Caught in a cycle of loss, Jane Austen fan Lily jumps at the opportunity to travel to England to re-enact Mansfield Park. While there Lily thinks she may finally realize her dream of living in a novel. But even in England, where she is immersed in a literary festival so rich it seems Jane Austen is present, her problems find her.

Austen scholar Deresiewicz turns to the author's novels to reveal the remarkable life lessons hidden within. With humor and candor, Deresiewicz employs his own experiences to demonstrate the enduring power of Austen's teachings.

Authors and literary critics of the past and present offer insights into Jane Austen's writing.

"The protagonists of these skillful and inventive stories have traveled various paths--from Japan to Brazil, L.A. to Gardena, San Francisco to Tokyo--but along the way, they have all become archivists, whether they know it or not. They examine the contents of deceased relatives' freezers, tape-record high-school locker-room chatter, cart the contents of a household cross-country, or collect a community's gossip while cleaning the teeth of its inhabitants....