Cassandra's Sister by Veronica Bennett

Bennett writes in a style similar to Jane Austen, imagining what her late teen and 20s would have been like. The characters speak with reserve according to social decorum and frequently on the topic of marriage. I am a Jane Austen fan, and the book was enjoyable, but I wasn't particularly moved or absorbed by the story or the writing. Jane's tale is a little sad and I am slightly curious how much of Bennett's imagination of Cass and Jenny were based on research (she briefly touches on this in the epilogue). Bennett notes that Cass destroyed as many of her sister's letters as she could find upon Jane's death "in the hope of keeping private details secret".

The parallels in Jane's life that appeared in her stories are interesting, this layer in the tale would pass by a non-Jane Austen reader (or at least movie watcher) diminishing the effect of Cassandra's Sister. The historical fiction component includes bits from the French Revolution, war with Bonaparte, commonplace of military careers, societal rules governing relationships and women's roles, as well as a brief mention of Britain in the West Indies.

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