Review of 'The Jane Austen Remedy' by Ruth Wilson

The Jane Austen Remedy by Ruth Wilson

First Published: March 29, 2022

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

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What the book is about…

At the age of seventy, Ruth Wilson blew up her life. Confronting feelings of regret and unhappiness, she left her husband, bought a sunshine-yellow cottage in the Southern Highlands and resolved to re-read the books that had shaped her formative years: Jane Austen's six novels.

Over the next ten years, as Ruth read between the lines of both the novels and her own life, she slowly began to reclaim her identity.

Now aged ninety, Ruth shares her beautiful, life-affirming lessons in love, self-acceptance and the curative power of reading, as well as a timely reminder that it's never too late to seize a second chance.

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MY REVIEW

Just as I finished The Jane Austen Remedy, I saw a quote online attributed to Les Brown, an American politician and motivational speaker: ‘You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.’ This phrase certainly rings true for Ruth Wilson with all she has accomplished in her late years. She received her PhD at age eighty-eight and her debut book has come out in her ninetieth year.

The Jane Austen Remedy caught my attention as soon as I saw the cover and its subtitle. Books definitely can be a great medicine for the soul. One of the beauties of this memoir is how Ruth confirms the universally acknowledged truth ‘that a book can change a life’ because it has for her and many others. She has also added a lovely feature in the last section of her book. Priceless Jane Austen remedies for various ailments. These are very clever descriptions with symptoms, diagnosis and a Jane Austen book prescribed as a remedy. Pure genius!

To say I was deeply moved and inspired by Ruth’s journey, is an understatement. Her Austen interpretations and insightful revelations are pearls of wisdom. I admire her for her accomplishments both academically and personally. And how she swam to shore, after years of feeling as though her own voice was drowning in a sea of competing norms, to eventually find her own safe place.

Society at various points in time, have not been kind to women of intellect. And Ruth lived through the dramatic changes and its effects on her life were deeply felt. But at the age of seventy, she had courage to take a different path, a road certainly less travelled or not at all—to a yellow cottage she named Lantern Hill in the Southern Highlands. Without her husband—to sort out her inner life. (And yes, she got the name from L M Montgomery’s Jane of Lantern Hill.) She went there to rediscover herself; to find her voice again. For ten years she remained in this cocoon of literature in a peaceful setting. Then at eighty-eight, she completed her PhD Thesis. Now at 90, her memoirs have made their way into this beautiful book: the story of her search for fulfilment and happiness.

This is an incredible portrayal of a journey through the regions of the body, soul and spirit. The effects of literature, particularly the novels of Jane Austen, and how they can and have been soul remedies for many, but particularly for Ruth Wilson. She speaks from a place of knowledge and experience. Ruth bares all – her heart is laid open like a patient to a surgeon. But this surgeon is Jane Austen and her surgical tools are her novels. Each novel speaks and ministers to Ruth in a different way and we are blessed in learning those whisperings spoken to her heart. Messages that convey many universal truths. Verities that waken the reader’s spirit and mind from mundane slumber.

When I was giving guest talks on poetry in Canadian schools, I would read one of my poems and then ask what it meant to each student. They looked surprised at first as they thought I only wanted them to recite back to me why I wrote the poem. For in studying literature, this approach is often expected. But I wanted a more personal reaction from my readers and listeners: to hear how my words reminded them of their own experiences or inspired new ideas. What memories came to mind? Relieved, that they were not expected to give a ‘particular or right answer,’ they became more relaxed and eager to share. The result? I heard the most amazing personal stories! Their minds flowed with inspired thoughts and released memories that may have been bottled up, pushed down or just shelved in the back of their consciousness. I was delighted and they were, too, at my response to them. This is what should happen with all creative works.

Ruth, upon reading Jane Austen’s novels at various stages in her life, was inspired, too. Re-readings brought even more morsels of truth to the surface and how these ideas fit in with her own life. The spark that literature can light in a soul— is endless. I think of a book as an eternal living entity that never dies. It carries messages indefinitely throughout the ages. For as humans, the act of communication is part of our being—it is our breath. We can create worlds with our words and thus it is an act of creation: a timeless wonder— a gift from our Creator. There will always be something new to learn and something old to visit once again.

Ruth is like a novel detective in her search for finding truth in literature, particularly in Jane Austen’s novels. She touches upon so many topics: friendship, fairy-tales, heroines, romance, empathy, the art of seduction in writing, the magic of reading on the brain, the endless war between the sexes and so on. Everything you will find in a Jane Austen novel and more. Even the eloquence and artful play of language which stood out to Ruth in her re-reading of Emma.

I was particularly touched by Ruth’s mention of the conflicts women faced during the world war years. First the freedoms women had when they were able to go outside the home and work—to keep industry rolling while the men were away fighting. But when the wars ended, men wanted their jobs back and women were expected to return to their original posts cooking, cleaning and caring for home and family. After the second world war ended, Ruth (as many women) struggled with this social backward step. She began to feel like a ‘second class citizen in the republic of marriage.’ She tried hard to find inner peace doing the domestic tasks but she did not achieve it—even with reading books ‘that appealed to her intellect’. She needed more. Which led to her leaving that confined world and entering new open spaces in the Southern Highlands to find the answers she sincerely sought.

She ‘was on a mission to overcome a malaise’ to renew her life force. She hoped by re-reading Jane Austen’s novels, which had shaped her younger view of friendship, marriage and identity, she could recapture that magic or at least find new morsels of truth that would guide her to fulfilment. During the process, she explored the question. Why do we read? ‘Reading emerges…as an antidote for many failures of human nature: ignorance, lack of discrimination and moral awareness.’ Austen’s Emma realises the value of reading but never gets around to it. She keeps lists of books she intends to read but never does. Unlike Ruth, who as a youth, read many books for it was her way of understanding human relationships. And when she took Pride and Prejudice off the library shelf, she was ready to read it. To enter that magical world where both sunshine and shadow were prevalent; where she could embrace ‘a vision of life beyond the marriage plot.’ She was ‘initiated into a lifetime of reading about fictional experiences that eventually shed light on periods of darkness in her own life.’

Fiction and friendship go hand in hand just as Ruth Wilson and Jane Austen do. Heroines, fairy tales and books about second chances are all part of the necessary mix to keep the lost or wandering soul on track. Reading for Ruth became a guiding light—a path to find answers and direction, to make sense out of life. Many of us know that change comes when we give ourselves permission to live and love ourselves. And so it was, after many years and through reading her favourite novels again, she was reborn with a new set of wings and a brighter courage. The tip of the wick was lit and she was now shining from the inside out… ‘no longer drowning but waving.’

I could write forever about this memoir and I have only mentioned a few gems here but I highly recommend The Jane Austen Remedy for it is brimming with truths, wonderful information on Jane Austen’s novels and remedies that all of us could use from time to time to help light our paths to understanding. For at the end of the day, we are all in the same life boat, sharing each other’s burdens and experiences. And yes, as Ruth Wilson reminds us, books can change lives. This is a thought-provoking memoir, original and inspiring that I whole-heartedly encourage everyone to read. 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Many thanks to Allen & Unwin for a review copy.

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About the Author:

Ruth Wilson read her first Jane Austen novel in 1947. In 2021, at the age of eighty-eight, she graduated from The University of Sydney with a PhD that suggests a new approach to reading literary fiction at school. She encourages her four children, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren to read widely, wisely and well. She and her husband are LATs, a married couple who live apart together.

A great page from the University of Sydney on Dr. Ruth Wilson that includes a link to her PhD Thesis: Milestones in a Reading Life: Jane Austen and Lessons in Reading, Learning and the Imagination which led to her writing of her memoir.

Dr Ruth Wilson and her book The Jane Austen Remedy. Credit: John Kars Photography