An arresting medieval mystery from bestselling author, Edward Marston…
The small village of Maldon is controlled
Who was the real Jane Austen? Overturning the traditional portrait of the author as conventional & genteel, bestseller Paula Byrne's landmark biography reveals the real woman behind the books. In this new biography, bestselling author Paula Byrne (author of Perdita, Mad World) explores the forces that shaped the interior life of Britain's most beloved novelist: her father's religious faith, her mother's aristocratic pedigree, her eldest brother's adoption, her other brothers' naval & military experiences, her relatives in the East & West Indies, her cousin who lived through the trauma of the French Revolution, the family's amateur theatricals, the female novelists she admired, her residence in Bath, her love of the seaside, her travels around England & her long struggle to become a published author. Byrne uses a highly innovative technique whereby each chapter begins from an object that conjures up a key moment or theme in Austen's life & work-a silhouette, a vellum notebook, a topaz cross, a laptop writing box, a royalty cheque, a bathing machine, & many more. The woman who emerges in this biography is far tougher, more socially & politically aware, & altogether more modern than the conventional picture of 'dear Aunt Jane' would allow. Published to coincide with the bicentenary of Pride & Prejudice, this lively & scholarly biography brings Austen dazzlingly into the twenty-first century.