This book jumped into my hands while purusing the books at Costco. I am a Jane Austen junkie and couldn't resist. I enjoyed it but it isn't for everyone. I think you need to be an Austen aficionado to have the patience for a book like this. Evidentally Jane Austen had a nortorious cousin, Eliza Hancock, believed to have influenced Jane's writing. Eliza married a French count and after his death Jane's brother, 10 years her junior. Eliza's social escapades and extravagances were often in question. Her life and colorful character was entwined with the Austen family for most of Jane's life. The book has no plot. Each chapter is a first person account of an Austen family member including Jane, her sister Cassandra, her mother, Eliza, Jane's brothers, some of Jane's cousins and a sister in law. Some of the story is told in letters from one of these family members to another. It is a choppy way to write a story but I did enjoy learning about the interactions and movings of her family. I feel like I have a good understanding of the family dynamics that surrounded Jane's life and writing. It is fiction based loosley on knowledge of the real family. I would give it 3 stars out of 5.