Jane Austen in Scarsdale: Or Love, Death, and the SATs

Jane Austen in Scarsdale: Or Love, Death, and the SATs
Paula Marantz Cohen
St, Martin’s Press
ISBN: 0312325029
Fiction, Romance
Reviewed by Nancy Flinn Ludwin

Jane Austen in Scarsdale offers a high school guidance counselor’s perspective on the college acceptance process with a classic Jane Austen love conflict thrown in. The plot stems around Anne, a high school guidance counselor, who regrets letting the love of her life slip by thirteen years before.
The book pokes fun at the parents who play a roulette game for acceptance into a prestigious college for their privileged progeny. Anne advises her students and their relentless parents who pound on her door demanding attention.
Ironically, Anne grew up with the same wealth and Jewish status as many of her illustrious Scarsdale students. Because Anne’s mother died young she was taken under the wing of a loving generous grandmother who raised her and her sister. Anne’s father lost the family’s money on his lavish lifestyle causing Anne to sell off her grandmother’s home.
When Anne was a student at Columbia she broke up with her boyfriend Ben because her family did not think he would amount to anything, only to discover later that Ben had become a very successful author of travel books. When Ben suddenly appears with his sister, nephew and European fiance Anne’s heart races as she reminisces about their past. As Anne counsels Ben’s nephew on his college plans, Anne tries to keep her renewed love feelings secret because Ben is planning his wedding. The highlight of this novel involves the intricacies of the student and parents’ role in getting into a “good” school. With the author describing SAT tricks, college fairs, and hiring a professional PR person to “sell” the future college student, many readers will gain insight into the business of the college admission process. Interesting and informative, with romantic fun thrown in, it is a cute story.