First Impressions: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen

A thrilling literary mystery costarring Jane Austen from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Bookman’s Tale

Charlie Lovett's newest book The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge is now available from Viking

Book lover and Austen enthusiast Sophie Collingwood has recently taken a job at an antiquarian bookshop in London when two different customers request a copy of the same obscure book: the second edition of A Little Book of Allegories by Richard Mansfield. Their queries draw Sophie into a mystery that will cast doubt on the true authorship of Pride and Prejudice—and ultimately threaten Sophie’s life.

In a dual narrative that alternates between Sophie’s quest to uncover the truth—while choosing between two suitors—and a young Jane Austen’s touching friendship with the aging cleric Richard Mansfield, Lovett weaves a romantic, suspenseful, and utterly compelling novel about love in all its forms and the joys of a life lived in books.