Over the years as Barbara Pym replaced Nancy Mitford Georgette Heyer even Jane Austen as my most loved author I devoured all her books but JANE & PRUDENCE remains my favourite. Even an umpteenth reading this weekend was punctuated by gasps of joy laughter & wonder that this lovely book should remain so fresh funny & true to life Jilly Cooper The setting of this very funny novel one of Barbara Pyms earliest is an English village where Janes husband is the newly appointed vicar & where Prudence will pay Jane a visit & find herself courted by a fatuous young widower. Prudence at twenty-nine has achieved nothing in life but a dull research job in London & a string of dud affairs; Jane now in her forties was Prudences tutor at Oxford. Jane cheerfully concedes that she is an incompetent housewife but she hopes that the move to a rural parish may transform her into a Trollopean vicars wife as well as a crafty matchmaker. There are many comic complications here as Jane learns that matchmaking has as many pitfalls as does housewifery The New Yorker ...

Jane Austen is the celebrated biography by bestselling author Claire Tomalin. A perfect biography: detailed witty warm. Tomalin involves us so deeply that Austen's final illness & death come almost as a personal tragedy to the reader". (Dirk Bogarde Daily Telegraph Books of the Year). " Truly marvellous. I cannot think that a better life of Jane Austen then Claire Tomalin's will be written for many years. Her readings of the novels are full of brilliant insights. She often seems to be standing behind Austen's desk observing her writing". (Philip Hensher Mail on Sunday). " As near perfect a Life of Austen as we are likely to get: intelligent feeling suggestive. Tomalin presents Austen as remarkably clever; sensitive but sentimental; tough yet observant; guarded; & a woman with the devil of a genius in her". (Carmen Callil Daily Telegraph). " Tomalin has written a biography that reflects Austen's own exacting standards a book that radiates intelligence wit & insight". (Michiko Kakutani The New York Times). " Of all the Austen biographies this is the best.. .leaves the reader with a much deeper appreciation of the circumstances & motivation behind the creation of those six perfect novels". (Harpers & Queen). From the acclaimed author of Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self Charles Dickens: A Life & The Invisible Woman this virtuoso biography is invaluable reading for lovers of Jane Austen everywhere. Claire Tomalin is the award-winning author of eight highly acclaimed biographies including: The Life & Death of Mary Wollstonecraft; Shelley & His World; Katherine Mansfield: A Secret Life; The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan & Charles Dickens; Mrs Jordan's Profession; Jane Austen: A Life; Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self; Thomas Hardy: The Time-Torn Man & most recently Charles Dickens: A Life. A former literary editor of the New Statesman & the Sunday Times she is married to the playwright & novelist Michael Frayn." ...

With a wealth of fascinating details about Jane Austen's life & times this book brings to life the world of her novels. Austen scholar Deirdre Le Faye first gives a meticulously researched overview of the period from foreign affairs to social ranks from fashion to sanitation. She goes on to consider each novel individually explaining in detail its action its setting the reaction of public & critics & Jane's own feeling about it. The lavish illustrations many never seen before allow the reader to visualize the places & people of the novels. This book is essential reading for students of literature & of social history & for all Jane Austen enthusiasts who want to gain a new insight into her work. ...

In the middle of the nineteenth century one of the vergers of Winchester Cathedral where Jane Austen is buried was mystified by the number of visitors who requested to be shown her grave. ' Was there anything particular about this lady?' he asked. There was no indication on the tablet marking Jane's grave that she was a famous author as her importance as a novelist had not been recognised at the time of her death & her grieving family did not consider it worth recording. Jane Austen a parson's daughter who grew up in quiet rural Hampshire in the eighteenth century became a famous & much-loved English novelist. Drawing on a little-known family diary family memoirs & letters this book tells the story of Jane's life largely in her own words & those of people who knew her. It also traces her development as a novelist & the growth of her reputation & fame following her untimely death at the age of forty-one. ...

The story of Jane Austen's links with the idyllic village of Adlestrop & Stoneleigh Abbey the ancestral homes of the two branches of the Leigh family has not yet been fully told. Jane's mother Cassandra was a Leigh a dynasty that boasted an Elizabethan Lord Mayor ducal marriage alliances a peerage granted by Charles I Oxford luminaries as well as the spectre of lunacy & threats of bankruptcy. Jane Austen visited her Leigh cousins at Adlestrop several times & kept in constant touch with events there by letter. In Gloucestershire she first heard of Sir Humphry Repton who was employed by the Leighs & saw at first-hand how the eighteenth-century craze for improvements totally changed the village landscape. On one dramatic occasion she accompanied her cousin the Reverend Thomas Leigh to Stoneleigh Abbey which he had inherited
- a legacy endlessly disputed & longed for by other family members
- including Jane herself. Jane Austen & Adlestrop opens up a fresh window on the author's life & experience. It examines the probabilities that Adlestrop Park the Parsonage House & Stoneleigh Abbey inspired not only fictional places such as Thornton Lacey & Sotherton in Mansfield Park but also how the Leighs' colourful lives & inheritance problems influenced many of the plot lines in Jane Austen's books. Jane Austen & Adlestrop is also a portrayal of an archetypal English village's journey from the eighteenth century looking at how it experienced radical changes during Jane Austen's lifetime & how it is now over two hundred years later.

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Jane Austen wrote her novels in the midst of a large & sociable family. Brothers & sisters nieces & nephews friends & acquaintances were always coming & going & eating & drinking. Fortunately one of Janes dearest friends Martha Lloyd lived with the family for many years & recorded in her Household Book" over 100 recipes enjoyed by the Austens. This family fare tested & modernized for todays cooks is reproduced here together with some of the more sophisticated dishes which Jane & her characters would have enjoyed at balls picnics & supper parties. The introduction discusses Janes own interest in food as shown both in the novels & in her letters & the importance of mealtimes & entertaining in the social life of her period (1775-1817) with the complete contents of Martha Lloyds " Household Book" & the history of the manuscript now in Jane Austens House at Chawton Hampshire. Delightful line drawings prints & watercolours from contemporary sources illustrate the book." ...

Jane wants to meet a hero worthy of her extraordinary imagination: a gentleman who is dashing & daring & handsome & brave; who can dance like a viscount & duel like a king. Jane & Jenny are whiling away the season in Bath & there are plenty of dances rumours & scandals to entertain them. But a good reputation once lost is gone forever; & Jane is in danger of becoming the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons ...

Jane Austens witty perceptive & romantic novels have delighted readers for two hundred years. With clear sight common sense & good judgment she observed the hits & near-misses of her heroes & heroines in love. Relationships certainly havent got any easier since then & Lauren Henderson believes that we might just have lost touch with the fundamental rules. JANE AUSTENS GUIDE TO ROMANCE rights that wrong & brings Austens Regency wisdom into the twenty-first century. This is the only relationship guide based on stories that really have stood the test of time. Its a fun insightful book full of concrete advice & wise strategies that illustrate how honesty self-awareness & forthrightness do win the right man in the end & weed out the losers playboys & toxic flirts. Henderson deftly summarizes all the love stories in the books & introduces all the characters so that newcomers & devotees alike can delight in this fun fresh & audacious how-to guide. ...

In a publishing career that spanned less than a decade Jane Austen used the romantic endeavours of her well-plotted characters as a stage from which to address issues of gender politics & class-consciousness rarely expressed in her day. The novels included in this beautiful leatherbound collection Sense & Sensibility" " Pride & Prejudice" " Mansfield Park" " Emma" " Northanger Abbey" " Persuasion" & " Lady Susan" represent all of Austen's mature work as a novelist & provide the reader with an introduction to the world she & her memorable characters inhabited. " Jane Austen: Seven Novels" is part of " Barnes & Noble"'s series of quality leatherbound volumes. Each title in the series presents a classic work in an attractively designed edition bound in genuine bonded leather. These books make elegant additions to any home library." ...

When Jane Blonde becomes a sky-diving sensation shes on cloud nine! But her flying skills are put to the test when a flock of freaky creatures takes to the air. Can Blonde uncover the dangerous force behind her new enemy before shes blasted out of the skies? ...