A01=Madeline Bell
Author_Madeline Bell
beach read
book club
Category=FRU
classic literature retelling
debut author
enemies to lovers
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_romance
escape reads
gifts for her
gifts for women
grumpy sunshine
happily ever after
historical
hollywood
jane austen
laugh out loud
love story
mistaken identity
mr. darcy
opposites attract
pride and prejudice
regency era
rom com
sassy heroines
speculative
time travel
witty banter
Product details
- ISBN 9781250373519
- Weight: 364g
- Dimensions: 160 x 237mm
- Publication Date: 20 Oct 2025
- Publisher: St Martin's Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Tess Bright is a C-list actress who just scored her dream role starring in a film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. It's not just the role of a lifetime, but it’s also her last chance to prove herself as a serious actress (no easy feat after being fired from her last TV gig) and more importantly, it’s her opportunity to honour her mum, who was the biggest fan of Jane Austen ever. But one thing is standing in Tess’s way - well, one very tall, annoyingly handsome person, actually: Hugh Balfour.
A serious British method actor, Hugh wants nothing to do with Tess (whose Teen Choice Awards somehow don’t quite compare to his BAFTA nominations). Hugh is a type-A, no-nonsense, Royal Academy prodigy, whereas Tess is big-hearted, a little reckless, and admittedly, kind of a mess. When an electrical accident sends the two feuding co-stars back in time to Jane Austen’s era, with only each other to rely on, Tess and Hugh need to ad-lib their way through the Regency period in order to make it back home. But if a certain someone looks particularly dashing in those 19th century breeches…well, Tess won’t be complaining.
A wickedly funny, utterly charming story, The Austen Affair is a tribute to Jane Austen, second chances, and love across the space-time continuum.
Madeline Bell, pseudonym for Christine Calella, grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY. Writing under Christine Calella, sheis the author of two YA novels, The Curse of Ophelia Cray and The Liar's Kingdom, and she holds an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. A senior publicist at Simon & Schuster, she lives in New York City.
