The real JANE AUSTEN

Her novels are some of the best-loved in the English language, but what do we know of Jane Austen herself? On the 250th anniversary of the author’s birth, we look back on her short life and her lasting legacy

NEIL JONES

During the cold winter of 1775, at the rectory in Steventon in Hampshire, a chubby-faced, dark-eyed baby girl was born whose life would later be popularly characterised as uneventful. But that is not quite true. Jane Austen grew up to see four of her now worldfamous novels published – Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma – while Northanger Abbey, Persuasion and the unfinished Sanditon appeared posthumously. Also adapted for countless TV, film and stage dramas, her works are celebrated for their wit, irony and sharp social observations, not least on courtship and marriage. But what of Jane’s own life? Born 250 years ago, on 16 December 1775, the second daughter and seventh of eight children of the Reverend George Austen and his wife Cassandra, Jane was…

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Britain (Digital) - 1 Issue, Jan/Feb 2025

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