THE AUSTEN AFFAIR - Madeline Bell
St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 9781250373519
ISBN10: 1250373514
September 2025
Time Travel

England - 19th and 21st Centuries

Tess Bright has finally been cast in a legitimate acting role in an adaptation of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. Her last job in a television series was anything but career enhancing. To make this position even better is that her late mother was a huge Austen fan, so Tess feels that this is a tribute to her. The only thing not so great is her male counterpart, Hugh Balfour, who is not impressed with her acting background, or her, it seems.

Hugh is strait laced, serious, and inflexible about pretty much everything. He shows his disdain for Tess behind the scenes but performs his part while being filmed. Free and easy Tess finds it difficult to toe the line, which helps maintain the icy distance between the two. But in a sudden electrical mishap, the two find themselves suddenly 200 years in the past, ironically in the Austen period. 

While dressed appropriately due to their roles, Tess and Hugh are surprised to find themselves near Hugh's family estate. They are taken in and it's a shock to the Balfour family that Hugh, who greatly resembles the son of the owner, is still alive, as they had been told that their Hugh died at Waterloo. And so, ensues a masquerade of sorts as Tess and Hugh try to figure out how in the world they're going to get back to the 21st Century!

THE AUSTEN AFFAIR is a time travel romance that is sometimes humorous, and at other times poignant as Hugh tries to deal with the fact that the old man of the house thinks his son has been resurrected. Tess, in the meantime, is sometimes enjoying living the lifestyle her mother loved from Austen's books. A few surprises pop up, and the solution to returning to the present may, or may not, work. THE AUSTEN AFFAIR is a delight.

Jani Brooks