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.

...

Jane Austen's classic romantic novels are now available in a boxed set for all to enjoy! One of the greatest novelists of the eighteenth & nineteenth centuries Austen's works have been turned into motion pictures & translated into multiple languages. Today her works transcend cultural boundaries & have become a model for a new generation of romantic stories. This six-title boxed set

Includes:: Pride & Prejudice Emma Sense & Sensibility Mansfield Park Persuasion " & " Northanger Abbey.""

...

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 ...

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? ...

Janey is off to hone her Spylet skills at SPIcamp. There are gadgets galore at the secret facility & there's even a snow dome to train in! Then the team is whisked off to investigate suspicious activity at the South Pole & Janey comes face to face with her arch-nemesis Copernicus. He has discovered a precious mineral at the earth's core & he longs to possess it.. . Jane Blonde (helped by a robotic penguin called Spudnik) is our planet's only hope! ...

Janey Brown just completed her first mission as Jane Blonde Sensational Spylet. Now the kitty-knapping of her spy-cat Trouble launches her into another incredible investigation! A group of crazed scientists believe they have discovered the secret to a cat's nine lives but they need Trouble for their experiments. All the clues lead Janey down a manhole defeating the enemy is going to be a wet & stinky business! But with chewing gum that lets her breathe underwater a tracking device called a SPIpod & a high-speed mini-hoverboard as well her natural code-cracking expertise Jane Blonde is ready for action.. . ...

Janey Brown thought she was an only child. Now ' Joanie' has turned up claiming to be Janey's secret twin! But when Jane Blonde is posted to Australia to investigate a suspicious sheep farm it becomes clear that Joanie isn't quite what she seems. Has Janey exposed an undercover cloning operation? Soon Janey's dodging more than boomerangs: there are multispies on the loose including Jane Blonde's own evil twin! ...