How lovely to be back again in society with such well loved characters! Emma’s rightful position is, of course, at the forefront of any social occasion, the top of anyone’s invitation and the initial call when an opinion is needed. But, much as I love her, to allow her to be moved off centre to bring forward her supporting cast is a clever and intriguing idea. It makes for a very enjoyable read indeed. Allie Cresswell imitates Jane Austen’s distant voice well. There is humour, empathy, comment and style. The characters are ‘borrowed’ but fleshed out by a new imagination and given a credible storyline carefully woven around the original. ‘Dear Jane’ is the third in the Highbury series from Ms Cresswell and although not strictly necessary to read all three in order, I recommend that you do. Totes worth it! I mean... prestigious!

I wanted to contact the author directly about Dear Jane. I’ve never been moved to do this before, but this book was so superbly written, answered so many questions about the back story of some of the Emma characters, I just had to praise her. So, Allie, if you read this please know that I couldn’t put this book down, I love it, I’m a little sad that it’s finished!