Byrne, Paula: The Real Jane Austen

?A vivacious portrait. . . . Byrne's Austen emerges as a worldly woman, profoundly enmeshed in a wider world than she's often acknowledged to occupy. This is an Austen with a sense for the political as well as for the finer points of sensibility?and one who will be unfamiliar (though never unrecognizable) to many readers.? ? Publishers WeeklyIn The Real Jane Austen, acclaimed literary biographer Paula Byrne provides the most intimate and revealing portrait yet of a beloved but complex novelist.Just as letters and tokens in Jane Austen's novels often signal key turning points in the narrative, Byrne explores the small things ? a scrap of paper, a gold chain, an ivory miniature ? that held significance in Austen's personal and creative life.Byrne transports us to different worlds, from the East Indies to revolutionary Paris, and to different events, from a high society scandal to a case of petty shoplifting. In this ground-breaking biography, Austen is set on a wider stage than ever before, revealing a well-traveled and politically aware writer ? important aspects of her artistic development that have long been overlooked.The Real Jane Austen is a fresh, compelling, and surprising biography of the author of some of our most enduring classic books ? from Pride and Prejudice to Sense and Sensibility, Emma to Persuasion ? and a vivid evocation of the world that shaped her.