It’s not often you come across a book that is so multi-layered that it has a wide appeal.
But such is the case with The Jane Austen Remedy by Ruth Wilson.
Obviously, if you’re a Jane Austen fan, you’re going to love a book that has her acclaimed novels woven into the plot.
But Wilson’s offering is much more.
It’s her life story growing up in Griffith, NSW, going off to uni in Sydney, and meeting her husband-to-be and settling down there and raising a family.
In the beginning, Wilson is a solitary child, partly because she doesn’t attend the closest school until her second year.
By that time the other children have formed friendships, leaving her to face barriers she finds hard to break down.
She only makes some headway thanks to a teacher who encourages her to take up elocution lessons and she begins to shine in English classes.
A little later, the same teacher introduces her to Jane Austen’s writing and Wilson really finds herself through the life lessons and hardships depicted in books such as Pride And Prejudice, Emma and Northanger Abbey.
Wilson’s mind is liberated by Austen’s stories of female friendships, family dynamics and women’s isolation in marriage as their husbands become the sole breadwinner.
The opening of The Jane Austen Remedy is extremely telling, with Wilson suffering an earth-shattering attack of Ménière’s disease, which rocks her safe world and makes her question everything.
It leads her to walk away from her 50-year marriage, with the help of an unexpected family inheritance.
It is through re-reading Austen’s work and some helpful friends that she eventually makes the transition to her new life.
The Jane Austen Remedy is high on my list of all-time top reads.