No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother, her own person and dispositi…| This Reading Life
Jane lies in Winchester, blessed be her shade!Praise the Lord for making her, and her for all she made.And, while the stones of Winchester – or Milsom Street – remain,Glory, Love, and Honour unto E…| This Reading Life
Note to Reader: One of Jane Austen’s earliest surviving letters is dated 23 August 1796 and was sent to her sister Cassandra from Cork street in London, where the twenty-year-old budding auth…| This Reading Life
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the worl…| This Reading Life
Henry Thomas Austen (8th June 1771 – 12th March 1850) wrote two memoirs, or biographical notices, about his sister Jane. The first one was written in 1818 just after her death and was included…| This Reading Life
When in 1926 Robert Chapman published his edition of James Edward Austen-Leigh’s biography of his aunt Jane Austen the Times Literary Supplement chiefly welcomed its reissue not for the life …| This Reading Life
About thirty years ago, Miss Maria Ward of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, in the county of Northampton, and to be…| This Reading Life
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single lady in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a husband. ‘Nonsense,’ Miss Caroline Bingley muttered into her empty teacup…| This Reading Life
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. I have reread Pride and Prejudice so many times I have lost count, but we must b…| This Reading Life
Jane Austen is not my secret friend – although in my latest novel Jane Austen and Shelley in the Garden I made her a bothering companion to my heroine. Here in this book I try to stay with he…| This Reading Life
We travel for various purposes — to explore the culture of soils — to view the curiosities of art — to survey the beauties of nature — and to learn the manners of men; their different polities, and…| This Reading Life
During her short lifetime, which ended prematurely at the the tender age of forty-one, Jane Austen gifted the world with six timeless novels, each bearing the indelible imprint of her literary geni…| This Reading Life
When in 1926 Robert Chapman published his edition of James Edward Austen-Leigh’s biography of his aunt Jane Austen the Times Literary Supplement chiefly welcomed its reissue not for the life …| This Reading Life
In the autumn of 1996 my daughter, the writer Anne Giardini, and I travelled to Richmond, Virginia, to present a joint paper at the Jane Austen Society of North America, an organisation that compri…| This Reading Life
