‘No short biography could be better done’ – The Times Literary Supplement

Jane Austen sprang from the upper middle class society of late eighteenth century southern England. Orthodox in morals and religion, generally Tory in politics - this was the milieu which she describes so memorably in her novels. Her environment provided her with material ideally suited to her talents: accurate observation of character, wit, dramatic intuition, an ear for realistic dialogue and a highly disciplined formal sense.

These gifts, evident in the early and satirical novels, Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility, found their perfect expression in the great books of her maturity, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion.

The distinguished novelist and critic Marghanita Laski brings to this illustrated biography the fruits of a long and loving study of Jane Austen, her work, letters, and her time.

Also of interest
A Writer's Britain by Margaret Drabble
George III: A Life in Caricature
England: A Concise History