On the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death, historian Lucy Worsley leads us into the rooms from which our best-loved novelist quietly changed the world. Worsley is Joint Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces but is best known as a presenter of BBC Television series on historical topics, including Elegance and Decadence: The Age of the Regency (2011), Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: A 17th Century History for Girls (2012), The First Georgians: The German Kings Who Made Britain (2014), A Very British Romance (2015), Lucy Worsley: Mozart’s London Odyssey (2016), and Six Wives with Lucy Worsley (2016).

Jane Austen’s Stuff, and What We Learn From It

It is well known that Cassandra Austen - Jane's sister - destroyed some of her letters after her death to help create the picture of her which has been handed down through the generations. But there is enough evidence in the surviving letters to show that Jane's character was not all sweetness and light. She was someone who belonged to the more robust culture of the eighteenth century rather than the more mealy mouthed and buttoned up nineteenth century culture.

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On the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death, historian Lucy Worsley leads us into the rooms from which our best-loved novelist quietly changed the world. She also had a very well developed sense of the ridiculous and a sense of humour which could see something amusing in most situations. She also enjoyed misleading people and her letters and the novels can be read on many levels and it is very far from clear whether she is joking or being serious. This book is a superb telling of 18th century society and life - Jane's life - through her homes and it is ably done with passion and care that brings our subject and her family in to being. We read of early life at home in Hampshire and how the family lived together but with financial challenges that saw her mother and (especially) father try their best for the children. Several of the homes in which Austen lived were in Bath. Before reading this biography my only notion about the city of Bath was from her novels. Well, she left a lot out of the novels. Worsley draws a marvelous picture of the town, the squalor and the fading grandeur, the bathing habits and the coed baths. One would naturally think of Bath as a place of recuperation and health, but one risked one's life to actually live and bath there. I will say no more other than that I will never forget the Bath of the early 1800s as described by Worsley.

Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley | Goodreads

The rector of a parish has much to do …his parish duties, and the careand improvement of his dwelling.’ Lucy Worsley loves Jane Austen. It's very sweet to see her flare up, jumping into the text, not caring that she's got her authorial opinion all over the nice clean history. When Austen's ungrateful niece sneers at Austen for being less than a lady, Worsley leaps in to point out that the niece is prejudiced by her Victorian priggishness. When a nephew asserts that his aunt was certainly a lady who had no part in housework, Worsley stoutly defends the immense amount of work that the Austen women did as they clung onto gentility by their finger nails. When one biographer has the audacity to say that Austen might've been a bit chubby, Worsley is all fired up with measurements of Austen's surviving pelisse to prove that she was at least 5'7" and had a 24 inch waist.Jane’s sister destroyed many of her letters deemed ‘personal’ and those which survive have been described as ‘mundane.’ Lucy Worsley disagrees and finds delight in the trivia. She says, ‘...her personality is there, bold as brass, bursting with life, buoyant or recalcitrant as each day required. These letters are a treasure trove hiding in plain sight.’ I was also fascinated to realise Jane knew her letters could be read aloud, often over breakfast, so used a code known to her sister to ensure discretion.

Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley | Waterstones

Highly recommended for Janeites. Now pardon me, but I need to go watch "Pride and Prejudice" for the thousandth time. You might wonder why George Austen needed two livings, and how he could preach in both churches at once. As they were close together, he could dash from one to the other, and their combined income enabled him to live like a gentleman, or as close an approximation to it as he could manage. Later on he would subcontract the work of the smaller parish to a curate.

Lucy Worsley writes beautifully and seamlessly and her interest in and enthusiasm for in her subject is contagious. This is a very long book that is fascinating from beginning to end. Not surprisingly, Jane had a strong personality and knew her own mind to which we are privy through the letters which she wrote constantly to friends and family. She also kept a personal diary. It is mostly through these writings, along with some letters from friends and family upon which this memoir (and all academic discussion about Austen) is based and draws it's conclusions. Worsely studied these writings, sharing many excerpts with her readers, allowing us to understand the conclusions she draws and how her conclusions differ from the conclusions drawn by others. Life in Bath and later Southampton (1801-1809) is detailed in “Act Two: A Sojourner in a Strange Land.” During this time, Jane’s father died, leaving the Austen women dependent on Jane’s brothers for financial support. One highlight of these chapters is the explanation of the Stoneleigh inheritance as it related to Jane’s family. While I have struggled to understand these events in previous Austen biographies, Worsley does an excellent job of unraveling the conflicting claims to an estate belonging to a branch of Mrs. Austen’s family, the Leighs. The possibility of a substantial legacy from the estate of the Honourable Mary Leigh dangled temptingly before Jane and her family for a number of years, but ultimately Jane’s wealthy relations, the Leigh-Perrots, won out, leaving Jane and her family to fend for themselves. I suoi romanzi, in parte per problemi editoriali (c’erano pure allora), conquistarono all’inizio un numero ristretto di lettori che aumentarono nel corso del tempo, destinati ad essere interpretati da molti lettori come romanzi d’amore (lettrici comprese ***) o letti con diffidenza da molti uomini che navigano nelle secche del pregiudizio.