What happens when you combine an English PhD with a career in psychotherapy? For Wendy Jones, it means you write this book, Jane on the Brain! The book combines mind/brain science with Jane Austen’s characters to illustrate how Jane was ahead of her time in understanding why people behave the way they do. In this episode we talk about our favorite Austen characters and books and explore how Wendy’s analysis has deepened our love of the characters and makes us even more in awe of Jane. It seems like many of the books we review result in us talking about attachment. We come by it honestly in this book because Wendy presents a lot of information about how attachment styles may be used to explain many characters. Linda and Nancy talk about Austen’s sisters and how they create safe spaces for personal growth. Linda talks Nancy off the ledge as she worries she was not a perfect parent. Linda is reassuring, but says no one is a perfect parent and good parenting is “good enough” parenting. Nancy heaves of sigh of relief. Linda liked the “tend and befriend” pattern that Wendy discusses where people create community for improved living. Nancy liked how Austen’s communities feature imperfect people (like all of us!) living full lives and enjoying deep relationships. Linda highlights the section of the book about denial and how Wendy shows the various ways Austen’s characters engage in textbook denial. Nancy had no idea denial is our most frequently employed defense mechanism. Maybe she’s in denial! Linda reminds Nancy that the beautiful thing about our understanding of how the mind/brain works, is that we know now that we can learn and grow and change the old, negative patterns of thinking and behaving and replace them with more healthy ways of being in the world.