Did You Ever Wish You Could Live In A Jane Austen Novel?: Cindy Jones, Author of "My Jane Austen Summer" Explains What Inspired Her To Write This Compelling New Book

"Jane Austen’s heroines are not conventional women and neither is Lily. She is bookish and introverted. She is constantly bearing the sharp end of her creator’s pen, and the irony of her situation is always apparent to the reader," explains Ms. Jones.

Did you ever wish you could live in a Jane Austen novel? In Cindy Jones debut novel My Jane Austen Summer: A Season in Mansfied Park the main character Lily Berry enters the world of Jane Austen, after getting fired and dumped by her boyfriend. She travels to England to participate in a Jane Austen literary festival. There, she finds the courage to be the protagonist in her own story. Ms. Jones explains that "By studying the example of Jane Austen’s fictional characters, Lily learns to respect herself and behave like a heroine in her own life."

Commitmentnow.com: What inspired you to write this book? 

Cindy Jones: A review of The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler inspired me to reread all six Austen novels.  On reading the last page of the last novel, I realized I couldn’t let go of Austen’s world, yet there was no more and never would be.  But Fowler’s book made me realize I could continue living in Austen’s world through my own writing.  I envisioned a story and spent five years writing My Jane Austen Summer.

Commitmentnow.com: What did the world of Jane Austen offer the main character Lily that she could not find in real life?

Cindy: The people in Lily’s real world did not appreciate her unique qualities.  Jane Austen’s novels offered Lily an escape to a fictional world where bookish women are the heroines.  For example, in Mansfield Park, the introverted protagonist, Fanny Price, gets the happy ending while the witty heroine, Mary Crawford, falls behind. 

Conventional types finish dead last (the Bertram sisters).  Austen’s values, as demonstrated by her characters, created examples for Lily to follow (or not) and reinforced positive aspects of Lily’s character.     

Commitmentnow.com: I love the line you wrote, “Lily has squeezed herself into undersized relationships all her life, hoping one might grow as large as the Jane Austin novels she loves.” Can you tell us about this statement?  What does it mean to "squeeze into undersized relationships"? Do you think many women do this?

Cindy: Lily’s parents were not good role models for relationships, and everything she knows about romance, she learned from novels.  Lily’s low self-esteem leads her to believe that she should change herself to fit into any relationship.  She does not put value on her own needs and therefore guarantees that they will never be met, and she will never be happy.  Unfortunately, this situation is fairly common, and perpetuated by media.                           

Commitmentnow.com: Before writing this novel, what did Jane Austen's novels personally mean to you?

Cindy: Mansfield Park is my favorite Austen novel, followed by Persuasion.  Of her novels, those are the two in which a particularly introverted, bookish protagonist is the heroine of the story.  When reading these books, I felt that Jane Austen was speaking to me from between the lines of her prose.  We agreed on everything and became best friends through her novels.

Commitmentnow.com: In what ways is Lily like a Jane Austen character?

Cindy: Jane Austen’s heroines are not conventional women and neither is Lily.  She is bookish and introverted.  She is constantly bearing the sharp end of her creator’s pen, and the irony of her situation is always apparent to the reader.      

Commitmentnow.com: The first chapter of the book where Lily was having a hard time getting over her ex-boyfriend was absolutely heartbreaking, especially when he said, "You're a lost dog. Go home." How did you come up with this scenario and why was Lily having such a hard time letting go of this obviously selfish and horrible guy?

Cindy: The scene with Martin establishes how deeply out of touch Lily is.  She is perfectly willing to change herself in order to make Martin happy, and limit herself to whatever happiness she can imagine in her head.  And she doesn’t understand what’s wrong with that picture.  Martin must go to extremes to break Lily’s obsession with their dead relationship so that he can move on.  Martin admits his own weakness in allowing the relationship to go on too long, but he must ultimately be cruel in order to penetrate Lily’s self-absorption.  

Commitmentnow.com: What did Lily learn about herself and love while attending the Jane Austen Literary Festival in England?

Cindy: By studying the example of Jane Austen’s fictional characters, Lily learns to respect herself and behave like a heroine in her own life.  Through her success with the tea-theatre, Lily earns self-esteem.  When she falls in love with a man who respects her and appreciates her unique qualities (not the cosmo or earth versions of herself), she discovers who she really is and connects joyfully with her own life, for the first time. 

These aspects of growth enable her to face painful setbacks and apply a new perspective so that she can be happier in the world.   

Commitmentnow.com: How did Lily finally find happiness in the real world? What can the rest of us learn from her?

Cindy: Lily’s personal growth (see above) strengthened her to deal with setbacks and confront the painful truth about her life, without submitting to despair.  I’m optimistic and I believe that people really can change themselves and improve their lives.  Lily had to work hard to be able to see around her blind spots and experience real growth as a person.  But she emerged much stronger and capable of recognizing how to be happier in the real world. 

Perhaps we can appreciate Lily’s persistence in seeking the truth and engaging with the world.        

Commitmentnow.com: Did you ever want to escape into books? What are your thoughts on using books to escape the life we are living? Is it healthy and okay? Or not?

Cindy: I began escaping into books in second grade when I read my first Nancy Drew mystery.  Novels are a shortcut to examined experiences where the author does all the work and the reader gets all the benefit, with nothing at risk but time and emotions.  However, as with anything, too much fiction can interfere with real life and a reader must know their limits.  I know I haven’t reached mine.

Commitmentnow.com: Was writing a novel something you always wanted to do? If so, how does it feel to go into a bookstore and see your book on the shelf?

Cindy: I wanted to write from the time I listened to my fourth grade teacher read my story aloud to my class.  And publication was my goal from the time I began writing seriously as an adult.  Seeing my book on the shelf is a thrilling validation of my writing, but the act of writing is what makes me happy and fulfilled.  Reality rarely lives up to expectation since fulfillment of a dream envisions a sense of reaching an end and experiencing a happily ever after.

The reality of being published is that it has brought me to a new beginning—a new normal—introducing new challenges and responsibilities, which I enjoy.

To Purchase My Jane Austen Summer click here.    

About the Author: Cindy Jones was born in Ohio and grew up in small mid-western towns, reading for escape. She dreamed of living in a novel and wrote her first book in fifth grade. A business career, husband, and four sons later, she completed My Jane Austen Summer: A Season in Mansfield Park. She lives with her family in Dallas where she has discovered that, through writing, it is entirely possible to live in a novel for a good part of each day. Visit Cindy at her website: www.cindysjones.com