From rare book dealer and guest star of the hit show Pawn Stars, a page-turning literary adventure that introduces readers to the women writers who inspired Jane Austenâand investigates why their books have disappeared from our shelves.
Long before she was a rare book dealer, Rebecca Romney was a devoted reader of Jane Austen. She loved that Austenâs books took the lives of women seriously, explored relationships with wit and confidence, and always, allowed for the possibility of a happy ending. She read and reread them, often wishing Austen wrote just one more.
But Austen wasnât a lone genius. She wrote at a time of great experimentation for women writersâand clues about those women, and the exceptional books they wrote, are sprinkled like breadcrumbs throughout Austenâs work. Every character in Northanger Abbey who isnât a boor sings the praises of Ann Radcliffe. The play that causes such a stir in Mansfield Park is a real one by the playwright Elizabeth Inchbald. In fact, the phrase âpride and prejudiceâ came from Frances Burneyâs second novel Cecilia. The women that populated Jane Austenâs bookshelf profoundly influenced her work; Austen looked up to them, passionately discussed their books with her friends, and used an appreciation of their books as a litmus test for whether someone had good taste. So where had these women gone? Why hadnât Romneyâdespite her trainingâever read them? Or, in some cases, even heard of them? And why were they no longer embraced as part of the wider literary canon?
Jane Austenâs Bookshelf investigates the disappearance of Austenâs heroesâwomen writers who were erased from the Western canonâto reveal who they were, what they meant to Austen, and how they were forgotten. Each chapter profiles a different writer including Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Charlotte Smith, Hannah More, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworthâand recounts Romneyâs experience reading them, finding rare copies of their works, and drawing on connections between their words and Austenâs. Romney collects the once-famed works of these forgotten writers, physically recreating Austenâs bookshelf and making a convincing case for why these books should be placed back on the to-be-read pile of all book lovers today. Jane Austenâs Bookshelf will encourage you to look beyond assigned reading lists, question who decides what belongs there, and build your very own collection of favorite novels.