I thought this was a cool way to go about doing a biography of Jane Austen, focusing on the "small things" or crucial objects, like the amber cross, that can define her work and her life. Some of the objects definitely felt like a stretch though...There was a lot of great information, including some close reading of letters with interpretations I hadn't heard before. However, there were also moments of blatant speculation or the author's own interpretation of Austen's books that sometimes felt randomly placed. I like Mansfield too, but this wasn't the place to write a love letter to it.