What next after Jane Austen?

[Sorceress]

Once I had finished all of Austen? What do I read next?
Suggest some similar books.

[Brielle92]

You should read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, it's a wonderful book. Most people also move on to the Bronte sisters; I recommend Villette.

[kiki1982]

Good though those are, they are not similar (at least not the Brontës).

I was slightly confused at finding Alcott's Little Women in the children's books section of a St Pancras station's bookshop. Is it a children's book? Surely not!

If you are looking for subtle satire, you could try Swift. But he is early.

Trollope is slightly later than the Regency, but he is fantastic. More blatant in some parts. He works a lot wit classical references, but he can be amazingly funny and biting. My vast experience stretches to The Warden alone, however. Still, it was enoyable.
He writes in series where characters crop up in several books. The Warden is the first in the Barsetshire Chronicles. It's not really necessary to read them in chronological order, but I suppose that can help.
Because he is later, his style is much easier, and although he is bent on writing funny stories, he doesn't shy away from a serious note (or that is the impression I got from one novel).

If you are looking for romance, then you'll be fine with the Brontës, though.

[TurquoiseSunset]

How about North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell?

[Sorceress]

You should read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, it's a wonderful book. Most people also move on to the Bronte sisters; I recommend Villette.

Oh, I have already read Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre but not Villette yet.
Thanks so much.

[Sorceress]

How about North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell?

i already like this suggestion. Thanks!

[OrphanPip]

The most similar to Austen is Frances Burney, who was a major influence on Austen's style.

[prendrelemick]

The trouble is you have begun at the pinnicle. Nobody can quite measure up to her. You could go on to Thackery's Vanity Fair or some Trollope as I did, but I find re-reading Austin to be more satisfying.

Have you thought about those modern sequels that occasionally come out, or those Zombie infested reworkings?

[kiki1982]

Yes, Austen is kind of the best in her field...

Fanny Burney was a major influence, so you could try that. What about Mrs Radcliffe for some Gothic scary stuff? And then read Northanger Abbey again. :D

@Mick:

How is Vanity Fair? Is it satire (as you have suggested it here) or is it kind of serious with caricature in it, like Dickens? I saw a film once that made it look quite Dickensian in that sense, but I don't know how good that was. I am planning on reading it (although I'm planning such a lot of things ;)).

[dfloyd]

It is not exactly satire since it doesn't use irony, but shows character development by contrasting the personality of one of the most famous literary characters, Becky Sharp, against that of her purported friend whose life is the exact opposite of Becky. After writing his masterpiece, Thackeray tried to emulate 18th writers such as Fielding, by witing asides to the reader. I just read Thackeray's The Newcombes which was 800 pages of tedium.

I am surprised no one has mentioned George Eliot, the best of the women Victorian writers. I have read Silas Marner, The Mill on the Floss, and Middlemarch. Middlemarch is considered by many to be the best English novel ever written. While I Have read all the novels of Jane Austen and enjoyed them, her writing pales when compared to George Eliot's.

[prendrelemick]

That is exactly right - satire without the irony, a commentry that ridicules openly. Becky Sharp understands the society she is operating in and uses it's absurdities to get on. And who can blame her? Thackery constantly asks.
In Becky you have a Great Literary Character on a par with Elizabeth Bennet.

I didn't mention George Elliot because she is so different from Jane Austin. I agree her writing may be technically better, but Austin is unmatched in charm and cleverness.

[Motherof8]

I also think you should try George Eliot.

[crusoe]

You might like George Sand. She's clever.

[mohammadali]

works of bronte`s is more similar to jane austin.
also lovely bones somehow is the same
wuthering heights emily bronte
jane eyre by charllote brone is similar
but personally i think it would be better to read in another genres and another periods. it is a better experience than reading just in one genre and the same stories. in my own opinion variety is so important in reading.

[mal4mac]

Why are only women writers being recommended? Some blokes to try:

Dickens - Great Expectations might be a good one for an Austen fan to start with - lots of male/female intrigue.

Walter Scott - she really liked him, he had strong female characters, start with Ivanhoe.

Daniel Defoe - Moll Flanders

Tolstoy - AK (then W&P)

Hardy - Tess (etc...)

[Lulim]

I second George Eliot.

I'd also recommend E.M. Forster, Howards End. It's great!

[Annamariah]

There have been some good recommendations here, like Brontës, Alcott and Gaskell. I would like to add L. M. Montgomery to the list. She has written some great characters, which remind me of Austen's satirical style. Even though most her books are considered children's literature, I still love to read them again and again. Blue Castle is one of my all-time favourite novels. Apart from her novels, Montgomery wrote lots of great short stories, too.

[kelby_lake]

Little Women is charming.

George Eliot's style is more like Dickens than Austen. As a fellow esteemed female writer of that period, it's worth giving her a shot anyway, though it's not as light as Austen.

Vanity Fair is a good choice. It's a satire but a very light one and features one of the best female protagonists in literature: the feisty Becky Sharp.

The Brontes are not a bad choice. By Brontes, I really mean Charlotte as Emily's style isn't very similar to Austen's.

[mal4mac]

I'd also recommend E.M. Forster, Howards End. It's great!

"Room with a View" as well - very like Austen.

[Jackson Richardson]

The twentieth century writer often compared to Jane Austen is Barbara Pym. The same female viewpoint, educated but socially insecure, with a very limited social scene, but people's characters and self-deceptions acutely revealed through dialogue and domestic details. Excellent Women is often said to be a good starting place, but I love A Glass of Blessings for an account of a respectable, straight laced lady in the 1950s who finds gays perfectly acceptable. Indeed more fun than her boring husband. And a later novel, The Sweet Dove Died, is an account of a possessive older woman, comes near to tragedy (as well as being very funny.)

It is absolutely no coincidence neither Miss Austen nor Miss Pym ever married. I'm sure most men found Jane far too intelligent. Barbara was fascinated by men, but they were always inadequate. The gay ones were more amusing.

A contemporary of Jane Austen not mentioned so far is Susan Ferrier: I read The Inheritance last year. She's a bit melodramatic compared to Jane, but then most people are. ;)

[Seasider]

I enjoyed Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James. A detective story set in Mr Darcy and Elizabeth's vicinity. Wickham features heavily.
And what about Cranford by Mrs Gaskell? Barbara Pym's work is enjoyable in a quiet and understated way.

[RicMisc]

Is started by reading Austen as well, so I know how hard it is to find something similar. In my opinion she's the best in what she does. The Bronte sisters have been mentioned several times now, so I will only quickly name them again. They're not that similar but I enjoyed reading their works. After that I moved away from those writers a bit and went on to read To Kill A Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby. Especially the latter is a must-read!

I recently read Vanity Fair and found it very enjoyable, it is a very large book which makes it especially satisfying to finish it. And of course the novel itself gives a very nice view on that society. A sort of satirical view, but that makes the novel also a lot of fun to read.

[wordeater]

Edith Wharton is another suggestion, particularly "The House of Mirth", although it doesn't have the typical Jane Austen happy ending.

[Jackson Richardson]

George Eliot's style is more like Dickens than Austen. As a fellow esteemed female writer of that period, it's worth giving her a shot anyway, though it's not as light as Austen.



To an English reader that sounds very odd. Jane died in 1817. Mary Ann Evans ("George Eliot") was born in 1819. They weren't even contemporaries. Although they are both C19 writers, in old fashioned English terms, Jane is a Georgian, George Eliot is a Victorian and a whole generation or two later.

If you are interested in the classic English novel, then George Eliot is a central figure - although she seems to have slipped from fashion again. She was regarded as fuddy duddy in the early C20, until restored by Frank Levis as a central figure in his Great Tradition.

I used to think she was wonderful, and I think I wept at at least one point in reading all her novels. Indeed I was in almost continual tears of exaltation when I re-read Silas Marner some fifteen years ago, when I was in a vulnerable phase. Recently I've come to think she's a bit worthy: she makes excuses for everyone.

But you should judge for yourself.

(Her style is different both from Jane's balanced classical periods, and Dickens' wonderful romantic excess. A bit clunky to my mind.)

[Jackson Richardson]

OK, this would be an outrageous suggestion to most academics, but if you like the Regency period charm romance side of Jane Austen, then look no further than Georgette Heyer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgette_Heyer

Heyer worked hard on getting the period details right, and writes very well: her plots are well worked out. Subtlety of characterization and dialogue, no. Pulp women's magazine fiction, as it were, but if you want a page turner, she does it very well

[Sorceress]

Thank you for the suggestions. I have been trying to collect a few pdfs of Georgette Heyer. Moreover I had already read The Grand Sophy a few years ago. And I liked it bigtime. So I would like you to suggest what to read next, in her list.

[Emil Miller]

OK, this would be an outrageous suggestion to most academics, but if you like the Regency period charm romance side of Jane Austen, then look no further than Georgette Heyer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgette_Heyer

Heyer worked hard on getting the period details right, and writes very well: her plots are well worked out. Subtlety of characterization and dialogue, no. Pulp women's magazine fiction, as it were, but if you want a page turner, she does it very well

If you are into bodice rippers ( metaphorically speaking of course) why not give Barbara Cartland a go?

[kasie]

I've just read A Little Folly by Jude Morgan - it read like a pastiche of Georgette Heyer but as the book progressed, I recognised several Jane Austen characters and situations.

I can't remember where I read it but some critic remarked that Jane Austen 'had only one legal offspring and his name was Henry James' which sounds astounding until you consider the style and substance of something like Portrait of a Lady. And in the same light, I feel James' 'legal offspring' to be Edith Wharton who has already been mentioned.

[Jassy Melson]

I suggest the Bronte sisters and then George Eliot.

[Ecurb]

Charlotte Bronte hated Jane Austen's novels. The Brontes and Austen are separated by 40 years, and by a completely different approach to literature. Austen was a humorist and a realist; the Brontes were romantics and fantasists. George Eliot is (perhaps) a little more similar to Austen, but she isn't very funny, either.

IN Austen's six novels, no mad wives appear in attics, nor are there Heathcliffean obsessions, and marital cruelty is limited to hints (did hard-drinking Mr. Price beat his wife?).

For comedies of manners similar to Austen's (there are none equal to Austen's) perhaps you could look at Oscar Wilde's plays, or Forster's novels.

[OrphanPip]

Frances Burney's masterpiece, Evelina, is as good as Austen's lesser novels though not as good as Pride and Prejudice or Emma. Burney is less of a cynic than Austen though, and her comedic caricatures are more of the eighteenth century than the forward looking realism of Austen's stuff.

[Jackson Richardson]

Charlotte Bronte hated Jane Austen's novels. The Brontes and Austen are separated by 40 years, and by a completely different approach to literature. Austen was a humorist and a realist; the Brontes were romantics and fantasists. George Eliot is (perhaps) a little more similar to Austen, but she isn't very funny, either.

IN Austen's six novels, no mad wives appear in attics, nor are there Heathcliffean obsessions, and marital cruelty is limited to hints (did hard-drinking Mr. Price beat his wife?).

For comedies of manners similar to Austen's (there are none equal to Austen's) perhaps you could look at Oscar Wilde's plays, or Forster's novels.

I'd completely agree with that.