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Examiner.com

July 6, 6:49 PM San Diego Books Examiner Bonnie Silva

In Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, L.A. native Courtney Stone wakes up to find herself inhabiting the body of Miss Jane Mansfield a gentlewoman from Regency era England; if that is possible, consider then that in a parallel universe Miss Mansfield is waking up in the body of Courtney Stone in modern day L.A.

This is the amusing and heart rendering follow up, Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler, Jane wakes up one morning with a massive headache, concussion actually, and a buzzing that won’t stop. Where is her chambermaid, Barnes? Jane doesn’t realize it yet but she will soon come head to head with…

There are numbers, glowing red, on top of the offending lump of wood. 8 0 8. What is this wondrous thing? The numbers are in some sort of box, the front of it smooth and cold beneath my fingertips, the top of it scored and bumpy. I run my fingers over the bumps and the shrill sound stops. Oh, thank heaven.”

…an alarm clock. In fact there are many things, many fanciful things she is about to come in contact with such as small figures talking and dancing inside a small box, a horseless metal carriage, unbound hair and unrestricted clothing, hot and cold water out of a pipe, and an airborne machine with wings like a bird.

Jane eventually finds out that she, as Courtney Stone, had a concussion while swimming and hit her head on the bottom of the pool. With the help of friends Wes, Anna, Paula, Deepa, and a seemingly familiar yet mysterious fortune teller, Jane finds her way through the daze she is in and struggles to conform and figure out the modern world’s gizmos and gadgets as well as the shocking modern day morality. She is after all a gentleman’s daughter from the ninteenth century

Paula declares that she is taking Jane to see her cousin a respected psychopharmacologist, exactly what Wes doesn’t want for Jane. Fancy name for a high-priced drug pusher he says. But everyone does agree that Jane’s behavior is frightening. When Jane finds out the year is 2009…

“Two thousand nine?” I hear myself say, in that strange voice, before I am aware of having spoken. “Two thousand nine?” I disengage my arm from Paula’s grasp and see the faces of the three strangers. “Is this a joke?”

If it is, they are not laughing, and I am suddenly so dizzy that I grip the top of one of the chairs.

As Courtney struggles to adjust to life in Regency England, so too does Jane struggle to adjust to life in the 21st century. Jane begins to believe that what she is experiencing is a transmigration of the soul. And much like Courtney, Jane is beginning to find that her thoughts and Courtney’s thoughts are starting to blur into one. Will Jane ever return to her own body and her own time, and here’s a thought, does she really want to?

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