Synopses & Reviews
Wise, sharp, informative . . . shrewd and funny - A. S. Byatt, Times Literary Supplement Inspired by a series of instructive letters written by Austen to a novel-writing niece, Letters to Alice is an epistolary novel in which an important modern writer responds to her niece's complaint that Jane Austen is boring and irrelevant. By turns passionate and ironic, "Aunt Fay" makes Alice think - not only about books and literature, but also life and culture. "A study of a writer (and reader) thinking aloud about art and civilization . . . it should be required reading, a prerequisite for students of literature." - Hilma Wolitzer, New York Times Book Review
Review
"What do Jane Austen and 'Alice,' a punk-rock college kid who dyes her hair black and green, have in common? Nothing, except Fay Weldon, a writer of sorts, who made the television screen play of Pride and Prejudice and who has invented a niece Alice as a means for writing about Austen from her painful early death, which begins and ends this epistolary account of her life, back to the beginning and through her family and writing career. Weldon rather fancies herself and her imagination and gives free rein to the latter in quite a brisk and modern fashion. Some interesting facts and details are thrown in, but most can easily be found elsewhere without subjecting yourself to Weldon's brittle and know-it-all style." Reviewed by Andrew Witmer, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis
Inspired by a series of instructive letters written by Austen to a novel-writing niece, "Letters to Alice" is an epistolary novel in which an important modern writer responds to her niece's complaint that Jane Austen is boring and irrelevant.