At her death in 1817, Jane Austen left the world six of the most beloved novels written in English -- but her shortsighted family destroyed the bulk of her letters; and if she kept any diaries, they did not survive her. Now acclaimed biographer Claire Tomalin, author of A Life of My Own, has filled the gaps in the record, creating a remarkably fresh and convincing portrait of the woman and the writer.

While most Austen biographers have accepted the assertion of Jane's brother Henry that "My dear Sister's life was not a life of events," Tomalin shows that, on the contrary, Austen's brief life was fraught with upheaval. Tomalin provides detailed and absorbing accounts of Austen's ill-fated love for a young Irishman, her frequent travels and extended visits to London, her close friendship with a worldly cousin whose French husband met his death on the guillotine, her brothers' naval service in the Napoleonic wars and in the colonies, and thus shatters the myth of Jane Austen as a sheltered and homebound spinster whose knowledge of the world was limited to the view from a Hampshire village.

• We started tracking this book on October 4, 2011.
• This book was $11.99 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 180 times in the past 5,045 days.
• The current price of this book is $10.99 last checked 22 hours ago.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is $1.99.
• The lowest price to date was $1.99 last reached on May 27, 2025.
• This book has been $1.99 one time since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $14.99 last reached on April 14, 2025.
• This book has been $14.99 26 times since we started tracking it.

• HistoryEuropeWesternGreat Britain
• Biographies & MemoirsArts & LiteratureAuthors
• HistoryEuropeWesternUnited Kingdom

• Publication Date: December 18, 2007
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 400 Pages
• File Size: 37 KB