Will I love Jane Austen?

Hundreds (possibly thousands) of biographies of Austen have been written, but Tomalin’s work has long been a favourite of mine.

Her sympathetic portrait of Jane digs deep into her early family life, schooldays, literary influences, and early authorship. Jane’s relationship with her mother; her family’s encouragement of her writings; the fear of poverty after her father’s death; the disastrous (rejected) marriage proposal, and her literary legacy are all detailed with warmth and energy. 

More books have been written about Jane Austen than she wrote herself. Some are scholarly while others clearly seek the titbit which will guarantee sales. Experienced biographer Tomalin walks the sensible path through the great novelist’s life, whose works were attributed only to having been written by a lady. Facts are combined with a well-written and often entertaining narrative. The extensive book is well researched and covers the author’s nearest, dearest as well as the detested.