Try free for 30 days

  • The Jane Austen Remedy

  • By: Ruth Wilson
  • Narrated by: Jenny Seedsman
  • Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (26 ratings)

1 credit a month to use on any title, yours to keep (you’ll use your first credit on this title).
Stream or download thousands of included titles.
Access to exclusive deals and discounts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
The Jane Austen Remedy cover art

The Jane Austen Remedy

By: Ruth Wilson
Narrated by: Jenny Seedsman
Try for $0.00

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $25.83

Buy Now for $25.83

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

An uplifting and delightfully bookish memoir about an 89-year-old woman who reclaims her life by re-reading each of Jane Austen's novels.

As she approached the age of 70, Ruth Wilson began to have recurring dreams about losing her voice. Unable to dismiss her feelings of unexplainable sadness, she made the radical decision to retreat from her conventional life with her husband to a small sunshine-yellow cottage in the Southern Highlands where she lived alone for the next decade.

Ruth had fostered a lifelong love of reading, and from the moment she first encountered Pride and Prejudice in the 1940s, she had looked to Jane Austen's heroines as her models for the sort of woman she wanted to become.

As Ruth settled into her cottage, she resolved to re-read Austen's six novels and rediscover the heroines who had inspired her; to read between the lines of both the novels and her own life. And as she read, she began to reclaim her voice.

The Jane Austen Remedy is a beautiful, life-affirming memoir of love, self-acceptance and the curative power of reading. Published the year Ruth turns 90, it is an inspirational account of the lessons learned from Jane Austen over nearly eight decades, as well as a timely reminder that it's never too late to seize a second chance.

©2022 Ruth Wilson (P)2022 W F Howes

Critic Reviews

"Ruth is proof that Jane Austen is a way of thinking, of being, of loving." (Cassie McCullagh)

"A deeply necessary book, showing elegantly and incisively how Jane Austen can guide us through life’s problems...and also feels like an extended chat with a Jane Austen-reading friend." (Susannah Fullerton, president of the Jane Austen Society of Australia)

What listeners say about The Jane Austen Remedy

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

More Mary than Elisabeth

And that’s not necessarily a bad thing- I too believe that Mary was undervalued- but it’s about adjusting expectations. Many current works drawing on Austen are light and breezy whereas this is very intellectual, with numerous quotes and references to famous authors/fictional works. It’s more like an educational work or study guide than something for escapism. I do like the way the authors own story threads through and empathised with her need for space away from her family and conflicts around achieving that. I also like hearing about her early years growing up in an Australian country town.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Wordy and tenuous

A wordy book and my concern was for her husband of decades whom she left pretty much on a whim . The link between Austen and her well-being were extremely tenuous. Banging on about love there seems little of it remaining by the time she writes this book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.