Search results for """ "The Austen Sisters""

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Book SynopsisA revealing account of a naval officer's young wife, her life during the Napoleonic Wars, and her influence on Jane Austen's fiction.Trade Review"Jane Austen's Transatlantic Sister draws an exciting new portrait of a relatively unsung heroine. Kindred successfully weaves together factual material from a range of sources, revealing the rigours and rewards of Charles Austen's experiences as a naval officer combined with his wife's fears for his survival, pride in his achievements, and constant anxiety regarding finance and family status. This is a compelling approach to Fanny Austen's life and the first extensive study to focus on a man's naval career from a woman's perspective." Hazel Jones, author of Jane Austen and Marriage

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Book SynopsisA revealing account of a naval officer's young wife, her life during the Napoleonic Wars, and her influence on Jane Austen's fiction.Trade Review"The way in which Jane Austen's observations on Charles and Fanny's relationship and family affairs are explored and extended makes compelling reading. The close relationship between the two women is discussed persuasively. Other gems include a fascinating, detailed analysis of Fanny's pocket book entries and Charles' enduring grief on his wife's death, recorded in personal diaries." Newsletter, The Jane Austen Society of the United Kingdom"A firm grasp of a woman's life writing is the foundation for Sheila Johnson Kindred's biography of Jane Austen's Transatlantic Sister. Like all good biographical studies, it touches upon many topics and offers various delights. I particularly enjoyed following young Fanny's evolution as a wife and mother, learning more about the lives of her distinguished extended families, and viewing the black-and-white illustrations that accompany the text." Margaret Conrad, Atlantic Books Today"With an abundance of illustrations, appendixes, extensive notes, and bibliography, this is a fascinating glimpse into the life of a 19th-century naval wife. Fans of Jane Austen are likely to find some interest in the family relationships and the probable model Fanny provided for her fiction." Library Journal"Those of us who are fascinated by every aspect of Jane Austen's experience, and how it feeds into her imagination and understanding of the world, must feel grateful to Sheila Kindred for writing Jane Austen's Transatlantic Sister, a topic no-one had thou"Sheila Kindred's vivid and detailed portrayal, based on solid evidence, really brought home to me the lives and living conditions of the people concerned." Maggie Lane, author of Getting Older with Jane Austen and On the Sofa with Jane Austen"This affectionate and enlightening portrait of the young woman who married Jane Austen's youngest brother is sure to find an enthusiastic readership in North America. Sheila Johnson Kindred's intimate and sensitive biography traces the relationship throu

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Book SynopsisThis unique edition brings together for the first time Austen-Leigh's memoir of his aunt Jane Austen, together with shorter recollections by James Edward's two sisters. It also includes Jane's brother Henry's two biographical accounts.Trade Reviewa must for lovers of Austen's work * Choice Magazine *A very good introduction by Kathryn Sutherland * Derwent May, the Times, *

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.I wish as well as every body else to be perfectly happy; but like every body else it must be in my own way.'When the Dashwood family are forced into more modest circumstances, sisters Marianne and Elinor also find themselves suddenly entangled in matters of the heart. Passionate and spirited, young Marianne falls for the charming but unreliable Mr Willoughby. Elinor, by contrast rational and sensible, forms a close bond with Edward Ferrars, but must cope stoically with the news that he is promised to another. Only through their shared experiences of love and loss do both sisters learn that the key to happiness comes from finding the perfect mixture of rationality and feeling.Sense and Sensibility was Jane Austen's first published work when it appeared in 1811. It has become one of her best-loved novels and has been the subject of several adaptations for film and television.

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Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times bestselling novel, set to be a major TV drama series.'You can't help feeling that Jane would have approved.' OBSERVER'So good, so intelligent, so clever, so entertaining - I adored it.' CLAIRE TOMALIN________________________Throughout her lifetime, Jane Austen wrote countless letters to her sister. But why did Cassandra burn them all?1840: twenty three years after the death of her famous sister Jane, Cassandra Austen returns to the village of Kintbury, and the home of her family's friends, the Fowles.She knows that, in some dusty corner of the sprawling vicarage, there is a cache of family letters which hold secrets she can never allow to be revealed.As Cassandra recalls her youth and her relationship with her brilliant yet complex sister, she pieces together buried truths about Jane's history, and her own. And she faces a stark choice: should she act to protect Jane's reputation, or leave the contents of the letters to go unguarded into posterity?Based on a literary mystery that has long puzzled biographers and academics, Miss Austen is a wonderfully original and emotionally complex novel about the loves and lives of Cassandra and Jane Austen.________________________'The perfect book to wrap yourself around on a dark night' STYLIST'Celebrates unexamined lives, sisterhood and virtues such as kindness and loyalty' SUNDAY TIMES'This is a deeply imagined and deeply moving novel' KAREN JOY FOWLER, author of The Jane Austen Bookclub'It's a delight, one of those that you don't want to end.' RTE'A charming novel' SUNDAY MIRROR'Hornby brings to life the Austen family, using the known to speculate on what might have been.' THE TIMES Audio Book of the Week'Extraordinary and heart-wrenching.' LARA PRESCOTT, author of The Secrets We Kept'Gill Hornby ingeniously imagines what Cassandra Austen's own life might have been like.' DEIRDRE LE FAYE, editor of Jane Austen's Letters'Tender and touching' DAILY MAIL'Utterly absorbing.' ARTEMIS COOPER'Delightful.' SUE RYAN, founder of Henley Lit FestTrade ReviewWithout romanticising its period setting or underplaying the precariousness of any woman’s position in this society, it celebrates unexamined lives, sisterhood and virtues such as kindness and loyalty. * SUNDAY TIMES *This is the perfect book to wrap yourself around on a dark night. * STYLIST *Miss Austen voices the (hitherto) shadowy figure of Cassandra, the villainies of the piece, and makes her flesh and blood…. Gill Hornby is at her best describing the complex bonds between the “excellent women” of her story. She describes the horrors, but also the pleasures, of spinsterhood. * THE TIMES *So good, so intelligent, so clever, so entertaining – I adored it. -- CLAIRE TOMALINHornby's gift to the world of Austen lovers is to return to Cassandra her rightful recognition as Jane's most intimate and sustaining relationship, her greatest love. This is a deeply imagined and deeply moving novel. Reading it made me happy and weepy in equally copious amounts. -- KAREN JOY FOWLER, author of THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB and WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES

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Book SynopsisUntil the appearance in 1870 of the Memoir written by her nephew J.E. Austen Leigh, very little was known about Jane Austen beyond what could be deduced from her major novels. This had been the family’s choice. Despite this lack of information Deidre Le Faye records that following the acceptance of Jane’s novel Susan for publication in 1803, “according to family tradition, she had composed the plot of another full-length novel”. This, Two Girls of Eighteen, never previously identified as Jane’s, was published in 1806 but at some point apparently suppressed. Only two copies are known to exist - one in the Deutsch Nationalbibliothek and the one from which the present text has been transcribed, which came from a house that Jane knew and is mentioned by her in A Collection of Letters. Two Girls of Eighteen has a divided structure, involving two sisters, Charlotte and Julia, each of whom is given her own story, the one a Romance partly based on Richardson’s Clarissa, the other a Gothic confection - both set in contemporary England. Jane appears to be testing in this the capabilities of such forms for expressing what she was trying to achieve. Through the character of Charlotte, who is attempting to write a novel, she deliberates at length the sort of thing that she herself might write. Her reflections on such subjects as medicine, law, the rights of women, etc take us below the glossy surface of the major novels and show us the complex web of thought that lies beneath.

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Book SynopsisGems of literature in a luxurious and unique design by Marjolein Bastin.The Marjolein Bastin Classics Series is a chance to rediscover classic literature in collectible, luxuriously illustrated volumes. For the first time ever, the internationally celebrated artwork of Marjolein Bastin graces the pages of a timeless classic, Pride and Prejudice, the enduring story of the Bennet sisters and their quest for suitable marriages. Beyond bringing these stories to life, Bastin’s series adds elaborately designed ephemera, such as four-color maps, letters, family trees, and sheet music. Whether an ideal gift for an Austen devotee or a treat for yourself, The Marjolein Bastin Classics Series, as a set or individually purchased, is perfect for anyone who feels a connection to these enduring literary gems.Discover anew the dramatic world of Pride and Prejudice. In early nineteenth-century England, Elizabeth Bennet and her four sisters are expected to secure their future by a suitable marriage. The family’s modest assets, however, make that a challenging prospect. Though the new neighbor Mr. Bingley would be a good match, his haughty friend Mr. Darcy does not hold the Bennets in high regard. Societal expectations and romantic aspirations collide and make finding an appropriate spouse a dramatic endeavor.

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Book SynopsisJane Austen is without question, one of England's most enduring and skilled novelists. With her wit, social precision, and unerring ability to create some of literature's most charismatic and believable heroines, she mesmerises her readers as much today as when her novels were first published. Whether it is her sharp, ironic gaze at the Gothic genre invoked by the adventures of Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey; the diffident and much put-upon Fanny Price struggling to cope with her emotions in Mansfield Park; her delightfully paced comedy of manners and the machinations of the sisters Elinor and Marianne in Sense and Sensibility; the quiet strength of Anne Elliot in Persuasion succeeding in a world designed to subjugate her very existence; and Emma - 'a heroine whom no one but myself will like' teased Austen - yet another irresistible character on fire with imagination and foresight. Indeed not unlike her renowned creator. Jane Austen is as sure-footed in her steps through society's whirlpools of convention and prosaic mores as she is in her sometimes restrained but ever precise and enduring prose.Table of ContentsSense and Sensibility Pride and Prejudice Mansfield Park Emma Northanger Abbey Persuasion Lady Susan

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Book SynopsisJane Austen is without question, one of England's most enduring and skilled novelists. With her wit, social precision, and unerring ability to create some of literature's most charismatic and believable heroines, she mesmerises her readers as much today as when her novels were first published.Whether it is her sharp, ironic gaze at the Gothic genre invoked by the adventures of Catherine Morland inNorthanger Abbey; the diffident and much put-upon Fanny Price struggling to cope with her emotions in Mansfield Park; her delightfully paced comedy of manners and the machinations of the sisters Elinor and Marianne in Sense and Sensibility; the quiet strength of Anne Elliot in Persuasion succeeding in a world designed to subjugate her very existence; Emma a heroine whom no one but myself will like' teased Austen yet another irresistible character on fire with imagination and foresight; or the efforts of Mrs Bennet in trying to find a good match for each of her five daughters in Pride and Prejudice.Jane Austen is as sure-footed in her steps through society's whirlpools of convention and prosaic mores as she is in her sometimes restrained but ever precise and enduring prose.The edition includes Lady Susan, Sanditon and other stories.Our Library Collection hardback series has been completely redesigned, for launch in November 2024. The books are now finished in black, soft-touch linen, cloth bound with metallic gold and matt coloured foil blocking. They come complete with co-ordinated head and tail bands, a silk ribbon marker and coloured spray edges. The pages are sewn, and the end papers are in two colours featuring an exclusive design by Holly Dunn.

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Book SynopsisThis volume of verse by Jane Austen and her family contains all the known poems by Jane herself and a selection of work by her sister Cassandra, four of her brothers, her uncle James, her nieces Anna and Fanny, and her nephew James Edward.

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Book SynopsisPride and Prejudice - An elegant tableau revolving around the five Bennett daughters, including clever, strong-spirited Elizabeth. Austen's masterpiece is a study of love, loss and snobbery.Sense and Sensibility - The engaging story of sisters Elinor and Marianne, whose lives are turned upside down when they are left almost penniless following the death of their father. Two men with whom the sisters form attachments present more unforeseen challenges along the way.Emma - Emma is an exquisitely crafted social portrait of late Eighteenth-century society, widely considered to be Austen's most literarily accomplished work. Emma Woodhouse, self-appointed meddling matchmaker, stands to lose out on love herself if she isn't careful.Persuasion - In part autobiographical, Persuasion has a quieter sense of humour, and takes a more serious tone, than some of Austen's other novels. Anne Elliot is revisited by her ex-fiancée, coinciding with a downturn in her family's fortunes, and has some choices to make.Northanger Abbey - Young and susceptible, Catherine Morland expects dark secrets and many dangers to be lurking in the hidden recesses of Northanger Abbey. In fact, the real obstacles lying in her path are more mundane but just as serious as her imagined horrors.The collection also includes 2 Bonus CDs including The Watsons, an early Austen short story, and a collection of letters. Titles read by highly-acclaimed British actresses including Anna Massey, Harriet Walter and Joanna Lumley.

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Book SynopsisIn their celebration of ‘little matters’ – the regular round of visiting, dining out, drinking tea, of reading and walking to the shops and sending to the post – Jane Austen’s letters and novels have many similarities. The thirteen letters collected by Jane Austen’s House Museum, in Chawton, Hampshire and reproduced in this book give us intimate glimpses into her life in Bath and Chawton and on visits to London, many of their details finding echoes in her fiction. 'Jane Austen: The Chawton Letters' traces a lively story beginning in 1801, when, aged twenty-five, Jane Austen left Steventon in Hampshire to move to Bath. Later letters relish the shops, theatres and sights of London, but are interspersed from 1809 with the quieter routines of village life in Chawton, Hampshire, which was to be her home for the remainder of her short life. We learn here of her anxieties for the reception of Pride and Prejudice, her care in planning Mansfield Park and the hilarious negotiations over the publication of Emma. These letters, each accompanied by reproductions from the original manuscripts in Jane Austen’s hand, testify to Jane’s deep emotional bond with her sister: the most moving letter of all is that written by Cassandra only days after Jane’s death in Winchester in July 1817. Brought together in this little book, these artefacts make a delightful modern-day keepsake of correspondence from one of the world’s best-loved writers.Trade Review'Exquisitely bound and printed, with an excellent introduction by Kathryn Sutherland, this is a book that will delight any Austen reader … a real treasure that will find its way on to many a fan's bookshelf.' * Jane Austen's Regency World *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Chronology Introduction Letters Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisThis book will reveal the real Jane: bitchy, gossipy, badly behaved at times as well as show the side we all love: the writer, sister, true romantic.

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Book SynopsisThis collection of essays offers an intimate history of Austen’s art and life told through objects associated with her personally and with the era in which she lived. Her teenage notebooks, music albums, pelisse-coat, letters, the homemade booklets in which she composed her novels and the portraits made of her during her life all feature in this lavishly illustrated collection. By interpreting the outrageous literary jokes in her early notebooks we can glimpse the shared reading activities of Jane and her family, together with the love of satire and home entertainment which can be traced in the subtler humour of her mature work. It is well known that Austen played the piano but her music books reveal how music was used to create networks far more intricate than the simple pleasures of home recital. Examination of Austen’s pelisse-coat tells us something about her physique and, with the lively letters to her sister Cassandra, gives an insight into her views on fashion. The exploration of yet more objects – the Regency novel, newspaper articles, naval logbooks, and contemporary political cartoons – reveals Austen’s filiations with wider social and political worlds. These ‘things’ map the threads connecting her (from India to Bath and from North America to Chawton) to those on the international stage during the wars with France that raged through much of her short life. Finally, this book charts her reputation over the two hundred years since her death, offering fresh interpretations of Jane Austen’s changing place in the world.

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Book SynopsisJane Austen’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, is a witty satire of the sentimental novel, a popular genre in Britain throughout the 1790s and the Regency. When it first appeared in 1811, the words in its title carried significant cultural weight beyond the confines of the novel, and into both popular and learned discourse. Through her dual heroines, Austen addresses, and satirizes, notions of sense and sensibility, and engages with the issues of inheritance, marriage, and love.The story concerns two sisters: the level-headed Elinor and the passionate and impulsive Marianne. When their father dies, his son by a previous marriage assumes possession of the family home. Marianne and Elinor, left to the care of their mercenary brother John and his wife Fanny, must remove to a cottage with their mother. Each sister meets a man in whom she is interested, and as with other Austen novels, requited love does not come easily.This newly annotated edition offers a thorough and perceptive introduction and a wide range of carefully selected contextual materials that further explore the term “sensibility.”Trade Review“The complexity and courage of Sense and Sensibility get their due in this wonderful new edition, which features an illuminating and sometimes surprising selection of contextual materials. Kathleen James-Cavan’s introduction provides a readable, trenchant account of the characteristically bold ways in which Austen went public as a woman novelist and negotiated the power of literary precedent.” — Deidre Lynch, University at Buffalo, State University of New YorkTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionJane Austen: A Brief ChronologyA Note on the TextSense and SensibilityAppendix A: Reviews of Sense and Sensibility Critical Review, February 1812 British Critic, May 1812 Appendix B: Sensibility “Effects of Mistaken Synonymy.” The Lady’s Monthly Museum, 1799 Henry Mackenzie, The Lounger, June 1785 Henry Mackenzie, The Lounger, July 1786 “Letter from Barbara Heartless.” The Lounger, October1786 Vicesimus Knox, Winter Evenings, 1795 Appendix C: The PicturesqueWilliam Gilpin, Essays on Picturesque Beauty, 1794Appendix D: Map of LondonAppendix E: Modes of Travel Curricle Plain Post-Chaise Town Chariot Appendix F: Marianne Dashwood’s Reading Walter Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel James Thomson, “Autumn” William Cowper, The Task Select Bibliography

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Book SynopsisFrom the editor of the popular Annotated Pride and Prejudice comes an annotated edition of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility that makes this tale of two sisters in love an even more enjoyable read. Here is the complete text of the novel with more than 2,000 annotations on facing pages, including: -Explanations of historical context-Citations from Austen’s life, letters, and other writings-Definitions and clarifications-Literary comments and analysis-Multiple maps of England and London-An introduction, bibliography, and detailed chronology of events-More than 100 informative illustrations Filled with fascinating information about everything from the rules of inheritance that could leave a wealthy man’s daughters almost penniless to the fashionable cult of sensibility that Austen so brilliantly satirizes, David M. Shapard’s Annotated Sense and Sensibility is an entertaining and edifying delig

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Book SynopsisThe author of one of the greatest romance novels of all time, Pride and Prejudice, takes her readers on a satiric tour through England's history, mercilessly exploiting the comedic potential of human foibles within British royalty. Part of Jane Austen's Juvenilia of the 1790s, The History of England was written during the author's teenage years. Filled with puns and parodies, the history begins with the reign of Henry IV and concludes with the death of Charles I more than two centuries later. Originally intending it for circulation and performance among family and friends, Jane also commissioned her sister Cassandra to draw illustrations to complement her signature wit and humor. This volume includes an informative introduction providing background context, along with extensive editorial commentary. Austen fans and history buffs are sure to delight in this history written by a partial, prejudiced, and ignorant historian.

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Book SynopsisJane Austen’s last completed novel, a brilliantly insightful story of regret, second chances, and the courage to follow our hearts Anne Elliot is twenty-seven and unmarried—by all accounts a spinster in her time—seemingly doomed to spend the rest of her life waiting on her image-obsessed father and extravagant older sister; attempting to maintain their once lavish, now dwindling family estate; and occasionally babysitting the children of her married younger sister. It wasn’t always this way, though. When Anne was nineteen, she was in love with and engaged to Frederick Wentworth, a man with no money and few prospects. Anne’s well-meaning family and friends convinced her that a young heiress like herself could do better, so she broke off the engagement. But when chance brings Wentworth and Anne together again eight years later, he is now an accomplished naval captain with an impressive fortune, and Anne must face her feelings for him that remain and consider how different her life could have been if only she hadn’t been so easily persuaded by others.

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Book SynopsisJane Austen''s reputation rests on the six novels she wrote in her short life - enduringly popular novels which have become part of the fabric of English life, and which have reached new audiences through recent dramatisations on screen and stage. This book, which draws on her letters, describes Jane''s life in the vicarage at Steventon and later at Bath and Chawton, and her relationships with family and friends - especially her beloved sister, Cassandra, and the engaging Tom Lefroy (who it was rumoured was the love of her life). It also describes the parties and balls in country houses and assembly rooms which she attended and the detail of nineteenth-century life which she so sharply observed and which provided the background to her novels. This book is a pleasure for anyone wanting to understand the life of one of our great novelists.

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Book SynopsisSense and Sensibility Pride and Prejudice Mansfield Park Emma Northanger Abbey Persuasion Love and FreindshipFew novelists have conveyed the subtleties and nuances of their own social milieu with the wit and insight of Jane Austen. Through her vivacious and spirited heroines and their circle, she paints vivid portraits of English middle-class life as the eighteenth century came to a close. Each of the novels is a love story and a story about marriage - marriage for love, for financial security, for social status. But they are not mere romances; ironic, comic and wise, they are masterly studies of the society Jane Austen observed. The seven books in this box set contain some of the most brilliant, dazzling prose in the English language.

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Book SynopsisA fresh, funny and accessible retelling of Jane Austen''s classic story, with witty black and white illustrations throughout.When Elinor and Marianne Dashwood''s father dies, they are forced to leave their home behind and move far away to a tiny cottage. Their lives look set to change for ever, in ways neither had expected. Elinor must leave behind the man she loves, whereas Marianne falls for their charming - but entirely unsuitable - new neighbour. The sisters will need each other''s support if they are to find happiness, but will they ever find the right balance of sense and sensibility? Joanna Nadin is a winner of the Fantastic Book Award, the Surrey Book Award, Blue Peter ''Book of the Month'' and Radio 4 Open Book ''Book of the Year''. She has recently fallen head over heels for Austen''s books and wants new readers to feel the same.Eglantine Ceulemans captures all of Austen''s satire and wit, bringing her colourful casts to life with warm and funny black and white illustrations.Illustrated and retold editions are also available for: Pride and Prejudice,Emma, Persuasion, Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey. The perfect way to discover Austen for the first time, this bright and bold collection features some of the most inspiring and famous heroines in English literature. For readers aged eight and up.

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Book SynopsisThis is a touching personal account from one who actually knew this great writer of our time. It includes the fascinating cancelled chapter of Persuasion, and is accompanied by the full text of The Watsons, Lady Susan and Sanditon.

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Book Synopsis27-year-old Anne Elliot is Austen's most grown-up female protagonist. Eight years before the story starts appropriately, she is cheerfully pledged to a marine official, Frederick Wentworth, however, she abruptly severs the commitment when convinced by her companion Lady Russell that such a match is contemptible. The separation produces in Anne a profound and enduring misgiving. When later Wentworth gets back from the ocean a rich and fruitful chief, he tracks down Anne's family near the precarious edge of monetary ruin and his sister an inhabitant in Kellynch Hall, the Elliot domain. All the strain of the novel spins around one inquiry: Will Anne and Wentworth be brought together in their adoration? Jane Austen once contrasted her composition with painting on a tad of ivory, 2 inches square. Per users of Persuasion will find that neither her expertise for fragile, amusing perceptions of friendly custom, love, and marriage nor her capacity to apply a sharp center focal point to English habits and ethics has abandoned her in her last completed work

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Book Synopsis‘Here I am once more in this Scene of Dissipation and vice, and I begin to find already my Morals corrupted.’ Much loved for the romantic plot lines of her novels and witty observations on relationships, Jane Austen was also a prolific letter writer and penned many acerbic, ironic and poignant commentaries on a range of subjects. To her sister Cassandra she wrote with candid humour about the effects of the Peninsular War, on her dislike of parties and social obligations, and about her impressions of London. Her characters speak often, sometimes with bitter sarcasm, of women’s inequality, ageing and the disappointments of marriage. Drawing together fifty quotations from Jane Austen’s letters and novels with vibrant illustrations which illuminate everyday aspects of life in the Georgian era, this beautifully produced volume is the perfect gift for Janeites everywhere.

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Book SynopsisâœIt is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.â Discover Jane Austen's famous novels Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion repackaged with beautiful modern covers.

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Book SynopsisJane Austen gave life to the fictional Watson family in 1803, but sadly abandoned them five chapters in. Acclaimed author Joan Aiken completes their story in her ingenious novel, Emma Watson.Emma Watson has been brought up by her aunt in a wealthy and refined household, an educated lifestyle far removed from her widowed father and five siblings. So when her aunt enters into an imprudent second marriage, nineteen-year-old Emma is sent back home – and must join her sisters in their pursuit of a husband . . .Aiken, author of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, takes on the fate of Austen’s characters with confidence and skill, flawlessly entwining themes of loss and love together in this stunning regency pastiche.‘Joan Aiken’s invention seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer storytelling zest a phenomenon. She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come’ – Philip PullmanTrade ReviewJoan Aiken’s invention seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer storytelling zest a phenomenon. She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for many years to come -- Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials seriesAiken displays a lively turn of invention, not to mention assiduous research into her period . . . undoubtedly entertaining, a pretty, lively, amusing little pastiche -- Jane Shilling * Sunday Telegraph *Her sense of time and place is impeccable. Others may try but nobody comes close to Aiken in writing Jane Austen sequels * Publishers Weekly *Aiken forces us to see what Austen made her own heroines see: themselves from another perspective -- Lizzie Skurnick * New York Times Book Review *Shows a confident hand in reworking the various plots and philosophies for which Jane Austen is so admired -- Sarah Francis * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisJane Austen revolutionized the literary romance, using it as a platform from which to address issues of gender politics and class consciousness among the British middle-class of the late eighteenth century. The novels included in this collection from the elegant Knickerbocker Classics series—Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Lady Susan—represent all of Austen's complete novels, and provide the reader with an entrance into the world she and her memorable characters inhabited. With witty, unflinching morality, Austen portrays English middle-class life as the eighteenth century came to a close and the nineteenth century began. Austen's heroines find happiness in many forms, each of the novels is a story of love and marriage—marriage for love, financial security, and for social status. In a publishing career that spanned less than ten years, her work brought her little personal fame and only a few positive reviews during her lifetime. It wasn't until the 1940s that she became widely accepted in academia as a great English writer. The second half of the 20th century saw a proliferation of Austen scholarship and the emergence of a fan culture. Austen's works continue to influence the course of the novel even as they charm readers today. The Knickerbocker Classics bring together the works of classic authors from around the world in stunning gift editions to be collected and enjoyed. Complete and unabridged, this hardcover volume is magnificent, and a must-have for any "Janeite." Also included is an original introduction that provides the reader with enlightening information on Jane Austen's life and works.

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Book SynopsisThis Reader will be published in mid-April. This edition of Pride and Prejudice contains a retold novel, an introduction, notes on the Jane Austen notes on the Regency period, the book's themes, a simple glossary, and a free CD (running time 2 hours). The book on the CD is read slowly andclearly to aid comprehension. Jane Austen's classic novel is an ironic comedy of manners that prevailed in the society of the late 18th century, and early 19th century. Pride and Prejudice tells the story of Elizabeth Bennet who has four sisters, and Mr Bennet, her long-suffering but loving father, and Mrs Bennet, her mother, anxious to marry her daughters to wealthy young gentlemen. At a local ball, Elizabeth meets one such wealthy young man, Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy. Mr Darcy is cold, rude and proud, and it is dislike at first sight. As Elizabeth's older sister Jane falls in love with Mr Bingley, Mr Darcy's best friend, and her youngest sister Lydia flirts with anyone in a military uniform, Lizzie finds herself fighting off the attentions of the oily Mr Collins but is quite taken by the charms of Mr Wickham - who also happens to be the godson of Mr. Darcy's father, and is now an enemy of Mr. Darcy through his bad behaviour although in this edition he is presented as a lovable rogue. As the young people succumb in many ways to pride and prejudice, Lizzie learns that not all is quite as it seems ...and that Mr Darcy might be more agreeable than she first thought. In Jane Austen's time, a social hierarchy in English society governed what one could say or do. Social rank determined one's social class and whom one could marry. Pride and Prejudice is an entertaining, skilfully written novel written with ironic observation of social behaviour and stands up today because of Austen's storytelling, wit and phrasing, and humour.

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Book SynopsisA fresh, funny and accessible retelling of Jane Austen''s best-known story, with witty black and white illustrations throughout.Elizabeth Bennet is the second eldest in a family of five daughters. Although their mother is very keen to see them all married to wealthy men, Elizabeth is determined that she will onlyever marry for love. At a ball, Elizabeth meets Mr Darcy, who at first she believes is proud and haughty. But perhaps there is more to him than first meets the eye...Katherine Woodfine is best known for her historical series, The Sinclair Mysteries, which includes The Clockwork Sparrow. A huge fan of Jane Austen from a young age, she''s perfectly placed to bring the Bennet sisters to a new audience. Eglantine Ceulemans captures all of Austen''s satire and wit, bringing her colourful casts to life with warm and funny black and white illustrations.Illustrated and retold editions arTrade ReviewThis is an utterly glorious addition to any school library, classroom or home bookshelf, I will certainly be buying many copies as gifts! Katherine Woodfine has managed to capture the vivacity of Jane Austen's masterpiece, has preserved many of the most famous original lines, maintained the personalities of the characters whilst rewriting to make this accessible to a younger audience. I have been reading it with a group of Year 5 pupils (aged 9 and 10) in library club, and they have been spellbound, audibly groaning when the bell goes to signal the end of break or lunchtime. * Toppsta *

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Book SynopsisWinning and beguiling ... Smith shares Jane Austen's clarity and gentle irony' IndependentJane Austen is one of the most beloved writers in the literary canon. Her novels changed the landscape of fiction for ever, and her books remain as fresh, entertaining and witty as the day they were first published. Bursting with useful exercises, beautiful illustrations and enlightening quotations from Austen's novels and letters, this book will teach you her tips, tricks and methods, including: * Her foolproof guide to plotting a novel * The best ways to introduce, establish and develop characters * Her secret for building suspense * How to write sparkling dialogue * Using irony, ekphrasis and other clever devices * How best to live the writer's life These techniques have been tried and tested by Rebecca Smith, who is none other than Jane Austen's five-times-great-niece. The author of five books, she teaches creative writing at the University of Southampton and has been Writer in ResidenTrade ReviewWinning and beguiling ... Smith shares Jane Austen’s clarity and gentle irony * Independent *She’s the perfect English miniaturist * Barbara Trapido *She’s wise, sharp, funny and touching ... A class act * Mavis Cheek *Charming, funny, witty and romantic * Esther Freud *

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Book SynopsisThis collection pulls together the teenage Austen's short writings about couples', which show off the biting wit and satire which are now so associated with her name.

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