Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the original publication of Pride and Prejudice, this revealing portrait of the beloved novelist, drawn from the most up-to-date scholarship and unexplored sources, presents a modern take on this artist and the world that shaped her. 35,000 first printing Acclaimed biographer Paula Byrne explores the forces that shaped the interior life of one of the most beloved novelists in the English language: her father's religious faith; her mother's aristocratic pedigree; her eldest brother's adoption; her relatives in the East and West Indies; the family's amateur theatricals; and her determination throughout her long struggle to become a published author. The woman who emerges is far tougher, more socially and politically aware, and altogether more modern than the conventional picture. Like a superb archaeologist, Byrne uses artifacts from Jane Austen's life to craft a vivid and more complex portrait of the writer than we have ever seen.
