I’ve always been a fan of Jane Austen, but I never knew that much about her life. I knew about her sister/BFF Cassandra and the one-night engagement and her niece Fanny who was close to her, and that’s about it.
I came across this biography by Lucy Worsley a few years ago when the ebook went on sale on Amazon, so I grabbed it. A few months later, after my mom died, I discovered a hardcover copy of the same book in her collection. I decided to add it to my own book collection because, even though I already had the ebook, the ebook doesn’t include the pictures contained in the hardcover book. Plus, the hardcover edition is gorgeous. I mean, come on, look at the pretty! 😍
On the whole, I really enjoyed this book and found it very informative. Prior to reading it, I had trouble keeping all of Austen’s brothers straight, and while I still have some trouble, especially with the younger ones, I now have a much clearer idea of their individual personalities and histories.
Every biographer has their own take on their subject and I don’t think I bought into all of Worsley’s assumptions. For example, she doesn’t think Austen had any strong feelings towards Tom Lefroy, and posited that Austen was joking when she wrote to her sister about her grief at knowing the evening ahead was the last evening she would ever spend with Lefroy, but I don’t see any evidence to back up that assumption. Yes, Austen is known for her sarcasm, but does that mean we shouldn’t take anything she says seriously? Especially since she later talks about trying to retain her composure when people later teased her about her relationship to LeFroy. I should point out that I haven’t read either of those letters in their entirety, although I’m sure there’s a copy somewhere in the books I took from my mom’s collection.
Later, in writing about the death of Austen’s father, Worsley mentions another biographer who theorizes that Austen “must have been screaming inside.” All Worsley has to say to that is a lecture on the proper behavior of Georgian women, but I think that misses the point. Just because women weren’t allowed to scream out loud doesn’t mean they weren’t doing it silently. There’s no reason Austen couldn’t have fulfilled all her duties while screaming inside. I did it when my mom died.
The fact that whatever she was feeling didn’t stop her from doing what needed to get done does make me re-evaluate my feelings about the book, Miss Austen, which I initially really enjoyed, but since learning how factually inaccurate it is, I’m going to have to reconsider my original review. The book portrayed Austen as so overcome with depression that her sister was left to do everything, but apparently that wasn’t the case at all. She was still doing her share of the housework, notifying relatives, etc.
Miss Austen also portrayed Chawton cottage as a charming cottage that fulfilled all their dreams, when apparently it was actually cramped, leaky, and so close to the main road that they were constantly interrupted by passing traffic. Not to mention the fact that Miss Austen has nothing good to say about Mrs. James Austen, even though she came to help during Austen’s convalescence and the two apparently reconciled their differences.
My mom had other Austen biographies in her collection, and I definitely intend to read those as well in the future, but this was definitely a good introduction into her life. If nothing else, I learned what sea bathing is, or at least what it was at the time. Now, when I watch the A&E adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Lydia insists she “would love sea bathing,” I know what she’s talking about.