Review by MJ Ryan

A mix of travelogue, private journal and biography of Jane Austen, A Walk with Jane Austen: A Journey into Adventure, Love & Faith is the record of a single Janeite who travels to England to meander through the countryside in Jane Austen’s footsteps. She’s not looking for love necessarily, but how appropriate would it be if it just so happened to occur while shadowing the important places of the woman who has written the most celebrated love stories of the past 200 years? Talk about a great How I Met Your Father story to tell your children.

Smith deftly mixes biographical information about Austen throughout the book and you do begin to see how her life parallels Austen’s in subtle ways. The transitions from Austen’s life to Smith’s memories of growing up in a strict Christian home and her recounting of the challenges of living a Christian life are sometimes choppy and a bit of a stretch, but it was always interesting.

The copy I was given to review didn’t include a map of her travels and, as you may remember from an earlier review, I believe the inclusion of a map should be a literary law. This especially holds true for a book that is part travelogue. I’m happy to report that the published book does include a map of the places that Smith went, along with a detailed list of the sights she visited in each city.

While Smith’s Christianity is the bedrock of her life and the book, she’s never preachy and isn’t trying to convert the reader to her beliefs, nor is she trying to define Austen’s Christianity. However, if you are uncomfortable reading about, or just aren’t interested in, another person’s faith, then you might not enjoy this book. For those who do pick up the book, you will be met with an honest account of a single woman’s emotional journey through a difficult time of her life and you will applaud her courage to share her story with you.

Lori Smith has offered a copy of A Walk with Jane Austen: A Journey into Adventure, Love & Faith to a lucky AustenBlog reader. To enter the drawing, please send your full name and mailing address to editor@austenblog.com by 10 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, November 7, 2007.