The Real Jane Austen : A Life in Small Things

Author: Byrne, Paula

English

Published on 16 January 2014 by HarperCollins Publishers (William Collins) in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 400 pages
193 x 155 x 26 | 378g

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

‘It is good to meet the real Jane Austen at last’

Independent on Sunday

'Brilliantly illuminating … by focusing, chapter by chapter, on one thread or another of Austen’s experience, Byrne allows us to grasp the richness of her inner life’

Guardian

Who was the real Jane Austen? A retiring spinster content with quiet village life? Or a strong-minded woman who chose to remain unmarried and to fashion herself as a professional writer?

Bestselling biographer Paula Byrne uses objects that conjure up a key moment in Austen’s life and work – a vellum notebook, a topaz cross, a writing box and a bathing machine – to reveal the true self of this most beloved author.

'Sparklingly multi-faceted, catching the light in intriguing ways … Byrne’s Jane is far less likely to go for a quiet walk in the garden than she is to be whisked into town in search of a velvet cushion'

Mail on Sunday