Trupp's prequel to Jane Austen's Persuasion is both alike and unlike anything I've ever read. Alike in that, it read like a Jane Austen regency romance, complete with Emma Thompson's voice as my internal narrator (I don't know why. It's just something my brain does.) Unalike in that, our protagonist is older (ripe old age of 27!), Jewish, and an astronomer! Oh, and she also immigrates to pre-revolutionary Buenos Aires, an unlikely setting for a regency romance!
Abigail Issacs suddenly finds herself alone and with few options for her future, until friends of her recently-late brother Jonathan put her on the path to fulfill his secret plans to immigrate and open a school in Buenos Aires, upending all her own plans for the future. One of these friends is the amiable Lieutenant Raphael Gabay, who is frustrated and confounded by the brilliant astronomer's ambivalent-bordering-on-irritated attitude toward him. Will Abigail see past his jests and quips to his true feelings?
This book had a fresh perspective and was well-researched and well-written. I wanted more of everything. I definitely wanted more Mr. Gabay! ( )

It took a great deal of imagination to place a Jewish family in Jane Austen’s fictional milieux. Abigail Isaacs has lost her father and brother, and her circumstances are now greatly reduced. Friends of her brother inform her of his desire for his beloved sister to move to Argentina, where both he and his late father had bought properties. Abigail bows to their memories and crosses the ocean with her companion Mrs. Frankel, hoping that her dreams of becoming a noted astronomer are still possible.

In Argentina, the ladies find a scattered Jewish community that some are hoping to unite, while offering sanctuary for Jews fleeing for their lives in Europe. In her new environment, Abigail makes new friends, learns to live more comfortably in a new place, and finds that her father has provided her with a ready-made astronomy observatory on his property. Here, her dreams can once again flourish. For someone who was comfortably plodding along while living in England, a surprising, passionate side of her makes itself known, fighting against her love of logic and reason.

The story of the Jews in South America at the time was well-researched and well-presented. The author has kept Jane Austen’s same, steady writing pace and similar use of the language of Austen’s time. The author should be proud of herself for accomplishing this so well. ( )