Author: Byrne, Paula EnglishPublished on 16 January 2014 by HarperCollins Publishers (William Collins) in the United Kingdom.Paperback | 400 pages193 x 155 x 26 | 378g THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER‘It is good to meet the real Jane Austen at last’ Independent on Sunday 'Brilliantly illuminating … by focusing, chapter by chapter, on one thread or another of Austen’s experience, Byrne allows us to grasp the richness of her inner life’ Guardian Who was the real Jane Austen? A retiring spinster content with quiet village life? Or a strong-minded woman who chose to remain unmarried and to fashion herself as a professional writer? Bestselling biographer Paula Byrne uses objects that conjure up a key moment in Austen’s life and work – a vellum notebook, a topaz cross, a writing box and a bathing machine – to reveal the true self of this most beloved author. 'Sparklingly multi-faceted, catching the light in intriguing ways … Byrne’s Jane is far less likely to go for a quiet walk in the garden than she is to be whisked into town in search of a velvet cushion' Mail on Sunday
