Unearthing Jane Austen’s Alternate Past

20140809_081319My husband and I have been charged with the monumental task of going through my parents’ house and all their stuff. They’ve both moved on now (one to heaven and the other to assisted living), leaving all their worldly goods behind. As we have sorted through, we’ve found lots of things that should have been thrown out decades ago, but also an occasional treasure – something of true monetary or sentimental value. Often it’s something we didn’t know existed before.

Here’s one example: my grandmother’s diary from the year 1956.

My grandmother was not an easy person to get to know and she died when I was in my twenties, curtailing any possibility of deepening our relationship. But here was a new and unexpected opportunity. Through her diary, I could learn more about her. I could discover her thoughts and activities from a time long past, a time before I knew her. Her diary had been preserved, skipping over a generation and more than half a century before fortuitously falling into my hands.

It struck me at once that this was a perfect illustration (and validation) of the premise for the book I was working on at the time: The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen. The book represents Jane’s private journal. Like my grandmother’s diary, it was not known to exist before but has now come to light, generations later. In it she tells the secret behind the story of Persuasion, that in fact she wrote her last, most poignant novel as a reflection of events in her life, in homage to her secret romance with a sea captain of her own.

The-Persuasion-of-Miss-Jane-Austen_NOOKAccording to the story, she met Captain Philippe Devereaux when she was only twenty-two, and they fell rapidly and deeply in love, as she later wrote of their fictional counterparts – Anne and Captain Wentworth. Then, just as with that other pair, Jane and the gentleman were torn asunder, parted by the persuasion of others with years of painful separation passing before they would meet again.

Now I know that the official record says Jane Austen died at 41 having never experienced the kind of romance and happy ending she generously supplied for all her heroines. But consider this. Much of the pieced-together information about Austen’s life comes to us via family remembrances and the surviving letters Jane wrote herself. These sources are incomplete, open to interpretation, and potentially biased. It occurred to me that if Jane Austen, for whatever reason, wanted certain facts expunged from the record or carefully constructed falsehoods added, she would likely have found ready co-conspirators in her own family, especially in her sister Cassandra.

From what we know of their relationship, they were so close that Cassandra would likely have done anything for Jane. This is what she said of her:

…such a sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed. She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow. I had not a thought concealed from her…

Cassandra is a key figure in any biographical work about Jane Austen. She was the source of the story about Jane’s meeting the mysterious gentleman in Sidmouth – supposedly her one true love. She decided which of Jane’s letters to save for posterity and which ones to burn. Moreover, Cassandra is the filter through which we have received our information. What we are told about Jane, therefore, is in large part only what her beloved sister wanted us to know or believe, not necessarily the whole truth.

So is it conceivable Jane Austen’s life took a very different turn than we’ve been led to believe? I think so. I hope so! Working within a factual framework, I discovered it was entirely possible to construct a plausible alternate outcome for her – even a classic happy ending. Isn’t that what we all would have wanted for her?

20140809_081353I found no such surprising revelations in my grandmother’s diary, and I’m sure it was merely overlooked rather than deliberately hidden away. Not the case with Jane’s journal. It turns out there were very compelling reasons she could not reveal her story to her own generation… but neither could she bear that it should be lost forever. So she authored Persuasion to stand as a public testimony for all time and secreted away her private journal for residents of the future – for us – to unearth.

What do you think? Is it intriguing to consider that Jane Austen might have had a passionate, life-long romance, a secret alternate past? How would you have liked her story to end? Do you have a tale of a long-lost memento or diary to share?

12 comments

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    • tgruy on June 10, 2015 at 2:13 am
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    I always wonder how the people that writes finds the theme or idea to develop. You have a wonderful imagination. I hope I have the chance to read your book sooner rather than later.

    1. Sometimes I wonder where the ideas come from too, but it’s a thrill when they do and to be given the privilege to translate them onto the page. This book was a joy and a delight to write, but then so they all are!

    • Deborah on June 10, 2015 at 6:38 am
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    I absolutely loved The Persuasion of Jane Austen, and even though it isn’t a Darcy & Elizabeth story it is a wonderful read and I love how it parallels Persuasion. I do wish Jane had been able to marry for love and lived a long and healthy life.

    I guess the best momento I found is an album of photographs my step-grand father took and developed during World War II. He was an army cook deployed in Germany. There are pictures of my grandmother, a few years before they were married.

    1. Nice find, Deborah! As I continue sorting, I recently found a letter from my great uncle to my grandparents – one he wrote during WW2 a few months before he was killed – along with the newspaper clippings about how his carrier was sunk. I’d been interested in his story, and it felt like he’d reached across time to connect with me in a personal way when I read his letter.

      Glad you loved TPMJA! And thanks for pointing out that it’s possible to enjoy a book “even though it isn’t a D&E story!” Haha!

    • Kara Louise on June 10, 2015 at 10:50 am
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    Oh! It would be so nice to think so, Shannon! She, of all people, deserved a love story of her own! Thanks for giving her one!

    1. It was my pleasure, Kara, and I agree she deserved a happy ending! I use a lovely quote from Ian McEwan’s “Atonement” in the postscript to the book as part of my rationale:

      “Who would want to believe that they never met again, never fulfilled their love? Who would want to believe that, except in the service of the bleakest realism? I could not do it to them…. I like to think it isn’t weakness or evasion, but a final act of kindness, a stand against oblivion and despair, to let my lovers live and to unite them at the end.”

  1. I think it’s entirely plausible. I can’t help thinking that Jane had something to hide, that’s why her letters were destroyed by Cassandra. I love the idea of giving her the happy ending she longed for.

    1. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Monica! Although it is fiction, I like to believe it might have happened the way I imagine. ;D

    • Mary on June 12, 2015 at 12:27 am
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    I once found some letters my husband wrote to his parents. He was a very young man in the submarine service. Before WWII, his sub was sent to the Galapagos. This was in 1941. They were with some scientists looking for the grave of a U.S. sailor who had been buried there around 1813. After some investigation, I discovered the the sailor had been killed by a shipmate during an apparent drunken fight. There were some interesting side lights into the mind of a young man away from a rural home for the first time. Another interesting part of the letter was tha it was picked up at the Post Office Bay at the Galapagos by the next ship that had sailed there, Thus ship was a private yacht owned by George Vanderbilt, who did many scientific expeditions looking mainly at the flora of various places. It was many months between its being left, then picked up, and then remained to the mainland US. Especially interesting for my children and grandchildren to read about the adventures of their Grandpop.

  2. Wonderful story, Mary. History becomes so much more real and interesting when someone you knew was involved. Thanks for sharing this.

    • TLeighF on June 12, 2015 at 9:24 pm
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    I certainly want to believe JA found love and had a happy ending (though much too soon).

    I kept a journal off and on from my senior year in high school until I was 30 or so. They hold a lot of my very personal experiences and thoughts. I sometimes wonder if I should destroy them so no one can read them when I’m gone. But I can’t bring myself to do it. I think I would be ok if they sat around for a few generations before anyone read them. I just wouldn’t want anyone who knows me now to read them.

    1. You’ll have to tuck them away like JA did, for future generations to find and appreciate. 😉

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