I really enjoy fiction loosely patterned after a Jane Austen work. She is one of my very favorite authors, I think her stories were brilliant and timeless. I love a good story patterned after one of her books -or one that takes a book and continues the story. Mind you, I did say a "good" story. I have read some that were badly done.
Jane Austen in Scarsdale- or Love, Death, and the SATs by Paula Marantz Cohen is a Jane Austen re-telling: done well.
Anne Ehrlich is a quiet, well-liked high-school guidance counselor. She is mild and kind, but her family life is a bit stressful. Her father and sister are extravagant and are now deep into debt, Anne is faced with the task of persuading them to downsize. Anne's old flame comes back into her life, now successful and with a fiancee.
This story, I'm sure you've guessed by my description- is a re-telling of Jane Austen's "Persuasion"
Anne has to work out selling her family home, the old flame she once rejected come back into her life, her aging and loving grandmother, the craziness that is college admissions time at her work...and perhaps a new love interest. The story is very entertaining, full, and satisfyingly Jane-ish. The story works out just as satisfying as Jane Austen would have wanted.
This was my second time reading this story, it was just as engaging as the first time.
*you can join up with the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge here**