The Real Jane Austen

Paula Byrne

• 17 januari 2013
• 9780007468188

Samenvatting:

Since her death , people have got Jane Austen wrong. The real Jane - revealed for the first time in this landmark biography - was a less cosy, more spiky, more modern figure than she is usually imagined to be. Far from retelling a familiar story, Byrne's book uses new research and new techniques to give us Jane Austen for the 21st century.

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