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by Joy Michelle Austin (Author)
Rick Wentworth survived ten years of captivity. Coming home was only the beginning.
Now free, Rick is learning how to live again, how to father his children without fear, how to trust his own body, and how to believe that love might be safe. In the seaside town of Croft Beach, he has found Marianne, the woman willing to meet him with patience instead of pressure, and been reunited with his best friend, Darcy, whose quiet loyalty never wavers.
But healing does not happen in isolation.
As Rick rebuilds his family, those around him face their own reckonings: a pastor wrestling with truth and temptation, a marriage strained by silence, and a church learning what restoration really costs. As honesty is delayed, resisted, and finally chosen, Rick must decide whether courage means protecting himself-or staying fully present for the life he has been given back.
The Cost of Sensibility is a faith-forward, Austen-inspired modern novel about recovery, slow-burn love, friendship, and the quiet bravery of stepping into the truth. Told with compassion and restraint, it offers a rare male-survivor perspective and a redemptive vision of healing rooted not in spectacle, but in grace, community, and hope.
Content Notes: References to past abuse (not depicted), post-traumatic stress, pregnancy loss, emotional infidelity, and marital tension.
This novel concludes the Jane Austen's Men trilogy and can be read as a standalone. Includes a hopeful, redemptive ending.
