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
