Jane Austen's Genius Guide to Life: On Love, Friendship, and Becoming the Person God Created You to Be

by Haley Stewart

Overview

Popular Catholic podcaster Haley Stewart insists that there’s no better life coach than nineteenth-century British novelist Jane Austen.

In this uniquely Catholic take, Stewart reveals Austen’s thoughtful, deeply personal exploration of human relationships—including with God—through her six novels. Stewart’s insights take you on a journey that is both literary and spiritual, revealing how Austen’s characters and themes can lead to you to discover and become the person God has called you to be.

Stewart draws fascinating connections between Austen’s novels and real life and introduces Austen as a capable life coach by how she guides her readers to understand virtue and vice through friendship, love, community, and God’s grace. Austen’s characters reveal how virtuous habits transform us and help us become who we were meant to be. Each chapter focuses on characters and virtues from a single novel:

• Do you find yourself swayed by superficial charm and yearn to see others more clearly? Let Elizabeth Bennet teach you how to recognize substance in others and address the pride in your own heart through the cultivation of humility (Pride and Prejudice).
• Are you stuck in selfishness that wounds others (and yourself)? Let Emma Woodhouse and George Knightley help you develop the compassion to see the world more clearly with the eyes of Christ (Emma).
• Do you get swept away into poor choices due to a lack of self-control? Let the Dashwood sisters show you the virtue of temperance and guide you to embrace your God-given personality and temperament (Sense and Sensibility.
• Do you have treasured ideals but struggle to live them out? Follow along with Edmund Bertram’s journey toward constancy through the example of Fanny Price (Mansfield Park).
• Have the disappointments of life grown resentment or bitterness in your heart? Be inspired by Anne Elliot’s vulnerable fortitude in the storms of life (Persuasion).
• Do you struggle to know what to do or who to believe in tricky situations? Join Catherine Morland in learning prudence to know and act on the truth (Northanger Abbey).

Whether you are already an Austen fan or are discovering her works for the first time, Stewart’s infectious enthusiasm and captivating spiritual insights will have you digging in to experience firsthand the characters and stories that have captured imaginations in book and film for more than two centuries.

Discussion questions and recommended film adaptations make this book suitable for individual or group use or as a high school classroom or homeschool resource. A free, downloadable leader’s guide is available at avemariapress.com.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781646801398
Publisher:	Ave Maria Press
Publication date:	03/25/2022
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	507,532
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Haley Stewart is a Catholic author and the editor of Word on Fire Spark.

Stewart was the cohost of the popular Fountains of Carrots podcast from 2014-2022. She is the author of Jane Austen's Genius Guide to Life, The Grace of Enough, and The Sister Seraphina Mysteries, a series for young readers. She has contributed to Evangelization & Culture, Plough, the University of Notre Dame’s Church Life Journal, Public Discourse, and America. She has four children and is married to a beekeeper/whisky distiller.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Jane Austen, Life Coach xi

1 The Life and World of an Underestimated Genius 1

2 Mr. Darcy Learns to Laugh (Pride and Prejudice) 15

3 Knightley Speaks Frankly (Emma) 29

4 Fanny Price and the Stronghold of the Self (Mansfield Park) 41

5 Marianne Follows Elinor (Sense and Sensibility) 57

6 Catherine Learns to Read the World (Northanger Abbey) 71

7 The (Went)worth of a Soul (Persuasion) 83

8 A Wedding Feast and a World Renewed 99

Epilogue 109

Acknowledgments 113

Appendix 1 Group Study Questions 115

Appendix 2 Plot and Character Summaries for Each Novel 119

Appendix 3 Explore Austen's Novels in Film 131

Appendix 4 Suggested Reading 133

Notes 134

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“You’ll return to this book again and again for its deep voice of intelligent friendship and lively, joy-filled faith.” —Elizabeth Scalia, editor-at-large, Word on Fire Catholic Ministries

“With a light but sure touch, Haley Stewart shows how we can learn to be more virtuous people through emulating Jane Austen’s heroines, and in the process, we come to appreciate Austen’s writings all the more.” —Holly Ordway, Cardinal Francis George Fellow of Faith and Culture, Word on Fire Institute

“I have been leaning on Jane Austen’s works to get me through tough times and to celebrate the great ones for more than twenty-five years, and ‘life coach’ is the best way to describe her. Haley Stewart also has a lot to say about virtue and putting it into practice. This book is a superbly featured work!” —Marcia Lane-McGee, cohost of the Plaid Skirts & Basic Black podcast

“Jane Austen as life coach? Haley Stewart’s delightful handbook just might convince you that the answers you’ve been looking for have been in the pages of your favorite novels all along.” —Anne Bogel, creator of Modern Mrs. Darcy