of the institute. Yet no amount of study could have prepared me for this: the smell of coal smoke and vegetation, the creaking carriage, the hoofbeats of the horses like my own heartbeat. And something else, like energy, as if London were an alien planet, its gravitational field pulling me in.

Anything could happen to a person in Regency London: you could be killed by a runaway carriage, get cholera, lose a fortune on a wager or your virtue in an unwise elopement. Less dangerously, we hoped to find a place to live in a fashionable neighborhood and establish ourselves as wealthy newcomers in need of guidance, friends, and lucrative investments—all with the aim of insinuating ourselves into the life of Henry Austen, gregarious London banker and favorite brother of Jane. And through him, and the events we knew were waiting for them both this autumn, to find our way to her.

I eased next to Liam, the only warm object in the cold carriage, my relief at getting away from the Swan curdling to anxiety about everything that lay ahead. Queasy as I was from the bumping carriage, with the stink of horse and mildew in my nose, with the gibbet and the meat pie and the innkeeper’s rudeness still vivid, the Jane Austen Project no longer seemed amazing. What I’d wanted so badly stretched like a prison sentence: wretched hygiene, endless pretending, physical danger. What had I been thinking?

THE ROYAL INSTITUTE FOR SPECIAL TOPICS IN PHYSICS WAS NOTHING anyone like me would know about; I was far out of its Old British ambit of analysts and scientists and spies. I learned of it by accident, in Mongolia, in bed.

Norman Ng, though a conscientious colleague and all-round mensch, was indiscreet. He liked having secrets, but never kept them, as I should have understood before I’d started sleeping with him and found I’d become the subject of salacious gossip among our whole aid team. Though this might not have stopped me; Mongolia was dark and cold and grim after the earthquake, the worst place I’d ever signed on for. Or the best, if your aim was to relieve human suffering; there was no shortage.

Late one night, peacefully postcoital, Norman told me about a friend of his from school, one Dr. Ping, now at a little-known government research center in East Anglia.

You’re trying to tell me that Old Britain—No, that’s crazy. You made that up.

They have mastered practical time travel, he said again. The wind howled; the yurt poles creaked. Rachel, they are far ahead. People don’t understand this, but they will. When they see the results, we will all clamor to be Old British, even more than now. The Chinese will forgive the Opium Wars. The Americans—But you guys apologized already for independence, I forgot. Norman was Old British, with his Cambridge degree and elite ancestors who’d come from Hong Kong just before the Chinese takeover at the end of the twentieth century, but it suited him to play the outsider.

It’s mind-boggling. It’s impossible.

You know about the Prometheus Server?

I yawned; I’d been up since dawn. Tremendous energy source, supercomputers, whatever. More of what our world was already full of, in short.

"You sound so casual! An order of magnitude beyond earlier technology! With enough energy, and enough data, you can calculate anything. Including wormholes, and probability fields, and simulate every possible scenario. And once you can do that—"

Okay, let’s just pretend this is true. What have they done with this fabulous ability?

Research.

He said it so portentously that I laughed. Can you be more specific?

I don’t know what all the missions have involved. I couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but his tone seemed affronted. I’ll tell you, though, there’s one being planned—this is what made me think of it. I don’t know the details, but it involves Jane Austen. She’s important somehow, to history, I don’t know why—

Because she’s a genius, I interrupted; Norman knew how I felt about Jane Austen. Everyone did.

And because of Eva Farmer. You know who she is, right? The name was familiar, but I could not immediately connect it to anything. One of the inventors of the Prometheus Server? Apparently also a huge Jane Austen fan. She’s on the board at the institute, and she’s . . . I don’t know exactly. She’s huge. She’s taken a personal interest in the Jane Austen thing. I rolled over on my side, closer to Norman. I was still having trouble believing, but I was interested. And there’s a medical component. They’ll need a doctor.

At this, I said nothing for a long while, just listened to the wind and the creaky posts and the sound of my own breath. Something had shifted inside of me: an icy shiver, a portent like a cold finger on my clavicle.

Norman, I said at last. You’ll give me an introduction to your friend? The Old British were big on introductions; one did not just show up, self-sponsored, to anything. But the world ran by their rules now.

RHYTHMIC BUMP OF CARRIAGE, CRUNCH OF GRAVEL, TATTOO OF hoofbeats, smell of night, sleep. When I awoke, I saw the sun just up—dawn—and what could only be the Thames, a ribbon of silver dotted with boats, a bridge ahead. On the other side, the pastoral persisted: we swept past an orchard, a flock of sheep, a big brick house with a circular drive. Then houses began to cluster thicker, streets to narrow, people to multiply. The dusty air was filling with human voices and the rumble of cargo wagons that clotted the road, along with ragged pedestrians staggering under their various burdens: a heap of cloth, a load of coal, half a pig.

What kind of a maniac travels in time? I was thirty-three the year I went to 1815, single and childless, a volunteer after humanitarian disasters in Peru, Haiti, and most recently Mongolia. Between these, I worked in the emergency department at Bellevue Hospital in New York and liked vacations that involved trekking through mountains or swimming in very cold water, in corners of the earth where such things were still possible. Love of adventure might seem an odd mix with devotion to the wit and subtlety of Jane Austen, but together they are me. What Norman had revealed that night—Jane Austen, time travel—was nothing less than what I had been waiting for my whole life. Unknowingly, of course, because who could imagine such a crazy thing?

We’re here, Liam whispered; I had not noticed he was awake. It’s real. Unbelievable.

Now, buildings that I recognized; we were passing Hyde Park, heading down Piccadilly, and there was too much to take in. We pulled into a big square with a fenced-in equestrian statue and our destination, the Golden Cross inn. We’d barely stopped before a man in livery was asking what he could do for us; before we were hurried up a flight of steps, down a dim corridor, and into a private coffee room with a view of the square. Hot water for washing, effusive promises that someone would shave Liam in a bit, and finally breakfast.

THE COFFEE CAME IN A TALL SILVER-PLATED POT, ITS SMELL REVIVING my optimism about life in 1815. And it tasted even better: hot, espresso-strong, vanquishing the road dust in my throat. I wrapped my hands around the cup and shivered with pleasure.

Liam picked up a roll and sniffed it. He took a bite. Hmm. Another.

I tried one. It was like nothing I had ever tasted, and I chewed slowly, poised between analysis and sensual delight: still warm, with a pleasantly elastic texture, tangy aroma, and hint of salt.

Suppressing a groan of ecstasy, I said: Maybe we just landed on a good inn. And lucky, because who knows how long it will take to find a place to live. As I thought of this challenge, and all the others, my bread-and-coffee-fueled euphoria faltered. Hard to know where to start.

I meant this as a general comment, but Liam said: I’m thinking, with clothing. It will take time. He brushed some schmutz off his sleeve. Tricky to pose as a gentleman when you’ve only one shirt.

Our guidance is to go to a bank first. It’s more important. Until we deposited our fake money, we had to wear it. The Project Team was clear on that.

But we have freedom to improvise, to respond to unexpected developments. Like you did when there were no rooms at the Swan.

How is deciding you feel like going to a tailor instead of a bank an unexpected development? And anyway, you can’t be measured for clothing with all that money on you.

He stood and took off his coat. Some of it’s sewed into the shoulders here—but this, sure they will notice. He was unbuttoning his waistcoat, lifting his shirt, reaching under and back, offering a glimpse of taut, pale, and lightly furred midsection. I dropped my gaze just in time as he turned and tossed a belt like mine on the table: silky fabric, tiny zippers, heavy and thick with its rag-paper contents. Do you mind? You can add it to yours, just for now. A mantua maker isn’t going to measure you around the middle. This was true. The construction of 1815 dresses brought the waist way up, to just below the bustline, with everything below loose and floaty.

I can’t possibly fit this much more under my corset.

There was a pause before he said: Just today, till we visit a tailor.

I’m not sure why you think it’s such a great idea to deviate from the mission plan on this. Walking around wearing our entire fortune makes me nervous.

Liam, after tucking and buttoning, adjusting and smoothing, returned to the table and sat, resting his head on one hand. His long face was ruggedly unhandsome, with too much chin, a habitually gloomy expression, and a slightly crooked nose. He’d been some kind of actor before going into academia—part of why he’d been selected for the mission—but his looks could not have propelled his career. Only the eyes, maybe: I allowed he had beautiful eyes, finely shaped, a luminous blue, now fixed on my face.

Me too. But so does visiting a bank. I’m not ready to face one today, Rachel. My clothes might be wrong, my timing’s off, I need a bath.

I was silent. Liam had always been chillingly formal during Preparation: polite, giving away nothing. This might have been the most revealing admission he’d ever made, and I was divided between sneaking sympathy and reluctance to strap more money onto myself as he continued:

The hardest thing we do, at least till we meet Jane Austen, assuming we ever manage that. Not a single thing can make a bank doubtful. If they find us out as forgers, we’ll be sent to New South Wales in chains. Or hanged. He added in a whisper, "And we are forgers."

A little more time before taking on a bank might not be such a bad idea. I looked down at the table, at the money belt, and rehearsed the series of steps needed to conceal it on myself. Undressing would be easier with help, yet I hesitated to ask. But did undue modesty give the moment an importance it did not deserve, like I was trying too hard to pretend we belonged to 1815? As I puzzled over this, a knock at the door solved my problem: Barber here, sir; if you’ll step down the hall I’ll be pleased to shave ye.

Liam stood up, eyes still on me. You’ll manage? Lock the door. And he was gone.

The frock was easy: I could reach the three buttons in the back and ease it over my head. I squirmed out of the petticoat and undid my corset: front and back panels of quilted linen stiffened with whalebone, compressing and shoving my breasts upward for an unfortunate shelf effect and keeping my spine rigid. So I could dress myself in the early days before I had a ladies’ maid, the Costume Team had made me a front-lacing model. Over my chemise, my money belt circled my rib cage. I added Liam’s below and put the corset back on. To make room, I laced looser, but found the petticoat’s unforgiving bodice no longer fit over my less-compressed breasts. I heaved a deep sigh, last one for now, and laced myself up again, tight this time.

OUTSIDE THE INN, WE STOOD BLINKING IN THE DUSTY AIR. IF HALF of London had been awake when we arrived, now the other half was up too, making as much noise as possible.

A line of hackney coaches waited nearby. Also several chairmen in grimy suits, arms folded, next to their sedan chairs. These were little boxes one sat in, to be carried on springy poles by two men, one front and one back.

Shall we walk? Liam asked. I envied his rosy, just-shaven gleam. I had washed my face and hands, but still smelled like the inside of the chaise. We can look at things better.

I agreed this was a good idea, looked the wrong way, and stepped into the street. Liam grabbed my arm and jerked me back from a black blur and a rush of horse-scented air, as a high-set carriage and a standing man in gleaming pale pants and boots as black and shining as his horse flashed past.

An actual Regency buck! Then it hit me I could have died. I imagined compound fracture, amputation, blood and sawdust, the reek of gangrene in a dim room. I would be buried here in 1815—under a cross, my just deserts for posing as a Gentile—and later Liam would go visit my heartbroken mother and describe my last hours. She was used to my risk-taking life, though she had never accepted it.

You could die anywhere, anytime; why did this seem so much worse? I looked at Liam; the color had drained from his face.

He had let

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