Helpful Score: 3
Pembrook Park, with its Victorian-era architecture, costumes, and mannerisms, may seem like a haven for those with lots of cash to spend and craving a departure from the modern world to live a romantic Austenian three-week getaway. For Jane Hayes, however, a thirty-something-year-old New Yorker whose obsession with Mr. Darcy has literally ruined her love life, Pembrook Park just might be her worst nightmare. The vacation was bequeathed her by a wealthy relative who figured out her unhealthy fantasties. Jane has no idea what the relative was thinking. Sticking her into a place where she will undoubtedly get her hopes up for a happy ending?
As Jane navigates the life of an early nineteenth-century British woman, she meets the acquaintances of actors and actresses who work at Pembrook, as well as some other women in her position, there to have a good time. And in spite of her determination to give up men altogether, she can't help but be interested in two: Martin, a tall and charming gardener who makes her feel real, and Mr. Nobley, a closed-off, mysterious gentleman in the household, whose arrogance she despises.
Living at Pembrook Park is a surreal experience, and yet Jane grows into her real-world self, something she couldn't do when she was living her regular old boring life. She begins to realize that it is not healthy for her to dwell on an impossibly perfect man anymore, and is determined to rid herself of that fantasy once and for all. That means rejecting Mr. Nobley's engagement proposal at the end of the three weeks, a proposal that sounds like it comes straight out of a script. Because that's what it is: an act...right? And rejecting it is the right thing to do...right?
What if Jane ends up getting everything just when she chooses to give it up?
AUSTENLAND is fantastic! It's a brand new spin on the old Austen obsession for fans of the novels and movies. Sometimes fabricated, other times completely original, AUSTENLAND was a delight for me to read.
As Jane navigates the life of an early nineteenth-century British woman, she meets the acquaintances of actors and actresses who work at Pembrook, as well as some other women in her position, there to have a good time. And in spite of her determination to give up men altogether, she can't help but be interested in two: Martin, a tall and charming gardener who makes her feel real, and Mr. Nobley, a closed-off, mysterious gentleman in the household, whose arrogance she despises.
Living at Pembrook Park is a surreal experience, and yet Jane grows into her real-world self, something she couldn't do when she was living her regular old boring life. She begins to realize that it is not healthy for her to dwell on an impossibly perfect man anymore, and is determined to rid herself of that fantasy once and for all. That means rejecting Mr. Nobley's engagement proposal at the end of the three weeks, a proposal that sounds like it comes straight out of a script. Because that's what it is: an act...right? And rejecting it is the right thing to do...right?
What if Jane ends up getting everything just when she chooses to give it up?
AUSTENLAND is fantastic! It's a brand new spin on the old Austen obsession for fans of the novels and movies. Sometimes fabricated, other times completely original, AUSTENLAND was a delight for me to read.
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