When Jane Austen hears the news that her family is to leave their beloved country home for the city of Bath, she faints with surprise and horror. But there is one compensation: the promise of a six-week holiday by the sea while their new lodgings are being prepared. She relishes the bracing air and beautiful surroundings, takes pleasure in sea bathing, and shares laughter with her sister Cassandra and best friend Martha Lloyd.

To her joy, brother Frank arrives, fresh from naval exploits in the war against Napoleon. His friend Captain Parker seems to be making a play for Jane's affections, but her sharp emotional intelligence tells her that something is not quite right. Meanwhile, she assists the eccentric Reverend Swete in finding a home for his biracial granddaughter who has arrived from the West Indies. Jane initially takes against another visitor to the seaside resort of Sidmouth, the lawyer Samuel Rose, but as she gets to know him, a wholly different feeling begins to blossom . . .

Written with a same wit and style that echoes Austen herself, Paula Byrne expertly interweaves her deep knowledge of Austen and her world to imagine and give voice to the most romantic summer of the beloved author's short life.