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Jane Austen at Home

Lucy Worsley

Start date: January 1, 2019

Finish date: January 31, 2019

Discussion: Past Book Discussions 2014-19

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Jan 30, 2019 Candi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, biography-autobiography-memoir

4.5 stars

"For Jane, home was a perennial problem. Where could she afford to live? Amid the many domestic duties of an unmarried daughter and aunt, how could she find the time to write? Where could she keep her manuscripts safe? A home of her own must have seemed to Jane to be always just out of reach."

Historian and author Lucy Worsley has written an excellent biography examining the beloved novelist Jane Austen’s writing from the context of homes – her own homes as well as the homes of others in 4.5 stars

"For Jane, home was a perennial problem. Where could she afford to live? Amid the many domestic duties of an unmarried daughter and aunt, how could she find the time to write? Where could she keep her manuscripts safe? A home of her own must have seemed to Jane to be always just out of reach."

Historian and author Lucy Worsley has written an excellent biography examining the beloved novelist Jane Austen’s writing from the context of homes – her own homes as well as the homes of others in which she either temporarily resided or often visited. In her novels, homes play such a significant role in the lives of her heroines, so it seems only fitting to take a closer look at how Jane’s own home life influenced her stories. "To her heroines, it’s always a life goal to be happy and ‘at home’, particularly in a drawing room, the stage upon which most of social life’s transactions are performed."

Details of the places where Jane lived are not lacking. From the start of her life at Steventon Rectory, to her homes in Bath, to Southampton, to Chawton Cottage, and to where she took her last breath in Winchester, we are introduced to the places where Jane drew her inspiration for her novels and where she sat down and wrote these masterpieces. We quickly learn that Jane was at the mercy of her father and later her brothers for providing her with a roof over her head as well as a small income on which to subsist. I was shocked to learn that wealthier Austen relations were not necessarily generous with their money when it came to offering a more comfortable life for both Jane and her unmarried sister Cassandra. Despite the fact that there is not an over-abundance of source material regarding Jane’s personal life, numerous letters – in particular those to her sister, still exist and shed much light on the novelist’s daily activities as well as her sparkling personality. Worsley indicates that much of what was previously understood about Jane’s life was perhaps colored by the Austen family’s desire to paint their famous relation in a certain image. "In later years, the Austen family entered into a kind of collective conspiracy to cover up their humble origins, and to make their famous aunt’s life look easier, more genteel, less hard work than it really was." However, when one carefully studies the letters she wrote, we may see a different side to Jane, the side that we often glimpse when we read about her fascinating heroines. "You could not think her lacking in temper once you have seen her private letters to Cassandra, which crackle, sometimes, with wickedness and rage." We also learn a bit more about Jane’s potential suitors, although much of her ‘love life’ still has an aura of mystery surrounding it, in my opinion!

Naturally, being a huge fan of Jane Austen’s novels, I was thrilled to find examples from her work. Worsley carefully traces the process of Jane’s writing her rough drafts to the various rewritings and to the onerous task of trying to publish the finished products. Having not delved into any sort of biography of her life previously, I was surprised to learn how very little money she actually made on her writing during her lifetime. Of course, over time, she became more savvy and independent regarding the process of publishing, yet it must have been a daunting task for a young woman living during the Georgian era! I agree wholeheartedly with Worsley’s statement: "But the enduring reason for Jane’s popularity today is that she seems born outside her time, to be more like one of us, for she lifelong expresses the opposite point of view: in favour of vitality, strength, independence."

I highly recommend this biography to any Jane Austen fan. The only ‘drawback’ I found to reading this book is that I want to drop all my other planned reading and grab my stack of Austen novels and fall in love with them all over again!

"Jane’s great gift to us is to have survived these dark days, keeping hold of hope, and staying true to life choices that would expand the very definition of what it means to be a female writer… She took her regrets and bitterness and turned them into irony and art. She would use these powerful weapons to blow open the lock that kept penniless daughters prisoners inside their family homes." ...more

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Jan 21, 2019 Kelly rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: biography-memoir, 2019-52-book-challenge

3.5 stars -

This biography did everything a well-written biography should do... intrigued me to want to learn more about the subject, got me involved in the subject's life as if I was there, and, in this case, made me want to read or re-read the books the subject has written! But unfortunately for Worsley who, don't get me wrong, is a wonderful writer... it didn't make me want to learn *quite* as much or got me *quite* as involved as was the case with other biographies I've read. Biographers such ...more

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