Gill Hornby’s excellent 2020 novel Miss Austen explored the well-worn tale of Jane Austen’s life at one remove, through the eyes of her sister, Cassandra. Her new book returns once again to the Austen milieu and displays a similarly keen sense of wit, rich characterisation and intriguing light revisionism. It succeeds as a page-turning romp on its own terms, but also manages once again to give agency and interest to a minor figure in Austen’s life who has otherwise been ignored by biographers and scholars.
