It was a quick read, and I was interested in what was happening plotwise, but not very impressed with the writing until the end. Then it became much better -- worth thinking over, worth recommending. A strange little story, but with an intriguing premise of a large stash of authentic unpublished Austen letters -- preserved by Cassandra and a secret society called the Formidables over the years. A ruined academic, also on the rebound from a cheating husband is the unlikely heroine. JA has ruined her life (along with her parents) by teaching her to believe in happy endings. Ultimately, she becomes a true JA heroine in that she takes a path of self-discovery and discovers that it is she who has ruined her life and no one else. So she has the power to make different choices now. It's a really interesting debate at the end about whether it is right to suppress the letters -- and whether it does JA good or not as a serious author to have personal details of her life suppressed. I think the story of JA's lost letters and what was hidden in them was very plausible, and the writing about this was much better than the details of Emma's ruined marriage and academic career, and her misadventures with various men in London.