"Finally! Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen's England is the Jane Austen reference book that's been missing from the bookshelves of every Austen fan and scholar. I can't wait to add this to my research collection and keep it at my fingertips whenever I'm writing about Austen's faith and the religious lives of her characters. Thank you to Brenda S. Cox for creating this invaluable resource!"
Rachel Dodge, Praying with Jane
"Fashionable Goodness offers a magisterial study of the ways in which the Christian faith and the Anglican Church of Jane's day were not only foundational for her personal life but also for her talent as a writer.
"Detailed study of the novels is revealed throughout this book and constant reference and quotation from the novels show how strongly Christian beliefs and ethics underpin Jane's work. The book fully underlines that to read the novels without a religious framework in mind leaves the reader missing vitally important points about the presentation of both her plots and her characters.
"Brenda Cox's scholarly and detailed work is a triumph. It is easily read, . . . extremely helpful and accurate and particularly so when dealing with titles and the life and inner workings of the Anglican Church and its clergy in the late 18th century.
"The volume also provides a wide and fascinating panorama of Anglicanism in the 18th century and of the various challenges the Church and wider society faced. In effect the volume is a marvellous compendium and a valuable handbook to turn to when reading (or indeed re-reading) the novels; the many insights it offers will undoubtedly instruct and enrich an understanding and appreciation of Jane's skill as a writer and of her life as a devout Christian."
Michael Kenning, Rector of Steventon 1992-2010, Vice-Chairman of the Jane Austen Society
"A meticulously researched, faultlessly organized, and engaging study of how religion, in all its forms, features in Jane Austen's world, her life, and her writings.
"Starting with Henry Tilney's famous defense of 'the English' in Northanger Abbey, Cox reveals the facts of Jane Austen's faith and the realities and challenges of practicing religion in the Regency period. With biographical sketches of the leading religious leaders and analyses of the various denominations of the time, she puts into context the explicit and subtle religious references in Austen's novels.
"This Christian world permeates Austen's writings. . . . You will look at Mr. Collins, the Crawfords, the Dashwoods, the Tilneys, the Wickhams, the Willoughbys, and especially Fanny Price!-all the 'good' and the 'not so good' people who populate the novels, with new and surprising insights. Bravo to Brenda Cox for giving us this very accessible, illuminating take on the 'fashionable goodness' of Austen's era!"
Deborah Barnum, Jane Austen in Vermont, Bygone Books, and Reading with Austen: Returning the Lost Sheep of Godmersham
"Brenda Cox's Fashionable Goodness is an indispensable guide to all things religious in Jane Austen's world. . . . a proper understanding of 18th century Christianity is necessary for a full appreciation of Austen's works. Cox provides this understanding. . . . This work will appeal to novice readers of Austen as well as scholars and specialists."
Roger E. Moore, Vanderbilt University, Jane Austen and the Reformation
