Jane Austen, her sister Cassandra, and their mother are left homeless and nearly penniless when Jane's father dies. Although Jane's brothers pitch in to offer financial support, Jane still lacks privacy and a settled place in which to live and write. She has long since give up her dream of becoming a published author.

On a fateful trip to Lyme, Jane meets the well-read and charming Mr. Ashford, a man who is her equal in intellect and temperament. The two fall deeply in love. Inspired by the people and places around her, and encouraged by Mr. Ashford's faith in her, Jane begins revising Sense and Sensibility, a book she began years earlier, hoping to be published at last.

Written in a compelling and witty style that echoes Austen's own, The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen stays faithful to the facts of Jane Austen's life, while revealing the untold story of Jane's impassioned, life-changing love affair. At the same time, the novel showcases Jane's struggle with her own talent—and offers a possible scenario for the inspiration behind some of her most beloved romantic tales.

What if, hidden in an old attic chest, Jane Austen's memoirs
were discovered after hundreds of years?

What if those pages revealed the existence of a secret romance?

That's the premise behind this "thoughtful, immensely touching" novel
(Regency World Magazine), which gives us insight into Jane Austen's mind and heart.

BEST FIRST NOVEL 2008
—Library Journal

Nominated as BEST NEW FICTION 2008
—Regency World Magazine

DISCOVER GREAT NEW WRITERS SELECTION Spring 2008
—Barnes and Noble

"A love affair equal to anything Jane Austen wrote." —News Review

"Austen and Mr. Ashford seem a perfect match in matters of head and heart."
—Publisher's Weekly

"Through humor, Jane comes alive." —The Los Angeles Times

"A delicious novel... comic scenes of hilarity together with love scenes of great emotion, witty dialogue, and well-drawn characters. Jane Austen comes alive from the first page to the last. You truly believe that you are reading her long-lost memoirs, not a historical fiction novel."
—Angela Gavrili, diavasame.gr

"Witty, deft, and impeccably researched... it's hard to tell where the history ends and invention begins... Informing even as she entertains, James deftly weaves history and imagination to create an entirely plausible romance for the immortal Jane."
—Lauren Willig, The Seduction of the Crimson Rose

"James's book imagines a Mr. Ashford for Jane, a man with whom she shares a good deal of passion in the two years preceding the publication of Sense and Sensibility ... And if she didn't she should have, as it makes for a compelling read."
— News Observer