About a year ago I started a Jane Austen Book Club. We read Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey. However, we were interrupted by holiday plans, new babies, and then the coronavirus pandemic.

Jane Austen has been a comfort to me during these last few months. I wasn’t able to meet with my friends, and all of the projects and events I was planning were cancelled, but I could listen to Pride & Prejudice three times. I could listen to Persuasion three times. I could watch the new Emma movie multiple times. I could discuss all of the novels and film adaptations with a Jane Austen fan club I found on Facebook.

Reading Jane Austen’s novels is both an escape and a solace. I’ve been very lonely, and feeling unmoored, but Jane Austen and the community surrounding here are there to comfort and encourage me.

So, thank you, Ms. Jane Austen. Thank you for writing such delightful works of literature that I can read and analyze and ponder and discuss with others. You have done me a great service indeed.