The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things

Who was the real Jane Austen? Overturning the traditional portrait of the author as conventional and genteel, bestseller Paula Byrnes landmark biography reveals the real woman behind the books.

In this paperback of the landmark biography, bestselling biographer Paula Byrne uses objects that conjure up a key moment in Austens life and work a silhouette, a vellum notebook, a topaz cross, a writing box, a royalty cheque, a bathing machine, and many more to unlock the biography of this most beloved author. The woman who emerges is far tougher, more socially and politically aware, and altogether more modern than the conventional picture of dear aunt Jane allows. Byrnes lively book explores the many forces that shaped Austens life, her long struggle to become a published author, and brings Miss Austen dazzlingly into the twenty-first century.