The Spirituality of Jane Austen

I was gifted this book as I am a fan of Jane Austen novels. It was an interesting read and I would cautiously recommend it. My caution is that much of the book is speculative as there are limited resources on Jane Austen's personal spirituality - which the author admits. We know from her novels, numerous family members being ministers and her written prayers that faith was a large part of her upbringing. While her novels are not overtly spiritual or evangelical in nature they do expound the importance of improvement in ones Christian walk with others whilst also reflecting on our own shortcomings and looking to grow more Christ like as a result of that self-reflection. The author references the few surviving letters between Jane and her sister and other relatives, writings by her brother posthumously, and the prayers she wrote in the family prayer book. They also use the characters and storylines in Jane's novels to suggest how these may reflect Jane's own life experiences or feelings on certain matters. Given that, I encourage fans of Jane Austen to read this book to gain insight into her upbringing and life. I now feel that I need to read her novels again, which is not a bad thing as I have read them all many times and enjoy them as much, if not more, than the first time.