JANE AUSTIN RUINED MY LIFE (Beth Patillo)

This pleasant novel is by the author of The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society, but it is completely different in theme. Emma Grant is a disgraced Austen scholar who has lost her marriage, her career, and her reputation thanks to the machinations of her unfaithful husband and his new love. She flees to her cousin's house in London to pursue the lost letters of Jane Austen in hopes of resurrecting her ruined career. The letters are supposedly in the possession of Mrs. Gwendolyn Parrot, who sends Emma on a series of Austen-related adventures that ultimately teach her as much about herself and her marriage as about Jane Austen. During the course of her stay in England Emma, like Austen's heroines, finds love, but, more importantly, she rediscovers herself. The ending of this novel will be a surprise, but not a disappointment.